Labour Disputes at the CMA: What Employers Should Already Have in the File

This page is the employer-side CMA operating file: what to have in the box when a referral arrives. It is not the termination-procedure manual, that is the sibling, and not a High Court labour-division treatise.

• How the employment ended: termination procedure
• Payroll: 2026 tax rates
• Work permits: unauthorised work

As at 10 September 2026. Confirm cma.go.tz. Practitioner reports describe an online case-management system from 21 January 2026. Confirm the live channel. This page publishes no day-count and no award tariff.

Mediation then arbitration

The CMA is built as mediation first. Arbitration follows if it does not settle. Arriving at mediation with no papers is how you settle on the other side’s numbers. Arriving at arbitration with a story you did not tell at mediation is how you look like you are inventing.

Representation rules are live. Zatra is not counsel of record. Where audience is required, an advocate appears. Write the engagement so that is boring.

What the employer’s box should already contain

Sequence

1. Diary the live time limit the day the referral is seen. Confirm CMA, do not invent days.
2. Instruct the labour file the same week.
3. Mediate with papers, not adjectives.
4. Arbitrate if needed with the same story.
5. Pay or challenge on the live post-award path. Confirm, do not invent.

Where this file stalls

• Ignoring a referral because ‘they will not go to CMA’
• Inventing a day-count from a 2016 blog
• Sending a manager who cannot explain the hearing
• Mixing a work-permit fight into a wage claim without papers for either

Documents this file usually needs

The referral as served; contract; policies; hearing notes; payroll; correspondence; any prior settlement. Chronology in a table: date, event, paper. WhatsApp screenshots are exhibits, not a chronology. If filing is now online, confirm the live portal on cma.go.tz and keep the acknowledgement.

What this page will never publish

A limitation period in days. An award in months of salary. A filing fee. A promise that mediation is optional. Confirm cma.go.tz the morning the referral arrives.

Failure modes the officer already knows

Letting the clock run during a ‘friendly talk’. Settling orally and not writing it. Sending different stories to TRA and to CMA about the same wages. Treating a foreign employee as if ELRA did not apply.

Operator calendar

Day of referral: photograph and diary. Same week: instruct. Mediation date: papers in the box. Award: read the live challenge path before you complain on WhatsApp. Confirm the live channel each quarter: portals move.

What to put in the board minutes

Write who owns the CMA file, that Zatra is not counsel, and that settlement authority has a named person. Unnamed authority is how you settle twice.

What a declined pack usually looked like

No contract, no hearing notes, a manager who says ‘we all knew’, and a waiver from the security office. That pack loses on procedure before merits. Rebuild before you need the forum.

As-at 10 September 2026: what this desk will not freeze

Clocks, tariffs, portal names. Print cma.go.tz. If o-CMS is the live channel, use it. If it is not, use what CMA names today.

Cross-links without contradicting keepers

Termination procedure is the sibling. TRA tax disputes are TRAB, not CMA. Work-permit keepers are Immigration/Labour, not CMA. GN 487A hedging is unchanged. Zanzibar is a different forum.

Worked path: unpaid wages versus unfair termination

A wage claim is a payroll-and-attendance file. Bring EFD/payroll, NSSF, contracts, and the clockings. Adjectives about ‘attitude’ do not pay the gap. If you also dismissed the person, say so and bring the termination pack. Mixing the stories without papers is how both findings go against you.

An unfair-termination referral is the sibling pack: reason, hearing, payments. If the employee is still at work, you may be in a different live dispute type. Confirm CMA’s live forms. Do not invent a ‘constructive dismissal’ defence from a UK blog.

Representation and who speaks

Managers who cannot explain the hearing should not be the only face at mediation. Advocates appear where the forum requires audience. Consultants may prepare. Zatra will not be named as counsel. Write the instruction letter so roles are boring.

Settlement authority should sit in one named person. Two directors who each ‘agree in principle’ is how you settle twice. Minute the mandate before the mediation room.

Awards, challenges, and TRA

If an award comes, read the live challenge and payment path before you complain on WhatsApp. This page prints no days and no tariff. Confirm cma.go.tz. Paying an award late is a new problem.

The same wages can meet TRA PAYE questions. Do not tell CMA one number and TRA another. Reconcile. The 2026 tax-rate map is the rate file and must be reconfirmed.

As-at 10 September 2026: filing channel

Confirm whether referrals must go through CMA’s online system. Practitioner reports say January 2026. The live notice wins. Keep the acknowledgement with the box.

Zanzibar is a different forum. Work-permit fights are Immigration. Tax disputes are TRAB. Do not file everything at CMA because the building is nearby.

What the mediation room actually does

Mediation is not a dressing-down. It is a chance to settle on papers. Bring the box. If you need authority to settle, bring the person who has it or a written mandate. Adjournments to ‘ask the director’ are how clocks and costs grow. Confirm the live CMA process. Practitioner reports describe online filing from January 2026. Confirm cma.go.tz the morning the referral arrives.

If mediation fails, the same story must survive arbitration. Do not invent a new reason at arbitration. The employee’s counsel will read the first story aloud. Consistency is cheaper than cleverness.

How this file collides with other desks

TRA may ask about the same wages. Immigration may ask about the same foreign person. OSHA may ask about the same accident that led to the dismissal. Give each desk the truth that matches the others. Three stories for one event is how you fund three files.

Zanzibar employees do not belong in Mainland CMA by slogan. Work-permit disputes are not CMA’s tax specialty. TRAB is not CMA. File the right forum. This page still prints no day-count.

Close-out as at 10 September 2026: CMA

Print cma.go.tz the morning a referral arrives. Practitioner reports describe online filing from January 2026; the live notice wins. Bring contracts, hearing notes and payroll. Name settlement authority before the room. Do not invent a limitation period here. TRA and Immigration, if they overlap, get the same numbers. Zanzibar is a different forum. TRAB is not CMA. Zatra is not counsel of record. Professional fees live on /pricing/. If the portal name changes, the portal wins.

Worked failure: the empty box at mediation

A referral arrives. The HR manager attends with a phone and a story. No contract. No hearing notes. No payroll. Mediation becomes the other side’s numbers. Arbitration repeats the emptiness. The award is then a payment problem. The fix was boring: the box built in the week of the employment decision, not the week of the referral. Confirm cma.go.tz. Confirm the live channel. Do not invent days. Name settlement authority before the room. Send TRA the same wage numbers if they ask. Zanzibar employees stay in the island forum. Zatra is not counsel. Fees on /pricing/.

Keep a standing labour box for every workplace: contracts, policies, hearing templates, payroll extracts. Updating it each quarter is cheaper than reconstructing it for a referral. Confirm cma.go.tz each quarter the portal may have moved.

Photograph the referral and the acknowledgement from the live channel. Put both in the box with the chronology table. If o-CMS is the live path, use it; if CMA names another path, use that. Wrong days printed here would be worse than silence, so this page still prints none. Instruct an advocate where audience is required. Zatra remains orientation, not counsel of record, and bills only on /pricing/.