Fixed-Term Contracts in Morocco 2026: Conditions, Termination and Employee Rights

To replace an absent employee, the contract must correspond to an actual suspension of the replaced employee’s employment relationship. In practice, the fixed-term contract should state that employee’s name, position, reason for absence, and the event ending the replacement. The contract may not be used to replace a striking employee. If the replaced employee returns but the replacement continues performing exactly the same work for several months, the original reason becomes difficult to substantiate.

A temporary increase in activity means a one-off increase exceeding the company’s usual workload. An exceptional order, a limited project, or a specified commercial operation may fall within this category. The employer must nevertheless retain the contracts, schedules, or production data establishing its temporary nature. Activity that is sustained every year, without an identifiable interruption, does not become temporary merely because successive contracts are entered into for three or six months.

Seasonal work depends on natural seasons or a regular collective cycle. It includes certain agricultural campaigns, tourism activities, and packaging operations linked to a specific period. Repeating the fixed-term contract each season is not in itself sufficient to establish an open-ended contract. The court nevertheless examines whether the job actually ceases outside the season or whether the employee continues performing permanent duties under an artificial classification.

Article 17 establishes a specific regime when a business first opens, a new establishment opens, or a new product is launched outside the agricultural sector. The contract may last no more than one year and may be renewed once. In agriculture, it may be entered into for six months and renewed without exceeding two years in total. Once the limits prescribed by this provision have been exceeded, the relationship becomes open-ended.

Certain cases may also arise under a regulatory provision or an applicable collective agreement. Decree No. 2-04-469 of 29 December 2004 does not list these sectors: it establishes the notice periods for unilateral termination of open-ended contracts. For construction and public works, textiles and clothing, banking, or insurance, it is necessary to identify an industry-level or company collective agreement filed with the labour authority and verify its scope, date, and exact clauses.

Article 33 of the Labour Code permits early termination of a fixed-term contract without damages where it results from the other party’s gross misconduct or an event of force majeure. The parties may also enter into an agreement ending the contract. This agreement must be carefully drafted because a signature obtained under pressure may be challenged. It must specify the departure date, wages, leave, documents provided, and the handling of CNSS declarations.

Gross misconduct is not merely poor performance or disagreement with a manager. Article 39 refers in particular to theft, breach of trust, public intoxication, assault, serious insult, and certain unjustified absences. Under Article 62, the employee must be given an opportunity to be heard within a period not exceeding eight days from the date on which the facts were identified. The decision must then state the reasons and be notified in accordance with Articles 63 to 65.

Force majeure requires an external, unforeseeable, and unavoidable event that makes continuation of the contract genuinely impossible. A decline in turnover, the loss of a contract, or cash-flow difficulties do not automatically constitute force majeure. Economic dismissal is subject to a separate procedure, particularly under Articles 66 et seq. The employer must therefore establish objective impossibility, not merely the cost or inconvenience of maintaining the contract.

Where the employer terminates the contract without legally accepted grounds, Article 33 sets damages at the amount of wages corresponding to the period between termination and expiry. With a fixed monthly salary of 6,000 MAD and four months remaining, the basis amounts to 24,000 MAD. Accrued leave, previously unpaid wages, and contractually due bonuses may be added. Variable components must be proven through payslips or company practices.

The rule also applies against an employee who leaves a fixed-term contract without gross misconduct by the employer, force majeure, or an agreement. Simply giving notice is not necessarily sufficient to release the employee before expiry. If wages remain unpaid, safety is compromised, or harassment is alleged, the facts must be documented before work is stopped. Messages, formal notices, medical certificates, and steps taken before the labour inspectorate may then become decisive.

The employee may seek reclassification if the fixed-term contract is not based on any lawful ground, if the employee permanently occupies an ongoing position or if the limits under Article 17 are exceeded. The absence of a written contract is also a major ground: the settled case law of the Social Chamber of the Court of Cassation then presumes an open-ended contract. Continuing to work after the expiry date and a succession of backdated amendments also strengthen the claim. The court assesses the true nature of the relationship, not merely its designation.

The dispute falls within the jurisdiction of the social division of the Court of First Instance. Territorial jurisdiction depends in particular on the place where the work was performed and the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure. A prior attempt through the Labour Inspectorate may facilitate an agreement, but it is not a general admissibility requirement for all individual claims. Above all, this step must not cause the applicable judicial time limit to be overlooked.

Useful evidence includes contracts, amendments, payslips, bank statements, CNSS declarations, emails, schedules, badges, statements and documents describing the duties. Following reclassification, an end presented as mere expiry may become the dismissal of an employee under an open-ended contract. Depending on the case, the employee may then claim notice pay, the dismissal indemnity under Article 53 and damages under Article 41, calculated at one and a half months’ salary per year, up to a maximum of thirty-six months.

The ninety-day time limit under Article 65 must be applied precisely. It concerns a court action challenging a notified disciplinary dismissal decision, and the letter must also state this time limit. It does not automatically apply to every action seeking reclassification of a fixed-term contract or to every claim arising from termination. Presenting this time limit as a universal rule could result in the claim being mischaracterised.

Article 395 provides a two-year limitation period for rights arising from employment relationships. This limitation period may apply to wage claims and, depending on the exact nature of the relief sought, to certain reclassification claims. The characterisation adopted by the court remains decisive, particularly where the employee combines reclassification with a challenge to a disciplinary decision. In practical terms, the employee should wait neither ninety days nor two years: a lawyer should promptly identify the specific time limit for each claim.

In agriculture, tourism, fishing or the agri-food industry, the seasonal nature of work is assessed on the facts. An employee’s return over several seasons is not always sufficient to establish an open-ended contract where the activity genuinely ceases. Conversely, an employee present for almost the entire year, including outside seasonal periods, may demonstrate an ongoing need. Production calendars, previous contracts, CNSS records and schedules can be used to reconstruct the exact continuity of employment.

Temporary agency work is governed by Articles 495 to 506 of the Labour Code. The employee is hired by a temporary employment agency and assigned to a user undertaking for an authorised assignment. The assignment contract and the contract for the provision of workers must be distinguished. An unauthorised agency, an assignment with no temporary grounds or the long-term occupation of a structural position may lead to litigation concerning the nature of the contract and the identity of the responsible employer.

For a foreign worker, Articles 516 et seq. require authorisation from the governmental authority responsible for employment. The procedure may include an ANAPEC certificate, depending on the worker’s nationality, the position and the applicable international agreements. The term of the fixed-term contract, the duration of the work authorisation and the validity period of the residence permit are not necessarily identical. Each expiry date must therefore be monitored separately, without backdating a renewal to regularise a situation that has already expired.

Common errors include handing over originals without retaining copies, signing a forced resignation, accepting a non-itemised lump-sum settlement or claiming only a non-existent precarious employment bonus. Another risk is assuming that referral to the Labour Inspectorate automatically suspends all time limits. The end of a fixed-term contract declared as a resignation must be challenged promptly because it may jeopardise the IPE. The employee should retain correspondence and download their CNSS record before any access is closed.

The lawyer distinguishes expiry of the term, early termination and dismissal following reclassification. The lawyer also verifies whether the action is subject to the ninety-day time limit under Article 65 or the limitation period under Article 395. The lawyer’s work then consists of separately quantifying the wages remaining until expiry, leave, notice pay, the dismissal indemnity and any damages due. Lastly, the lawyer may negotiate an agreement specifying payment, CNSS declarations and the documents to be provided.