When an employment contract ends in Morocco, whether through resignation, dismissal, contract expiry, or the end of an umbrella company mission, the employer must hand over a final settlement payment, known locally as the solde de tout compte. Foreign companies hiring Moroccan talent without a local entity are often unfamiliar with the paperwork this involves.
The solde de tout compte is Morocco's legally required final settlement receipt, listing every amount owed to an employee at contract termination: final salary, unused paid leave, prorated seniority bonus, and any severance or notice pay. Once signed, the employee has 60 days to formally contest it.
What is the solde de tout compte under Moroccan law?
Under Articles 73 to 76 of the Moroccan Labour Code, every employer must issue a solde de tout compte, a signed receipt covering all termination scenarios: resignation, dismissal, fixed-term contract expiry, or termination during the probation period. The receipt must itemise every amount paid, print the 60-day contestation deadline in legible text, and carry the handwritten phrase "lu et approuvé" (read and approved) above the employee's signature. Two copies are mandatory, one for each party. When an employee cannot read, a labour inspector must countersign the document on their behalf. These formalities exist for a reason: Moroccan courts treat a signed receipt as final only when every requirement is met, which protects employees from signing away rights they did not fully understand.
Employers new to Morocco sometimes confuse this receipt with the certificate of employment, which is a separate document: one settles financial accounts, the other simply confirms the contract existed and its duration.
This matters beyond straightforward local hiring, too. A growing share of Moroccan employees work under a local contract for a foreign employer, whether through an umbrella company, an EOR, or a remote arrangement negotiated directly. The solde de tout compte still applies in every one of these setups, since Moroccan labour law governs the contract regardless of where the paying entity is based.
What this document actually covers
What goes into a final settlement depends on why the contract ended, but a common baseline almost always applies. The current month's salary is prorated to days actually worked. Accrued, unused leave becomes a paid leave compensation, calculated on the daily salary rate. The seniority bonus, which kicks in after two years of service, is also prorated to the period since it was last paid.
| Item | Applies to | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Final month's salary | Every termination | Days actually worked before departure |
| Paid leave compensation | Every termination | Accrued, unused leave days |
| Prorated seniority bonus | Employees with 2+ years of service | Applicable rate x reference salary |
| Notice pay | If notice is not worked out | Salary for the remaining notice period |
| Severance pay | Dismissal without serious misconduct, 6+ months' service | Statutory scale based on tenure |
| Outstanding bonuses or expenses | Contract-dependent | Amounts already earned but unpaid |
Each line follows its own logic. The severance pay scale and the notice period rules each have their own calculation, and so does the seniority bonus that gets prorated into the final settlement. An employee on a fixed-term contract of a year or more can also be entitled, in some sectors, to an end-of-contract allowance on top of the standard items.
A worked example: doing the maths
Take Sara, a marketing manager on a permanent contract in Casablanca, hired through an Employer of Record for a French company. After three years, she resigns and works her full notice period. Her final settlement adds up her salary for the days worked in her last month, paid leave compensation for six unused days (roughly 2,400 MAD), and a seniority bonus at the 5 percent rate (around 900 MAD). No severance applies, since resignation does not trigger it. Her employer of record owes her about 3,300 MAD on top of her final salary, before social security contributions and income tax are applied to the gross figures.
Does dismissal change the maths? Yes, noticeably. Picture the same Sara, dismissed after three years for economic reasons, without serious misconduct on her part. Severance pay is added on top of the leave compensation and seniority bonus already counted, calculated on a scale that rises with tenure. This is exactly where most calculation errors happen, with an employer forgetting a component or applying the wrong rate.
Resignation, dismissal, contract expiry: does it change?
The reason for termination directly shapes what goes into the final settlement. Resignation never triggers severance pay, even after fifteen years of service. Dismissal, by contrast, triggers it from six months of tenure onward, unless the employee committed serious misconduct. Serious misconduct changes everything: it removes both severance and notice pay, but never the paid leave already accrued, which remains owed regardless of why the contract ended.
| Termination reason | Severance pay | Seniority bonus | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resignation, notice worked | No | Yes, prorated | No severance regardless of tenure |
| Dismissal (no serious misconduct) | Yes, from 6 months' service | Yes, prorated | Statutory scale increases with tenure |
| Fixed-term contract, normal expiry | No | Yes, if 1+ year of service | End-of-contract allowance in some sectors |
| Termination during probation | No | Prorated if applicable | Shortened notice, no standard severance |
How long before the final settlement is paid?
Moroccan law does not set one fixed number of days for the payment itself, but practice and case law expect it without unreasonable delay, typically alongside the certificate of employment. An employer who drags this out risks a formal notice, then a claim before the labour court. Under an umbrella company arrangement, this tends to move faster in practice, since the provider treats mission-end settlements as routine administrative work rather than a rare event.
That speed matters more than it sounds. A slow final settlement is one of the fastest ways to damage an employer's reputation among Moroccan talent, especially in tech and consulting circles where word travels between freelancers and candidates quickly.
Mandatory content and signature rules
To hold up legally, the receipt must meet the requirements of Article 74 of the Labour Code: a full breakdown of every amount paid, the 60-day contestation deadline printed in legible characters, and the handwritten "read and approved" mention before the employee's signature. Two copies are required, and an employee who cannot read needs the local labour inspector to countersign. Skip any of these, and the receipt loses its binding effect entirely: the employee then keeps a two-year window to claim unpaid amounts instead of 60 days, under Articles 75 and 76 of the Moroccan Labour Code.
Can a signed receipt still be challenged?
Yes. Within 60 days of signing, an employee can contest the receipt by registered letter or by filing with the labour court, stating exactly which rights they intend to claim. After that window closes, the receipt becomes final and the employer is discharged of the listed amounts, barring a formal defect. But signing does not waive the right to dispute it later, as long as the clock is still running. Many employees assume otherwise, treating a signature as a final waiver, which it is not.
For an employer, careful paperwork is the real protection here. A complete, dated receipt with the forfeiture deadline spelled out closes the door on a late challenge. A rushed document signed on the last day, on the other hand, tends to reopen the conversation in court, sometimes months later.
Who handles it under an umbrella company or EOR?
Under an umbrella company (portage salarial) or an Employer of Record arrangement, it is the umbrella company or EOR provider, not the client business, that calculates and pays the consultant's final settlement. That matters a great deal for a foreign company with no legal entity in Morocco and no in-house familiarity with Articles 73 to 76. At WEEPO, every mission ending triggers this calculation automatically: unused leave, prorated seniority, notice pay where relevant, all checked before payment goes out. How umbrella company employment works in Morocco covers this kind of end-of-contract administration in more detail, including for missions paid from abroad, and it is worth adding to the checklist when choosing an Employer of Record in Morocco: who calculates it, who pays it, and within what timeframe.
For a company managing a distributed team, this is one more reason the fine print of an EOR contract matters. Ask upfront how the provider calculates leave balances during the engagement, not only at the very end, since a settlement built on inaccurate leave records is one of the most common sources of disputes.
Before signing off on a final settlement, check every line: last salary, paid leave, seniority bonus, any severance owed. A properly drafted receipt protects the employer as much as the employee, and keeps disputes out of the labour court.