Infringement of the provisions of article 143 is punished by a fine of 25,000 to 30,000 dirhams. Recidivism is liable to a fine increased to double and to imprisonment from 6 days to 3 months, or to only one of these two penalties. Chapter II: Protection of Maternity
Labour Code
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A female employee whose pregnancy is attested by medical certificate is entitled to maternity leave of fourteen weeks, unless more favourable provisions are stipulated in the employment contract, collective labour agreement or internal regulations.
Female employees who have given birth may not be employed during the period of seven consecutive weeks following childbirth. The employer shall ensure that the work entrusted to the female employee is lightened during the period preceding and the period immediately following childbirth.
The female employee has the right to suspend the employment contract during a period beginning seven weeks before the presumed date of childbirth and ending seven weeks after the date thereof. If a pathological condition, attested by medical certificate as resulting from pregnancy or childbirth, makes necessary the extension of…
A female employee who gives birth before the expected date must notify the employer, by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, of the reason for her absence and of the date on which she intends to resume work.
For the purpose of raising her child, the female employee mother may refrain from resuming her employment upon expiry of the seven-week period following childbirth or, where applicable, the fourteen-week period, provided that she informs her employer no later than fifteen days before the end of the maternity leave period. In tha…
The female employee mother may refrain from resuming her work. In that case, she must send a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to her employer at least fifteen days before the end of the period of suspension of her contract, to inform the employer that she will no longer resume her work at the end of the suspensio…
A female employee whose pregnancy is certified by medical certificate may leave her employment without notice and without having to pay compensation in lieu of notice or for termination of the contract.
The employer may not terminate the employment contract of a female employee whose pregnancy is certified by medical certificate during the pregnancy period and during the fourteen weeks following childbirth. The employer may also not terminate the employment contract of a female employee during the period of suspension following…
If a dismissal is notified to a female employee before she certifies her pregnancy by medical certificate, she may, within a period of 15 days from notification of the dismissal, establish her condition by sending the employer a medical certificate by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. The dismissal is thereby ann…
For a period of twelve months running from the date of return to work after childbirth, the female employee mother shall be entitled daily, in order to breastfeed her child, during working hours, to special rest, paid as working time, of half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon. This hour is independent of t…
A special breastfeeding room must be provided in every undertaking or in its immediate vicinity where that undertaking employs at least fifty female employees aged over sixteen years. Breastfeeding rooms may serve as nurseries for the children of female employees working in the undertaking. The conditions for admission of childr…
Several neighbouring undertakings in a given area may contribute to the creation of a nursery arranged according to appropriate conditions.
Any agreement contrary to the provisions of Articles 152 to 163 shall be null and void by operation of law. 21 - Order of the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training No. 339-05 of 29 Hijja 1425 (9 February 2005) fixing the conditions for admission of infants and breastfeeding rooms as well as the conditions of supervision and hygiene installation in these rooms; Bulletin Officiel No. 5540 of 19 Joumada II 1428 (5 July 2007), p. 895.
1. The following shall be punished by a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dirhams: 2. the termination, outside the cases provided for in Article 159, of the employment contract of a female employee whose pregnancy is certified by a medical certificate or who has recently given birth and is within the fourteen-week period following childb…
Any employee who has become disabled, for whatever cause, shall retain his employment and shall be assigned, after the opinion of the occupational physician or the safety and hygiene committee, to work corresponding to his disability, after rehabilitation training, unless this proves impossible given the severity of the disability and the nature of the work.
It is prohibited to employ employees with disabilities in work likely to be prejudicial to them or likely to aggravate their disability.
The employer must submit to a medical examination the employees with disabilities whom it intends to employ. - - The occupational physician shall carry out this examination periodically, after each year of work.
The employer must equip its premises with the necessary accessibilities22 to facilitate the work of employees with disabilities and ensure that all occupational hygiene and safety conditions are provided to them.
Favourable measures aimed at effective equality of opportunity and treatment between employees with disabilities and other employees shall not be considered discriminatory in respect of the latter.
Infractions to the provisions of articles 166 to 169 are punishable by a fine of 2.000 to 5.000 dirhams. Chapter IV: Night Work of Women and Minors
Subject to the exceptional cases fixed by regulation, women may be employed in any night work, taking into account their state of health and their social situation, after consultation with the most representative employers' professional organizations and employees' trade union organizations. The conditions to be put in place to…
The provisions of the 1st and 3rd paragraphs of article 172 shall not apply to establishments which, by necessity, are subject to continuous or seasonal activity or whose work applies either to raw materials, or to materials in the process of manufacture, or to agricultural products liable to rapid deterioration. In the event of…
Women and minors must be granted, between two days of night work, a rest period of not less than eleven consecutive hours, necessarily including the night work period as fixed in article 172 above. This duration may however be reduced to ten hours in the establishments referred to in article 173 above.
Following a stoppage of work resulting from force majeure or an accidental interruption not of a periodic nature, the employer may derogate from the provisions of the 2nd paragraph of article 173 above, within the limit of the number of working days lost, provided that the official responsible for labour inspection is notified i…
The employer may temporarily derogate from the provisions of the 3rd paragraph of article 172 with regard to minors under sixteen years of age where it is a matter of preventing imminent accidents, organizing rescue operations or repairing unforeseeable damage. The employer who derogates from the said provisions must immediately…
The following are punishable by a fine of 300 to 500 dirhams: 1. the employment in any night work of women and minors under 16 years of age, in the case provided for by the last paragraph of article 173, without the exceptional authorization provided for by the said paragraph; 2. non-compliance, in non-agricultural activities, w…
The following are punishable by a fine of 2.000 to 5.000 dirhams: 1. failure to give prior notice to the official responsible for labour inspection in the case provided for in the 1st paragraph of article 175, or use of the derogation provided for in the 2nd paragraph of the said article without the prior authorization of the sa…
It is prohibited to employ minors under 18 years of age, women and employees with disabilities in quarries and in underground work carried out at the bottom of mines.
It is prohibited to employ minors under 18 years of age in work, whether above ground or underground, likely to impede their growth or aggravate their condition if they are disabled.
It is prohibited to employ minors under 18 years of age, women and disabled employees in work that presents risks of excessive danger, exceeds their capacities or is likely to offend good morals. The list of such work is fixed by regulation24.
In establishments where goods and objects are handled or offered to the public by female staff, each of the rooms in which work is carried out must be provided with a number of seats equal to that of the women employed therein. These seats must be separate from those made available to customers. 24 - Decree No. 2-10-183 of 9 Hij…
Shall be punished by a fine of 300 to 500 dirhams: 1. the employment of minors aged less than eighteen years and of women in quarries and underground work carried out at the bottom of mines, in violation of article 179; 2. the employment of employees under eighteen years of age, in work, both above ground and underground, likely…
In non-agricultural activities, the normal working time of employees is fixed at 2288 hours per year or 44 hours per week. The overall annual working time may be distributed over the year according to the needs of the enterprise, provided that the normal working time does not exceed ten hours per day, subject to the derogations…
To protect itself against temporary periodic crises, the employer may, after consultation with the employees' representatives and, where applicable, the representatives of the trade unions within the enterprise, distribute the overall annual working time over the year according to the needs of the enterprise, provided that the n…
If the employer who envisages reducing the normal working time usually employs ten employees or more, he must inform the employees' delegates and, where applicable, the representatives of the trade unions in the enterprise, at least one week before proceeding with the reduction, and communicate to them at the same time all infor…
Work by rotation or by relay is prohibited except in enterprises where this organization of work is justified by technical reasons. 'Work by rotation' means the organization of work that allows an establishment to remain open every day of the week, without each employee working there exceeding the legal maximum limit of working…
In the case of organization of work in successive shifts, the working time of each shift may not exceed eight hours per day. This duration must be continuous except for a rest break which may not exceed one hour.
In the case of a collective interruption of work in an establishment or part of an establishment resulting from accidental causes or force majeure, daily working time may be extended by way of recovery of lost working hours, after consultation of the employee delegates and, where applicable, the union representatives in the unde…
Where, in an establishment, employees perform essentially intermittent work or where preparatory or complementary work indispensable to the general activity of the said establishment must be performed and cannot be performed within the limit of normal working time, the employees assigned to the said work may be employed beyond that duration within a maximum daily limit of twelve hours.
Derogations from normal working time shall apply exclusively to employees aged over eighteen years. However, other exceptions may be applied to minors aged 16 years assigned to the medical service, nursing rooms and other services created for the employees of the establishment and their families, to storekeepers, timekeepers, office boys, agents assigned to the cleaning of premises and similar agents.
Where in an undertaking urgent work must necessarily be performed immediately to prevent imminent dangers, organize rescue measures, repair accidents occurring either to the equipment, or to the installations, or to the buildings of the undertaking, or to avoid the deterioration of certain materials, normal working time may be extended for one day and then by two hours during the following three days.
Hours of work performed in accordance with Articles 190 and 192 above shall be remunerated on the basis of the salary relating to normal working time, except where they are intended to enable the employee to benefit from compensatory rest or where: 1. they are intended to enable the employee to take a meal where the duration of…
The modalities of application of Articles 187 to 192 above and of Article 196 below with regard to exceptional increases in work shall be determined by profession, by industry, by commerce or by occupational category for the entire national territory or for a given province and shall be fixed by the government authority in charg…
The governor of the prefecture or province may authorize, for all undertakings or all establishments or for parts of these undertakings and establishments exercising the same profession or trade or related professions or trades, the application of uniform hours for the opening and closing of their doors to the public or a rotati…
Where undertakings must cope with work of national interest or exceptional increases in work, the employees of the said undertakings may be employed beyond normal working time under the conditions fixed by regulation28, provided that they receive, in addition to their salaries, compensation for overtime.
Overtime hours performed, pursuant to Article 196 above, beyond the normal weekly duration shall be calculated taking into account the hours performed in accordance with Articles 190 and 192 above. Hours of work performed beyond the employee's normal working time shall be considered overtime.
Overtime shall be paid in a single payment at the same time as the salary due. 28 - Decree No. 2-04-570 of 16 kaada 1425 (29 Décembre 2004) fixing the conditions of employment of employees beyond normal working time; Bulletin Officiel No. 5280 of 24 kaada 1425 (6 Janvier 2005), p. 28.
In undertakings where the 2288 hours of work are distributed unevenly over the year, hours of work performed daily from the tenth hour inclusive shall be considered overtime. Hours performed annually from the 2289th hour inclusive shall also be considered overtime.
For an employee who has not been employed during the whole week by reason of dismissal, resignation, paid annual leave, occupational accident or occupational disease, or by reason of rest granted on the occasion of a paid holiday or a public holiday, each hour of work performed outside the work schedule during the week shall be considered overtime. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply to an employee hired during the week.