Leave management Morocco: the rules of the Labour Code

Leave management Morocco is governed by the Labour Code, Law No. 65-99 (loi n° 65-99), whose chapter on paid annual leave (articles 231 to 259) sets the length of the entitlement, the seniority increase, how departures are organised, holiday pay and when it is paid. Articles 269 to 275 add rules on birth, sickness and absences for family events, alongside the implementing orders of 2005. For an HR director in Casablanca, a factory in Tangier or a call centre in Rabat or Fez, the challenge is twofold: accurate leave balances, and a departure schedule that the labour inspectorate can check. Here are the rules and a practical method.

How many days does an employee accrue?

Unless the employment contract, collective agreement, internal rules or established practice are more generous, every employee who has completed six months of continuous service with the same employer is entitled to paid annual leave of one and a half days of actual work per month of service, and two days for employees under eighteen (article 231). Over twelve months, that is 18 days of actual work for an adult.

"Days of actual work" means all days other than the weekly rest day, paid feast days and public holidays on which the establishment is closed (article 236). To measure length of service, one month of work equals twenty-six days of actual work, or 191 hours in non-agricultural activities and 208 hours in agriculture (article 238). This rule is what allows part-time staff and variable schedules, common in call centres and manufacturing, to be handled correctly.

Periods treated as actual work

The following are not deducted from leave entitlement: the previous year's leave, the dismissal notice period, contract suspensions listed in points 1 to 5 of article 32, unemployment, temporary closure of the establishment by court or administrative decision or due to force majeure, and authorised absences up to ten days a year (article 239).

The seniority increase

Leave entitlement increases by one and a half days of actual work for each full five-year period of service, continuous or not, with an overall cap of thirty days of actual work (article 232). Seniority is assessed on the date the employee goes on leave, or on the date the contract ends where a compensatory payment is due (article 234).

Half days are a classic source of spreadsheet errors. Decide once and for all whether you grant them as they are or whether your collective agreement rounds up to the next full day, then apply that rule everywhere.

Public holidays, sickness and family-event leave

Leave is extended by as many days as there are paid feast days and public holidays falling within the leave period, and days of sickness during leave do not count as leave (article 235). The list of paid feast days is set by regulation (article 217). Religious holidays follow the Hijri calendar, so their exact date is only known shortly beforehand. That is why a holiday calendar updated once, centrally, for every site is so useful for leave management Morocco.

The Code itself sets the paid absences for family events (article 274):

• the employee's marriage: 4 days; marriage of the employee's child or of the spouse's child: 2 days;
• death of the spouse, a child, a grandchild, an ascendant of the employee or a child of the spouse: 3 days;
• death of a brother, a sister, a brother or sister of the spouse, or an ascendant of the spouse: 2 days;
• circumcision: 2 days; surgery of the spouse or of a dependent child: 2 days.

On the birth of a child, the employee is entitled to three days of leave, paid by the employer, which is then reimbursed by the CNSS (Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale, the national social security fund) within the prescribed limit (articles 269 and 270). Maternity leave lasts fourteen weeks. In case of illness, the employee must notify the employer within forty-eight hours and provide a medical certificate if the absence exceeds four days (article 271).

Organising departures: register, posting and notice

This is the part of leave management Morocco that inspectors look at most closely. Leave dates are set by the employer after consulting the employee delegates and, where applicable, union representatives, taking family circumstances and seniority into account (article 245). The order of departures must be communicated to each employee at least thirty days in advance, posted at the workplace and recorded in a register available to employees and to the labour inspectorate (article 246).

A departure date can be brought forward or postponed with the employee's agreement, provided the register is corrected and the labour inspector is notified by registered letter. By mutual agreement, leave can be split or carried over across two consecutive years, with a note in the register, but no portion may be shorter than twelve working days including two weekly rest days (article 240). An employee on a fixed-term contract must have taken all their leave before the contract ends (article 233), and leave cannot overlap with the notice period (article 243).

Calculating holiday pay

During leave, the employee receives holiday pay equal to the remuneration they would have earned had they been working (article 249), covering salary and benefits, in cash or in kind (article 250). It must be paid no later than the day before the leave starts (article 259). The calculation method is set by Order No. 344-05 of 9 February 2005 (arrêté n° 344-05), referred to in article 258: this is the text to follow for variable bonuses and piece-rate pay.

An illustrative example

Take a customer service agent in Rabat with seven years of service: her annual entitlement is 19.5 days of actual work. If her leave covers two public holidays, it is extended by two days. If she falls ill for three days during that leave, those days, supported by a certificate, are not deducted from her leave. Throughout the period she receives what she would have earned at work, including her usual bonuses as defined by the order. This example illustrates the calculation; it is not a scale.

Termination: the compensatory payment

An employee with at least six months of continuous service whose contract ends before they have taken their leave receives a compensatory payment for the current year and, where applicable, for leave from the two previous years; any month started counts as a full month (article 251). With at least one month of work, the payment equals one and a half days, or two days for those under eighteen, per full month (article 252). It is due whatever the reason for termination (article 254) and is paid to the heirs if the employee dies (article 257). Any advance waiver of leave, even in exchange for payment, is void (article 242).

Tools for leave management Morocco

A mandatory register, posting thirty days ahead, half-day seniority increments, extensions for public holidays, sick days credited back, compensatory payments over three years: a spreadsheet struggles to handle all of these constraints beyond a few dozen employees. Compliant leave management Morocco links the leave request, the register and payroll.

Socium's leave management Morocco module calculates entitlements according to the configured rules, receives requests from the employee mobile app, routes them to the manager for approval and keeps a history of departures and changes. It feeds compliant payroll in Morocco, which calculates holiday pay and the compensatory payment. The general principles are covered in our article on leave management in companies (in French), and the monthly cycle in our guide to payroll management in Morocco.

Questions to ask during a demo

• Does the balance handle half-day seniority increments and the thirty-day cap?
• Do public holidays and sick days during leave automatically push back the return date?
• Can the order of departures be exported as a register and time-stamped thirty days in advance?
• Does the compensatory payment include balances carried over from the two previous years?

FAQ on leave management Morocco

How many days of leave per year in Morocco?

One and a half days of actual work per month of service, or 18 days a year for an adult, plus one and a half days for each five-year period of service, up to thirty days.

When does an employee become entitled to leave?

After six months of continuous service with the same employer. Your leave management Morocco process should block or flag earlier requests.

Can leave be carried over to the following year?

Yes, by agreement between employee and employer, over no more than two consecutive years, with a note in the register.

Is a public holiday during leave lost?

No. Leave is extended by the number of public holidays and paid feast days it includes.

Key takeaways

• Leave management Morocco is based on articles 231 to 259 of the Labour Code.
• 1.5 days of actual work per month, 2 days under 18, plus 1.5 days per five-year period of service, capped at thirty days.
• Public holidays and sickness during leave are not deducted.
• The order of departures is communicated thirty days ahead, posted and recorded in the register.
• Holiday pay is due the day before departure; a compensatory payment is due on termination, whatever the reason.

The consolidated text of the Labour Code published by the Ministry of Justice (Adala portal) is available online. To see these rules configured for your workforce, book a personalised demo.