Your guide to leave policy in Morocco

Leave policy in Morocco must reflect the same provisions prescribed under the Labor Law. Moroccan leave laws require employers to extend paid annual leave and jointly fund childbirth leaves and sick leave via the Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS). On top of that, employers cover 13 paid public holidays and a range of paid leave for family events such as marriage and bereavement.

This guide breaks each category down by entitlement, pay rule, and the underlying leave laws in Morocco. You can also read practical notes on how Payoneer Workforce Management helps handle time-off management for global teams, along with onboarding, payroll, and more.

Vacation & annual leave in Morocco

Employers accrue paid annual leave for every salaried worker from day one of employment. The accrual rate is 1.5 working days per month worked. However, you are obliged to extend leave only after six months of their continuous service. 

Under any leave policy in Morocco, paid annual leave starts at 18 days a year and grows with tenure. This would be as follows:

Public holidays in Morocco

Employers running a holiday calendar, Morocco-wide, budget for 13 paid public holidays annually. Some dates are fixed in the Gregorian calendar, while others follow the lunar Hijri calendar.

The list of public holidays in Morocco is as follows:

• New Year
• Manifesto of Independence
• Amazigh New Year
• Eid al-Fitr
• Labor Day
• Eid al-Adha
• 1st Muharram
• Throne Day
• Anniversary of the Recovery of Oued Eddahab
• Revolution of the King and the People
• Youth Day
• Eid al-Mawlid
• Anniversary of the Green March
• Independence Day 

If a public holiday falls on the weekly rest day, the Labor Code typically does not require employers to grant a substitute day off, though collective agreements often do. However, you must pay employees working on a paid public holiday a 100% premium on top of the regular wage.

Sick leave in Morocco

Your leave policy in Morocco must include four days of paid sick leave every year. 

Employees are obliged to notify the employer of an illness or an accident. Moreover, you can ask to present a medical certificate to justify the absence beyond four days.

Employees are entitled to sick pay in Morocco, which is paid for by the CNSS. To qualify for this, the employee must have contributed to the social security for at least 54 days in the previous 6 months. However, in the case of non-occupational accidents, this can be ignored.

If the absence runs continuously beyond 180 days within a 365-day window, you can treat the contract as resigned by the employee. This is a sensitive call, and it is recommended to pursue it through local expert support with documented medical evaluations.

Maternity leave in Morocco

You must provide 14 weeks of paid maternity leave in Morocco to female employees, with at least seven weeks taken consecutively after the birth. 

CNSS pays the maternity indemnity at 100% of the average daily wage.

You handle another obligation on top:

• Granting a daily one-hour rest break for nursing mothers for up to 12 months after they return to work, in two 30-minute slots.

Across the region, paid maternity periods sit broadly in the same range. The Egypt EOR guide sets out a comparable framework for North African employers.

Paternity leave in Morocco

You must grant three days of paid leave on the birth of a child, taken within the first month. Any leave policy in Morocco provides for paying the wages upfront and recovering them from the CNSS later. 

Other types of leaves in Morocco

There is a list of paid statutory leave in Morocco for family event absences that most expat managers don’t anticipate. You must include it in your leave policy in Morocco as follows: 

• Wedding leave: Four days of leave for an employee’s own marriage and two days for the marriage of their child. 
• Bereavement leave: Three days for the death of a spouse, child, grandchild, or parent, and two days for a sibling, an in-law sibling, or a spouse’s parent. 
• Two days also apply to a child’s circumcision and to the surgery of a spouse or dependent child.

Religious observance during Ramadan is not a separate leave entitlement, but employers typically shorten the working day or shift hours. Most Moroccan employers voluntarily set Ramadan hours through internal regulations or collective agreements.

Explore Payoneer Workforce Management in Morocco

How you handle paid time off in Morocco depends on your engagement routes with the employee. Three broad routes exist:

• In-house HR team: You publish an internal regulation that aligns with the Labor Code and any applicable collective agreement, then track accruals and approvals yourself.
• HR or payroll outsourcing: A local provider runs accruals, payslip lines, and leave calculations on your behalf while you remain the legal employer of record.
• Partnering with an Employer of Record (EOR): An Employer of Record supports leave administration on your behalf, issuing leave-compliant contracts, paying maternity/paternity, applying sick benefits, and keeping records.

Payoneer Workforce Management runs the EOR setup in Morocco. Further, the Agent of Record service handles compliant contractor arrangements where leave doesn’t apply, and the Contractor Management System tracks invoicing and payments. 

For the wider regional view, the UAE hiring guide is a useful resource.

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