An employee leaving a job in Morocco, whether by resignation or dismissal, does not walk out the same day. Moroccan labor law requires a notice period, a window during which the employment contract keeps running as normal. Its length depends on two factors only: the employee's category (executive, staff or worker) and their tenure with the company. For a foreign company hiring through an Employer of Record or managing a Moroccan team directly, getting this wrong is an expensive mistake, a missed notice period converts straight into a cash payout.
In Morocco, the legal notice period runs from 8 days to 3 months, depending on the employee's category and tenure: 8 days for staff and workers under one year, up to 3 months for executives with over 5 years. The same scale applies to both resignation and dismissal, except for serious misconduct.
How long is the legal notice period under Moroccan labor law?
These minimums come from Decree No. 2-04-469 of December 29, 2004, issued under Article 51 of the Labor Code. There are two separate scales: one for executives and equivalent staff, one for regular staff and workers. In both cases, tenure is what drives the duration, and it never drops below 8 days.
| Tenure | Staff and workers | Executives (cadres) |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 8 days | 1 month |
| 1 to 5 years | 1 month | 2 months |
| Over 5 years | 2 months | 3 months |
This scale applies the same way whether the employee resigns or is dismissed for a reason other than serious misconduct. Take a sales executive with three years of tenure at a Casablanca company: both employee and employer owe a two-month notice period before ending the contract. An employment contract or collective agreement can extend this floor, but it can never shorten it. For a company hiring in Morocco without a local entity, this is exactly the kind of detail an Employer of Record is meant to absorb (source: Decree No. 2-04-469, Moroccan Labor Code, Article 51).
How do you calculate the notice period payout?
When either side skips the notice period, Article 51 requires a compensatory payment. The amount equals the salary, bonuses and benefits the employee would have earned had they stayed through the full notice window.
The math is straightforward: monthly gross salary multiplied by the number of notice months owed. An employee earning 6,000 MAD with one month of notice is owed 6,000 MAD. An executive on 15,000 MAD with over five years of tenure is owed 45,000 MAD.
This cuts both ways. If the employer ends the contract without letting the employee work out the notice, it owes the equivalent in salary. And if the employee leaves overnight without warning, the employer can claim the same amount in damages, though in practice few Moroccan employers pursue this against a departing employee, since the cost and hassle of a labor tribunal claim usually outweigh the recovery. Executive contracts sometimes spell the clause out explicitly to discourage a sudden move to a competitor. For a remote team managed through an umbrella company or an EOR, this liability typically sits with the local employer of record, not the foreign client (source: Article 51, Moroccan Labor Code).
Does resignation work differently from dismissal?
No, the notice duration is identical either way. What changes is who owes what if the notice is not honored, not its length. A resignation follows the exact same scale as a dismissal for a non-disciplinary reason.
One thing does change the financial outcome. A dismissal, outside serious misconduct, can trigger a separate severance payment on top of notice, calculated on tenure, while a resignation never does.
An employee who resigns is entitled to salary through the end of notice, a final settlement, and any unused paid leave, nothing more. An employee dismissed for a reason other than serious misconduct can stack notice (or its payout), severance pay, and potentially damages if a labor court finds the dismissal unfair. This gap is why some employers negotiate a mutual departure instead of a formal dismissal: it avoids a tribunal dispute while keeping the cost predictable. Moroccan labor courts assess the stated reason for dismissal case by case (source: Moroccan Labor Code, Articles 34 to 41 on dismissal).
When does notice not apply: probation and serious misconduct
Two situations remove the notice obligation entirely. Probation first: either side can end the contract with no notice and no payout, subject to a much shorter notice-for-termination window, commonly 2 days, longer for executives depending on how much of the probation period has already run.
Serious misconduct is the second: theft, violence, abandonment of post, clear insubordination. Article 61 allows immediate termination with no notice and no payout, provided the employer follows the disciplinary procedure (written notice, hearing, formal notification within the legal deadlines).
The line between serious and ordinary misconduct is one of the most litigated questions in Moroccan labor courts. A pattern of lateness is not serious misconduct, proven theft or workplace violence almost always is. Between those extremes, judges weigh intent, repetition and actual harm to the business. An employer who wrongly invokes serious misconduct to dodge a notice payout risks owing the full amount anyway, plus damages if the employee takes the case to court. Documenting each incident before deciding is cheaper than defending the decision later (source: Moroccan Labor Code, Article 39 on serious misconduct).
Can an employer waive the notice period, and who pays for what?
Yes, with mutual agreement. Nothing stops an employer from releasing an employee immediately while still paying the equivalent notice payout, a common move when the role is sensitive or the employee is joining a direct competitor.
An employee can also ask to leave early. Without the employer's agreement, they remain bound to finish the notice period or pay the equivalent amount to the company, which comes up often when a new opportunity requires an early start date.
Throughout notice, worked or not, the employee keeps their salary, benefits in kind and CNSS coverage. The contract keeps producing all its normal effects until the last day, including confidentiality and non-compete obligations where the contract includes one. An employer cannot unilaterally stop paying salary just because the departure is already agreed. Checking the final payslip is the simplest way to confirm the settlement reflects these rules correctly (source: Moroccan Labor Code, Title One on the employment contract).
Umbrella company and EOR in Morocco: does notice work differently?
An employee under an umbrella company arrangement is still an employee under the Labor Code, so the same notice scale applies between them and the umbrella company. What changes is the commercial relationship with the end client: the assignment itself can stop overnight, only the umbrella employment contract, often fixed-term, governs the actual termination rules with the umbrella company.
For a foreign company hiring through an Employer of Record in Morocco, the EOR takes on these obligations instead: as the legal employer of record, it is the one required to honor notice and settle any payout if the relationship ends early.
This is exactly the pitch behind choosing an EOR over setting up a Moroccan subsidiary: the foreign company does not have to manage the details of notice, severance or disciplinary procedure itself, the EOR carries that legal risk. An umbrella company applies the same logic for independent contractors who want to invoice a client without setting up their own structure. Notice becomes an HR compliance item handled by a third party rather than a direct liability for the client company (source: Moroccan Labor Code and standard EOR practice in Morocco).
What to check before signing a resignation letter or a termination notice
Before signing anything, a few checks avoid the most common dispute in Moroccan labor courts. First, the actual category, executive or not, since it changes the applicable duration directly. Second, the exact tenure, counted from the hire date rather than from any later confirmation. Third, whether the contract includes a more favorable clause, which always overrides the legal minimum.
- Confirm the category, executive, staff, or worker, based on the contract, not the job title on a business card
- Recalculate tenure from the actual hire date, including leave and sick periods
- Reread the employment contract and any applicable collective agreement for a longer notice clause
- Get any notice waiver from the employer in writing
One thing is easy to miss. Notice protects the employer as much as the employee: it buys time to hand over a file, train a replacement, or arrange a clean transition. Treating it as paperwork usually costs more than a poorly anticipated month of salary.