Morocco's Labor Code in 2026: The Complete Guide

A Berlin-based startup hiring its first developer in Casablanca assumes Moroccan labor law works roughly like the contract templates its lawyer already has on file. Then someone actually reads the Labor Code and finds several books, hundreds of articles, an implementing decree here, a ministerial circular there. Most foreign companies hiring in Morocco, and plenty of local ones too, end up learning this text one dispute at a time rather than getting the full picture before it matters.

Morocco's Labor Code (Law 65-99, in force since 2004) sets the rules for anyone tied to an employer by an employment contract: a 44-hour legal work week, at least 18 days of paid leave a year, a probation period that depends on job category, and a strict process for ending a contract. It does not cover self-employed contractors.

What is Morocco's Labor Code, and who does it actually cover?

Law 65-99, known as the Code du travail, replaced a patchwork of colonial-era texts in 2004. It's organized into several books: agreements relating to work (contracts, collective bargaining), working conditions (hours, rest, leave, protections for minors and women), enforcement bodies (labor inspectorate, labor courts), and criminal penalties for violations.

The Code applies to anyone tied to an employer by an employment contract, written or verbal, fixed-term or permanent, in the private sector and in certain public industrial or commercial bodies. It does not cover civil servants, who fall under a separate statute, and it does not cover a self-employed contractor (auto-entrepreneur), who invoices clients under a service agreement governed by contract law rather than an employment relationship.

That distinction isn't just a legal technicality. A Moroccan freelancer working as a self-employed contractor pays into social security differently, has no paid leave, no notice period, and no protection against termination, because legally, no employment relationship ever existed. A consultant hired through an umbrella company in Morocco, by contrast, signs a genuine employment contract with that company and falls fully under the Labor Code, with the same rights as a directly hired employee. That's the point of this guide: map the whole text once, then point to the detail on each specific topic.

What are the legal working hours in Morocco?

Article 184 sets standard hours at 44 per week in non-agricultural activities, or 2,288 per year, against 2,496 hours in agriculture. In both cases, the working day can't exceed ten hours except under specific regulatory exemptions. Weekly rest can't be shorter than 24 consecutive hours, usually taken on Sunday.

Past that threshold, employers owe overtime pay at 25% to 100% above the base rate depending on when the hours fall, capped at 80 hours per year without prior authorization from the labor inspector. Our full guide to overtime in Morocco breaks down each rate with worked examples.

That 44-hour cap has to appear explicitly in any employment contract signed in Morocco, including when the actual employer is a foreign company hiring through an umbrella provider or an Employer of Record. It's often the first gap a payroll compliance audit turns up, especially at companies that copy a contract template from another country without adapting it to Moroccan law. Under Article 184 of the Labor Code (Law 65-99), standard working hours for non-agricultural employees are set at 2,288 hours per year, or 44 hours per week (source: Moroccan Labor Code, Articles 184 et seq.).

What employment contracts does Moroccan law recognize?

Two forms dominate: the open-ended contract (CDI), the general default, and the fixed-term contract (CDD), reserved for specific situations under Articles 16 to 20: covering an absent employee, a temporary spike in activity, seasonal work, or sectors listed by decree. A CDD signed outside those cases gets automatically reclassified as a CDI in court, regardless of what the paperwork says.

In the non-agricultural sector, a CDD can't run longer than one year, renewable once without exceeding that total. Past that limit, or after a second renewal, the contract becomes a permanent one by operation of law. This rule regularly surprises companies that assume they can string together CDDs indefinitely to avoid the obligations that come with permanent employment, including under a so-called "mission" contract in umbrella employment. Our dedicated guide to Moroccan employment contracts covers mandatory clauses, signature legalization, and special cases like agriculture or hiring a foreign employee.

How long can a probation period last?

Article 13 caps probation by job category for a CDI: three months for executives, one and a half months for employees, fifteen days for manual workers. For a CDD, it can't exceed one day per week worked, capped at two weeks, or one month for contracts longer than six months.

During probation, either party can end the contract without notice or compensation, unless the reason is discriminatory or clearly abusive. Our detailed probation period guide for Morocco covers renewal rules, social security coverage during this phase, and how umbrella employment works exactly the same way, since the consultant is subject to identical probation limits as any other employee.

What paid leave does Moroccan law guarantee?

An employee accrues 1.5 working days of paid leave per month of service, or 18 days a year at minimum, with a seniority bonus that can push the total up to 30 days (Articles 231 and 232). That right only applies to people tied by an employment contract: a self-employed contractor, working under a service agreement, is never entitled to it. Our paid leave guide for Morocco breaks down the calculation by seniority bracket.

Moroccan law also provides 14 weeks of maternity leave, extended to 22 in cases of documented medical complications (Article 152), with an outright ban on dismissal during pregnancy and the weeks following childbirth. On top of that come three paid days at the birth of a child, reimbursed by social security, two days for the employee's own wedding, and leave for serious family events. None of these rights extend to an independent contractor, which weighs particularly heavily on women considering pregnancy while working freelance (source: Moroccan Labor Code, Book II, Title II). Official public holidays sit on top of this calendar without ever eating into paid leave balances.

How does an employment contract actually end in Morocco?

Three routes exist: resignation, dismissal for a reason tied to the employee's conduct or fitness, and termination for serious misconduct. The first two require notice, ranging from 8 days to 3 months depending on category and seniority (Decree 2-04-469). Serious misconduct allows immediate termination without notice or compensation, but only if the disciplinary process under Articles 62 to 65 is followed exactly: written summons, a hearing, notification within 48 hours.

A dismissal that lacks a genuine, provable cause, or that skips a step in that process, becomes wrongful. The employee can then claim damages on top of standard severance, calculated at 1.5 months of salary per year of seniority, capped at 36 months (Article 41). That financial exposure, often underestimated, is reason enough for a foreign company with no Moroccan entity to hand this step to a provider who actually knows the procedure. Our guide to wrongful dismissal in Morocco covers the damages formula and the exact procedure to follow, resignation, notice, severance, and final settlement included.

What social obligations fall on the employer?

From the first day of actual work, the employer must register the employee with social security (CNSS) and mandatory health insurance (AMO), and contribute monthly on gross salary. The employer also has to issue a compliant payslip every month, and on request, a certificate of employment stating the role and dates of employment, with no judgment on the quality of the work performed.

After a minimum of five years with the same employer, the employee earns a mandatory seniority bonus, calculated as a percentage of salary depending on the bracket reached. An employer who leaves that line off the payslip, whether by mistake or not, risks a back-pay claim and a social security reassessment with late-payment interest. The reverse holds too: an employee who never raises the issue for years rarely loses the right outright, since the statute of limitations on wage claims generally runs two years from each unpaid due date, which limits but doesn't erase the claim.

What happens to an employer who doesn't comply with the Labor Code?

Penalties vary by violation. Unpaid overtime carries a fine of 300 to 500 MAD per affected employee, capped at 20,000 MAD per inspection (Article 361). A wrongful dismissal can cost up to 36 months of salary in damages, on top of standard severance. A missing social security registration triggers a retroactive reassessment with surcharges, regardless of whether the employee ever complains.

The labor inspectorate has direct authority to examine attendance records, payslips, and social filings. It can act on an employee complaint or during a routine visit, and can file a report that goes to the public prosecutor when a violation is clearly established. Plenty of companies, Moroccan and foreign alike, discover the real scale of this exposure during an inspection rather than beforehand, even though a compliance audit costs far less than a reassessment (source: Moroccan Labor Code, criminal provisions, Articles 355 et seq.).

Self-employed, umbrella employment, or direct hire: which status covers what?

The status you choose determines which part of the Labor Code applies at all. A self-employed contractor never falls under it: they invoice, don't contribute as an employee, and have no paid leave or protection against termination. A directly hired employee at a Moroccan company gets the full text. In between, umbrella employment and an Employer of Record both offer genuine employee status without the consultant setting up their own entity, or the client company opening one in Morocco.

For a foreign company that wants to employ a developer or a full Moroccan team without navigating a text running to several hundred articles on its own, an umbrella company or Employer of Record provider absorbs that compliance, from drafting the contract to handling a termination if one ever comes up. That's exactly what WEEPO does day to day for clients who'd rather delegate this complexity than learn it article by article, in the middle of an inspection or a dispute.

Before signing a first contract in Morocco, whether hiring or being hired, three things are worth checking: the actual job category, which sets probation and notice periods; the real nature of the contractual link, employment or commercial; and social security compliance from day one. Those are the three points a labor inspector checks first, and the ones that cost the most to fix after the fact.