Moroccan employees are protected by the country’s labor code. Employers are expected to conform to the provisions stated in the employment law and provide the employees with the minimum required benefits. Below are some items that businesses need to be aware of when hiring employees.
Employee Contract
Public and Provincial Holidays
Leave Information
Basic
Employment contracts and other business documents must be written in the Arabic language.
Probation Period
Probation period for employees in Morocco may vary depending on their nature of work and employment classification. It can be as long as six months.
Employee Benefits
Moroccan employees are entitled to the following benefits during their employment:
The payroll cycle in Morocco is generally monthly.
The Minimum wage in Morocco is different in each industry sector. For the public sector, minimum wage is at MAD 4,500.00 per month. For the private sector, the rate is at MAD 3,140 per month and MAD 2,303 per month for agricultural workers.
Overtime Pay rate will depend on when the extra work was performed. Below are the rates:
- Overtime work on a regular day – 125% of employee’s hourly rate
- Overtime work during a night shift – 150% of employee’s hourly rate
- Overtime work on a weekly rest day – 100% of employee’s hourly rate
Employer Payroll Cost:
| Type of Contribution |
Tax Rate |
| Family Allocation |
6.4% |
| Social Allocation |
8.98% |
| Professional Training |
1.6% |
| Mandatory Medical Care |
4.11% |
Employee Payroll Cost:
Additionally, companies are expected to make contributions to the Social Solidarity Program based on their annual net income. Below are the following:
| Net taxable income (MAD) |
SSC rate (%) |
| Between 1 million and 5 million |
1.5 |
| Between 5 million and 10 million |
2.5 |
| Between 10 million and 40 million |
3.5 |
| More than 40 million |
5 |
Employee Payroll Tax
Below are the rates for Morocco’s social security scheme known as the Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS):
| Scheme |
Employee’s Contribution |
| Family Compensation |
- |
| Loss of Work Insurance |
0.52% |
| Pension |
3.96% |
| Basic Health Insurance |
- |
| Mandatory Health Insurance – Solidarity |
2.26% |
Additionally, employees are also expected to make a Social Solidarity contribution of 1.5% if their annual income exceeds 120,000 MAD
Employee Income Tax
| Annual taxable income (MAD) |
Tax rate (%) |
| 0 to 30,000 |
Exempted |
| 30,001 to 50,000 |
10 |
| 50,001 to 60,000 |
20 |
| 60,001 to 80,000 |
30 |
| 80,001 to 180,000 |
34 |
| More than 180,000 |
38 |
VAT
The Standard VAT rate in Morocco is 20%
Any employee dismissal in Morocco must undergo fair trial to justify the reason to terminate. A notice period is expected to be observed except for two reasons: fair dismissal for a serious misconduct and fair dismissal for 4 cumulative non-serious misconducts within a year.
The Notice Period for Moroccan employees may be up to 3 months, depending on their years of service with the company.
Severance pay
Severance Pay varies depending on the employee’s years of service. The calculation will be the employee’s average hourly rate X the number of hours they are entitled to based on how long they have worked for the company.
| Years of Service |
Entitled number of paid hours |
| >5 |
96 hours pay (50% of one-month pay) |
| 6 – 10 |
144 hours pay (75% of one-month pay) |
| 11-15 |
192 hours pay (100% of one-month pay) |
| 15 + |
240 hours pay (126% of one-month pay) |
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Foreign workers must apply for a work visa with the Department of Labour in Rabat to work in Morocco.
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They must also obtain a residency card to legally stay in the country.
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In 2025, Morocco implemented online pre-application portals to reduce processing time for work permits by 30%