Code du Travail: Employee Leave Entitlements Under Moroccan Labour Law (2026 Guide)

Moroccan leave law sits in the Code du Travail (Law 65-99), and while the statute itself has been stable for two decades, how you apply it in a Casablanca startup or a Rabat family business still trips up most employers. Leave accrual is per month, not per year. Sick leave is stricter than most of the rest of Africa. Religious holidays shift each year with the Islamic calendar. And Ramadan changes working hours for almost everyone.

This guide walks through the full set of leave entitlements Moroccan employers need to manage, what the Code du Travail actually requires, and the cultural expectations that sit alongside the legal text. For the wider picture (payroll, statutory bodies, data protection), see our Morocco HR guide.

Annual leave

The Code du Travail grants paid annual leave at 1.5 working days per month of service. An employee becomes entitled to take leave after six months of continuous service, and the annual minimum works out to 18 working days per year.

Length of service increases the entitlement:

Years of service	Additional leave	Total annual leave
0 to 5	Base	18 days
After 5 years	+1.5 days	19.5 days
After 10 years	+3 days total	21 days
After 15 years	+4.5 days total	22.5 days
After 20 years	+6 days total	24 days
After 25 years	+7.5 days total	25.5 days
Max (30 years)	+12 days total	30 days

Employees under 18 get 2 working days per month (24 days per year). Leave cannot be replaced by a payment during the employment relationship; the employee has to actually take it. On termination, any accrued but untaken leave must be paid out in cash, which is something to factor into true cost of employment modelling when budgeting for severance.

Leave should be taken continuously unless the employee and employer agree otherwise. The employer sets the schedule in consultation with the employee and must give at least 30 days' notice of the planned leave date.

Sick leave

Morocco is stricter than most African jurisdictions on sick leave. The Code du Travail allocates only four days of paid sick leave per year (or eight half-days). Beyond that, the employee needs a medical certificate from a recognised practitioner, and extended illness falls under CNSS short-term benefits, not employer-paid leave.

If an employee is absent through illness for more than 180 consecutive days within a 365-day period, the employer has the right to consider the employment terminated on incapacity grounds. The relationship doesn't end automatically, but the legal basis for dismissal exists.

In practice, most Moroccan employers offer more than the statutory four days, and collective agreements in larger sectors typically include extended sick-leave provisions. For smaller employers, the statutory minimum plus CNSS coverage is the standard package.

Maternity leave

Female employees are entitled to 14 weeks of maternity leave, fully paid. At least seven weeks must be taken after the birth. The earliest the leave can begin is seven weeks before the expected date of delivery.

During maternity leave, the employee is protected from dismissal. The Code du Travail also provides for:

• An optional unpaid leave extension of up to 90 days after the statutory 14 weeks
• A further optional unpaid leave of up to one year
• Two daily breastfeeding breaks of 30 minutes each, for the first 12 months after birth, during working hours

Maternity leave is funded through CNSS short-term social benefits. The employer doesn't pay the salary directly during maternity leave; CNSS does, based on the employee's average contributed wages.

Paternity leave

Fathers are entitled to three days of fully paid paternity leave, to be taken around the time of birth. The days can be consecutive or split, by agreement, and must be used within the first month after the child's birth.

Three days is a legal minimum. Progressive Moroccan employers, particularly in tech and professional services, increasingly offer five to ten days, both to recruit and because it genuinely helps in the early weeks.

Public holidays

Morocco observes 11 public holidays that sit in two categories: fixed-date national holidays and variable religious holidays.

Fixed-date national holidays:

Date	Holiday
1 January	New Year's Day
11 January	Manifesto of Independence Day
1 May	Labour Day
30 July	Throne Day
14 August	Oued Ed-Dahab Day
20 August	Revolution of the King and the People
21 August	Youth Day
6 November	Green March Day
18 November	Independence Day

Variable religious holidays (dates shift each year with the Islamic calendar):

• Fatih Muharram (Islamic New Year)
• Eid al-Mawlid (Prophet Muhammad's birthday)
• Eid al-Fitr (typically 2 days)
• Eid al-Adha (typically 2 days)

Employees who work on a public holiday are entitled to either a compensatory day off or overtime pay, as specified in their contract or collective agreement.

Ramadan considerations

Ramadan isn't technically a leave entitlement, but it reshapes working patterns significantly and most Moroccan employers need a policy for it.

The Code du Travail doesn't mandate reduced hours during Ramadan for private-sector employees, but custom and many collective agreements do. A common pattern is a one- to two-hour reduction in daily hours for fasting employees. The public sector operates on reduced official hours during Ramadan; the private sector is more varied.

In practice, most Casablanca and Rabat employers adjust start or finish times, offer flexible lunch breaks, and schedule production-heavy work earlier in the day. Meeting-heavy roles can often continue normally with only small adjustments. What matters is that the approach is documented in a company policy, applied consistently, and communicated well in advance of Ramadan starting.

Other leave categories

The Code du Travail also provides for short paid leaves for specific life events:

• Marriage of the employee: 4 days
• Marriage of a child: 2 days
• Death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, or grandparent: 3 days
• Death of a parent-in-law, child-in-law, or grandchild: 2 days
• Circumcision of the employee's child: 2 days
• Surgical operation of the spouse or dependent child: 2 days

These are in addition to annual leave and cannot be deducted from it. They must be documented and kept as part of the employee's leave history.

Practical tips for Moroccan employers

Track accrual monthly, not yearly. Because leave accrues at 1.5 days per month, mid-year hires and mid-year departures both need prorated calculations. A leave balance spreadsheet updated annually will always be wrong; a leave management tool that accrues continuously solves the prorating without manual effort. For a quick country-comparable check on entitlements, our leave calculator covers Morocco and a dozen other jurisdictions.

Document Ramadan arrangements in writing. A company-wide Ramadan policy, circulated two or three weeks before Ramadan begins, covers the common questions about adjusted hours and prevents inconsistent handling between managers.

Keep records for five years after termination. Morocco doesn't specify a statutory retention period for leave records, but the general rule for employment records under the Code du Travail aligns with tax-record retention: five years minimum.

Compare against regional norms when setting policy. Moroccan statutory minimums are strict by regional standards on sick leave and relatively generous on maternity. For broader context, see our country-by-country comparison across African jurisdictions.

Key points

• Annual leave accrues at 1.5 days per month, with a minimum of 18 days per year after 6 months of service
• Service-based increases up to 30 days maximum
• Sick leave is only 4 days per year statutorily; beyond that, CNSS short-term benefits cover medically certified absences
• Maternity leave: 14 weeks fully paid, funded by CNSS
• Paternity leave: 3 days fully paid
• 11 public holidays split between fixed-date national days and variable Islamic holidays
• Ramadan hours are not statutory in the private sector but are nearly universal in practice

Managing Moroccan leave correctly starts with understanding that the statutory minimums are a floor, not a full policy. The Code du Travail gives you the legal structure; your company policy turns that structure into something employees can actually plan around.