The Employment and Labour Relations Act, 2004

This section is labeled “Interpretation” and introduces Part II on Fundamental Rights and Protections, Sub-Part A: Child Labour.

Section heading: Prohibition of child labour.

This section is titled “Prohibition of forced labour” and appears under discrimination.

This section is about a prohibition on discrimination in the workplace.

Section 8 is titled as a prohibition on discrimination in trade unions and employer associations.

This section concerns an employee’s right to freedom of association.

This section is about an employer’s right to freedom of association.

Section 11 is titled “Rights of trade unions and employers’ associations.”

This section bans employing children under 14, restricts hazardous work for children under 18, and allows only limited training-related work for some children under 18.

Any person must not procure, demand, or impose forced labour.

Employers must promote equal opportunity, avoid discrimination and harassment at work, and register an equal-opportunity plan with the Labour Commissioner.

Trade unions and employers' associations must not discriminate, directly or indirectly, on the listed grounds in membership, employment policy, or collective agreements.

Employees have the right to form or join a trade union and take part in its lawful activities, with specific limits for magistrates, prosecutors, and senior management employees.

Employers have the right to form and join an employers' association and to take part in its lawful activities. No person may discriminate against an employer, or against an official or office bearer of an employers' association or federation, for those reasons.

Every organisation is entitled to set its constitution, run its administration and lawful activities, form or join federations, take part in federation activities, and affiliate with certain international workers’ or employers’ organisations.

Section 16 is titled “Informing employees of their rights” and appears under the Hours of Work sub-part.

Section heading: Public holidays under the remuneration sub-part.

This section is titled “Deductions and other acts concerning remuneration” and appears in Sub-Part D on leave interpretation.

This section is about paternity leave and other forms of leave.

This section is about termination based on operational requirements and mentions proof of unfair termination proceedings.

This section is about remedies for unfair termination.

This section is about payment on termination and certificates of employment.

Some employment standards here do not apply to certain seafarers, except that the Part still applies to seafarers on fishing vessels, and another law controls if there is a conflict or if vocational training law regulates the same standard.

Rules on wage determination that set minimum employment terms are treated as employment standards, and those standards become part of an employee’s contract unless specific exceptions apply.

Employee contracts must be one of three types, and a contract must be in writing if the employee is to work outside Tanzania.

Employers must give new employees written employment particulars when work starts, explain them if needed, update them when terms change, and keep them for five years after employment ends.

Every employer must display a prescribed-form statement of employees’ rights under the Act in a conspicuous place.

This section says the Sub-Part does not apply to certain employee managers, and it also excludes emergency work that cannot be done during ordinary working hours.

This section defines “day,” “daily,” “overtime,” “week,” and “weekly” for this Sub-Part.

An employer must not make an employee work more than 12 hours in a day, must keep ordinary work within the stated weekly/daily limits, must only use overtime by agreement and within the overtime cap, and must pay overtime at at least 1.5 times basic wage.

An employer must not require or allow certain employees to work at night, and must transfer and pay employees as specified for night work.

A written agreement may allow an employee to work up to 12 hours in a day, including meal time, without overtime pay, but it cannot require or allow work beyond weekly limits.

A collective agreement must provide for averaging ordinary and overtime hours over an agreed period, and it must not allow averages above 40 ordinary hours or 10 overtime hours per week, or averaging for longer than a year.

An employer must give an employee who has worked continuously for more than five hours a break of at least 60 minutes.

Employers must give employees daily and weekly rest periods, with limited reductions allowed in specified cases.

If an employee works on a specified public holiday, the employer must pay double the employee’s basic wage for each hour worked.

This section sets how to determine hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly pay rates, and how to treat employees paid on a basis other than time worked.

An employer must pay an employee’s remuneration on the agreed payday, usually in cash, with a written statement, and the Minister may allow partial payment in kind by regulation.

Employers generally may not deduct from employee pay unless a legal basis exists or the employee agrees in writing, and they must follow special rules for debt deductions and repayments.

Employees with less than six months’ service are generally not entitled to paid leave under this Part, but seasonal employees and certain employees who work more than once in a year for the same employer may still qualify.

Section 52 is titled “Duties of registered organisations and federations.”

This section is about amalgamation of registered organisations and federations.

Section 56 concerns dissolution of a trade union or employees’ association.

This section concerns appeals from decisions of the Registrar.

Section 58 is titled “Publication in the Gazette.”

This section is about the procedure for exercising organisational rights.

This section is titled “Termination of organisational rights” and appears in Part VI on collective bargaining.

A trade union or employers’ association must register within 6 months of being established.

This section lists the requirements an organization must meet to register as a trade union, employers' association, or federation.

Constitutions and rules for trade unions, employers' associations, and federations must include specified governance and membership matters, and they must not conflict with listed laws or evade legal obligations.

An organisation or federation may apply for registration by filing the required documents with the Registrar.

On registration, an organisation or federation becomes a body corporate with perpetual succession, a common seal, and legal capacity to sue, be sued, contract, and deal with property.

A registered organisation or federation may ask the Registrar to approve a change of name or changes to its constitution and rules, and the change takes effect only when approved.

Registered organisations and federations must keep accounting records, prepare annual financial statements, have them audited, submit them by 31 March, and make them available to members for inspection.

Registered organisations or federations must keep certain records for five years and provide specified membership, officer, and address information to the Registrar on set deadlines.

If a federation or registered organisation does not follow its constitution, the Registrar or a member may apply to the Labour Court for an appropriate order.

Registered trade unions, employers’ associations, and federations may choose to amalgamate, apply to the Registrar for registration, and the Registrar must cancel the old registrations once the amalgamated body is registered.

The Registrar may ask the Labour Court to cancel a registered organisation’s or federation’s registration if it fails to meet registration requirements or this Part.

The Registrar, an organisation or federation, or an interested person may apply to the Labour Court for dissolution in the situations described here, and the Court may also order dissolution when cancelling registration.

A person aggrieved by a Registrar decision under this Part may appeal to the Labour Court.

The Registrar must publish Gazette notices about certain registration changes, and when the notice concerns registration, anyone may inspect the organisation’s constitution at the Registrar’s office.

This section is about recognizing an exclusive bargaining agent for employees.

This section concerns an obligation to disclose relevant information.

This section is titled “Binding nature of collective agreements.”

This provision is titled “Disputes concerning collective agreements” and appears in Part VII on strikes and lockouts.

This section defines “bargaining unit,” “recognised trade union,” and “registered trade union” for this Part.

A majority trade union in an appropriate bargaining unit is entitled to recognition, and employers must not recognize a union unless it is registered and has majority support.

Employers, employers’ associations, and recognised trade unions must bargain in good faith with each other in the situations described here.

If a recognised trade union no longer represents most employees in the bargaining unit, the employer must notify the union and may have to withdraw exclusive recognition after three months. The Labour Court can also resolve representation disputes and make orders about recognition.

An employer with a recognised trade union must let the union bargain effectively, and some information need not be disclosed. Trade unions that receive confidential or private personal information must keep it confidential, and dispute disclosure issues can go to mediation or the Labour Court.

This section concerns restrictions on the right to strike and lockout.

Section 78 is titled “Disputes of interest in essential services.”

This section concerns minimum services during a strike or lockout.

This section is about the procedure for engaging in a lawful strike.

This section is about the procedure for engaging in a lawful secondary strike.

This section concerns the procedure for engaging in a lawful lockout.

Section 83 is titled “Nature of protection for a lawful strike or lockout.”

This section concerns strikes and lockouts that are not in compliance with this Part.

Section 85 is titled “Protest action” and sits within dispute resolution, Sub-Part A: Mediation.

Employees may strike and employers may lock out, but only subject to the provisions in this Part.

No person may take part in a strike or lockout, or act in support of one, if the listed conditions apply; certain conduct around strikes and lockouts is also prohibited.

This section lists certain essential services and lets the Essential Services Committee designate additional services as essential if interruption would endanger public safety or health.

In essential-service disputes, a party may take the dispute to the Commission for mediation, and if mediation fails, to arbitration by the Commission, unless a collective agreement says otherwise.

Parties to a collective agreement may agree on minimum services during a strike or lockout, and certain parties or an employer may apply to the Essential Services Committee for approval or designation.

Employees may strike only if the dispute is an interest dispute, mediation has been used, the dispute is still unresolved, a trade-union ballot supports the strike, and 48 hours’ notice is given; if the dispute is about unilateral changes to employment terms, employees and the trade union may also demand that the employer stop or reverse the change.

A trade union may call a secondary strike only if it gives 14 days’ notice, the secondary and primary employers have a pressure relationship, and the strike is proportional. Employees in certain essential or minimum services are prohibited from taking part.

An employer may lawfully lock out workers only if the dispute is an interest dispute, it has been referred to the Commission for mediation, it remains unresolved after the prescribed mediation period, and 48 hours' notice has been given.

A lawful strike or lockout is not treated as a breach of contract, tort, or criminal offence, and an employer has specific limits and duties during it.

The Labour Court can stop unlawful strikes, lockouts, or prohibited conduct and can order just and equitable compensation, but it must generally have 48 hours’ notice before issuing an injunction.

An employee may take part in protest action only if the notice and timing requirements are met, but employees in certain essential or minimum services are barred from protest action.

This section concerns referral of disputes for mediation under the Act.

This section is about the consequences of not attending a mediation hearing.

This section concerns resolving disputes through compulsory arbitration.

This section concerns the application of the Arbitration Ordinance.

Section 93 is titled “Voluntary arbitration” and sits under Sub-Part C: Adjudication.

This section is titled “Jurisdiction of the Labour Court” and appears under dispute procedures for collective agreements.

This section is about dispute resolution procedures in collective agreements.

This section concerns records kept by employers and employees.

This section is titled “Guidelines and codes of good practice.”

This section is about repeal, amendment, and savings provisions.

This section gives the Act’s short title and lets the Minister set the commencement date by Gazette notice.

This section says the Act applies to all employees in Mainland Tanzania, including public servants, but not to members of the armed forces, police, prisons service, or national service.

This section states the Act’s main purposes, including promoting economic development, setting a legal framework for fair employment relations and minimum work standards, supporting collective bargaining, regulating industrial action, resolving disputes, and giving effect to the Constitution and ratified labour conventions.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including “employee,” “employer,” “child,” “strike,” and “basic wage.”

This section defines “day,” “leave cycle,” and “paid leave,” and allows an employer and employee to agree on a standard leave cycle if the employee’s paid-leave entitlement is not prejudiced.

Employers must give employees at least 28 consecutive days of annual leave per leave cycle and pay leave remuneration before leave starts.

An employee is entitled to at least 126 days of sick leave in a leave cycle, with the first 63 days paid at full wages and the next 63 days at half wages; an employer need not pay if the employee does not produce a medical certificate or already has paid sick leave under another law, fund, or collective agreement.

Employees must give advance notice and medical proof for maternity leave, and employers must protect maternity-related leave, rest, and safer work conditions.

Employees are entitled to paid leave in specified family and paternity situations, and an employer may ask for reasonable proof before paying it.

This Sub-Part does not apply to an employee who has worked less than 6 months with the same employer.

This section defines “termination of employment” and related wording for this Sub-Part.

An employer must not unfairly terminate an employee, must show valid and fair reasons and a fair procedure, and certain protected reasons cannot be treated as fair grounds for dismissal.

An employer must follow notice, disclosure, and consultation steps before retrenching workers for operational reasons.

In unfair termination proceedings, the employer must prove the termination was fair.

If a termination is found unfair, the arbitrator or Labour Court may order reinstatement, re-engagement, or compensation; if the employer later refuses reinstatement or re-engagement, the employer must pay additional compensation.

This section sets minimum notice periods for ending an employment contract, allows pay instead of notice, and provides severance pay rules.

If an employee is dismissed somewhere other than the place they were recruited, the employer must arrange transport or pay transport-related costs.

When employment ends, the employer must pay the employee the listed terminal amounts and issue a prescribed certificate of service.

This section defines several labour-related terms, including authorised representative, employer's premises, labour laws, registered trade union, and representative trade union.

A registered trade union representative may enter the employer’s premises for union activities, a union may set up a field branch at workplaces with at least ten members, and the employer must provide reasonable facilities for union activity at the workplace.

An employer must deduct registered trade union dues from wages only if the employee has authorised it, then remit the deductions to the trade union within seven days after month end.

A registered trade union is entitled to workplace representatives in numbers based on membership, and those representatives must perform listed functions. The employer must give them relevant information, and the rights are subject to reasonable conditions.

The employer must grant reasonable paid leave to specified trade union representatives and office bearers for training or for performing their union duties.

A registered trade union may notify an employer, and the employer must meet with the union within 30 days to try to conclude a collective agreement. If that does not happen, the dispute may go to the Commission for mediation and then to the Labour Court.

If a trade union materially breaches the conditions for exercising organisational rights, the employer may seek mediation and, if that fails, apply to the Labour Court for orders affecting those rights.

A trade union and employer may set up an agency shop agreement, but it must meet specific conditions, including limits on fees, separate accounting, annual audit, and restricted use of the money.

Recognised trade unions, employers, and employers’ associations may set up a workers’ participation forum; they may also ask the Commission to help with discussions, and the Commission must facilitate those discussions.

Disputes about a collective agreement must be referred to the Commission for mediation unless the parties agree otherwise; if mediation fails, any party may take the dispute to the Labour Court.

Disputes referred to the Commission must follow the prescribed form and proceed through mediation steps led by the Commission and mediator.

If parties do not attend a mediation hearing, the mediator may extend or shorten the relevant period, dismiss or decide a complaint, and the Commission may reverse a decision on application and good cause.

This section defines certain disputes and sets out how the Commission and arbitrator handle arbitration after failed mediation.

Arbitration awards made under this Act are binding on the dispute’s parties.

An arbitrator may correct clerical mistakes or accidental slips in an award, and the Labour Court may set aside an award, stay enforcement, or make further orders in some cases.

The Arbitration Ordinance does not apply to arbitrations conducted by the Commission.

The Act does not stop parties from agreeing to submit a dispute to arbitration.

The Labour Court has exclusive jurisdiction over certain matters under the Act and may refuse or redirect complaints in some cases.

Trade unions and employers may make collective agreements about disputes, but people bound by such an agreement may not take disputes to the Commission, and the Labour Court can set aside non-compliant provisions on application.

Employers and employees must keep certain records; employers must retain them for five years after termination, keep records of strike/lockout/protest details, and provide required information to the Labour Commissioner.

A document that must be served on a registered organisation or federation is treated as duly served if delivered to its registered office, sent by registered post to its postal address, or served personally on one of its officers.

The Minister may, after consulting the Council, make regulations and prescribe forms to carry out the Act.

The Minister may issue, change, or replace codes of good practice and guidelines after consulting the Council.

The Minister may exempt an employer or group of employers from certain employment standards, subject to consultation, notice, fairness, and form requirements.

A person commits an offence if they disclose certain confidential information about another person’s financial or business affairs that was obtained while carrying out functions or powers under the Act, unless one of the listed exceptions applies.

District Courts and Resident Magistrate’s Courts may impose penalties for offences under this Act, and convicted persons may face fines, imprisonment, or both depending on the offence section. A person aggrieved by a court decision under this section may appeal to the High Court.

This section repeals the laws listed in the Second Schedule, but they remain subject to the Third Schedule’s savings and transitional rules.

This Schedule defines several terms, including “employers organisation,” “repealed laws,” “trade union,” and “Trade Unions Act.”

Certain unions and employer bodies already registered under repealed laws are treated as registered under this Act, and the Registrar must update the registers and issue certificates. If their constitutions do not meet sections 46 and 47, they must fix them within 6 months, or the Registrar may apply to cancel registration.

Pending applications under the repealed laws are to be handled as if made under this Act, and the Registrar may condone technical non-compliance or require amendments.

Trade unions keep certain organisational rights for three years, and employers must keep recognising an existing union for three years unless another union becomes the exclusive bargaining agent.

Older negotiated or voluntary agreements stay binding until they expire, with a one-year cap in some cases, and disputes about those agreements go to the Labour Court.

Sections 100 and 102 keep applying, despite the repeal of the Employment Ordinance, until another law repeals them.

This section says certain older trade disputes and Industrial Court matters continue to be handled under the repealed laws, while strikes or lockouts starting after commencement are handled under this Act.

References about summary dismissal or disciplinary penalty matters are to be handled as if the repealed laws were still in force, including matters before commencement and matters referred to a conciliation board under those repealed laws.

Disputes covered by the repealed laws that arose before this Act commenced must be handled as if those laws had not been repealed.

References to the Minister under repealed laws are to be handled as though those laws were still in force.

Before this Act started, offences, claims, and civil proceedings under repealed laws must be dealt with as if those laws had not been repealed.

The Minister may, after consulting the Commission, authorise the Commission by Gazette notice to carry out conciliation board or industrial court functions for all or part of Mainland Tanzania.

Disputes not finalised under the repealed laws within 3 years of this Act’s commencement fall under the Commission’s jurisdiction, and the Commission may arbitrate them or send them to the Labour Court.

The Minister may, within 3 years after commencement, set up a minimum wage board and make a wages regulation order fixing a basic minimum wage, with the President’s approval.

Subsidiary legislation made under the repealed laws stays in force until the Minister repeals it or it is replaced by subsidiary legislation made under this Act.

Domestic workers and security workers have maximum ordinary working hours set at 54 in year one, 51 in year two, 48 in year three, and 45 hours thereafter, despite section 19.

Each employer must submit the written particulars covered by section 15 for affected employees within one year of commencement.