Permanent, fixed-term and temporary contracts in Morocco

A CDI (contrat à durée indéterminée) is Morocco’s permanent employment contract: no end date, ended by resignation, dismissal on legal grounds, agreement or force majeure. It is the default. The Labour Code (law 65-99) lets an employer use a CDD (contrat à durée déterminée, fixed-term) only in the cases article 16 lists, plus the new-business case in article 17, and temp work through an agency only in the four cases of article 496. Trial periods are capped by article 14: three months for managers, a month and a half for employees, fifteen days for manual workers, renewable once. Below: each contract’s rules with the article that sets them, the trial period, what the employer owes you in writing, and the common traps.

CDI, the permanent contract

Article 16 names three forms of employment contract: for an indefinite period, for a fixed period, or to carry out a defined piece of work. Only the fixed-term forms need a justification, so a job that fits none of the listed cases calls for a CDI.

Features:

• No fixed end date;
• A trial period, capped by article 14 (see the table below);
• Termination is framed: resignation with notice, dismissal for a valid reason (article 35 bans dismissal without one) with the disciplinary procedure where applicable and severance, mutual agreement, force majeure.

Resignation has a formality that catches people out. Article 34 says a CDI ends by the employee’s will “au moyen d’une démission portant la signature légalisée par l’autorité compétente”. A resignation, in other words, carries a legalised signature.

Trial periods, contract by contract

A contract, collective agreement or company rules may set a shorter trial, never a longer one.

Leaving during the trial is not entirely free. Article 13 lets either side end the trial without notice or indemnity, but once you have worked at least one week, a break not caused by your gross misconduct requires notice: two days if you are paid by the day, week or fortnight, eight days if you are paid monthly. And if you are dismissed after the trial has ended, without gross misconduct, the notice cannot be less than eight days.

CDD, the fixed-term contract

When a CDD is allowed

Article 16 says a CDD “ne peut être conclu que dans les cas suivants”:

• replacing an employee whose contract is suspended, unless the suspension results from a strike;
• a temporary increase in the company’s activity;
• seasonal work.

It adds that certain sectors and exceptional cases can be opened to CDDs by regulation, after consulting the most representative employer and union organisations, or by a collective agreement.

Article 17 adds a fourth case, outside agriculture: the first opening of a company or of a new establishment within it, or the first launch of a new product.

How long a CDD can last

Article 17 also closes a gap: a new-business CDD of up to one year that simply continues past its end date becomes a CDI. A fixed term only has a legal footing inside the cases above.

Ending a CDD early

Under article 33, a CDD ends on the date it sets or when the work it covered is finished. If either side breaks it early without gross misconduct by the other or force majeure, it owes damages equal to the wages from the date of the break to the agreed end date.

Written contract, signatures and proof

The Code does not make a written contract compulsory, and that is worth knowing in both directions.

• Article 18: the existence of an employment contract “peut être rapportée par tous les moyens”. Payslips, CNSS declarations, messages and witnesses all count. A written contract is also exempt from registration duties.
• Article 15: when the contract is written, it is drawn up in two copies carrying the signatures of the employee and the employer, legalised by the competent authority. The employee keeps one copy.

So an employer who never hands over a contract has not avoided the Code; you prove the relationship another way. Keep every payslip.

What the employer must give you in writing anyway

Whatever the contract type, article 24 requires the employer to communicate in writing at hiring, and again at every change:

• the applicable collective agreement and its content, if there is one;
• the company rules (règlement intérieur);
• working hours and how the weekly rest day works;
• health, safety and machine-risk rules;
• the date, time and place of payment;
• the CNSS registration number;
• the insurer covering work accidents and occupational diseases.

Article 23 adds a work card (carte de travail), to be renewed when your qualification or pay changes. Not issuing or renewing it costs the employer a fine of MAD 300 to 500 per employee under article 25. If the CNSS number is missing, see how to get and check a CNSS number.

Temp work through an agency

A temp worker is employed by a temporary employment agency (entreprise d’emploi temporaire), which pays the wages and carries the legal obligations of the contract (article 495), and is placed with a user company. Two written contracts frame it: agency and user company (article 499: the reason, the length and place of the assignment, the price), and agency and worker (article 501).

Allowed cases (article 496), for non-permanent tasks only:

1. replacing an absent employee or one whose contract is suspended, except by a strike;
2. a temporary increase in activity;
3. seasonal work;
4. work for which it is customary not to use a CDI, because of its nature.

Maximum length (article 500): the length of the suspension for a replacement; three months, renewable once, for a temporary increase; six months, not renewable, for seasonal or customary work.

Limits that protect the worker:

• No temps on work involving particular risks (article 497).
• A company that laid off staff for economic reasons cannot bring in temps to cover a temporary increase on the same posts for the following year (article 498).
• The worker’s contract must state, among other things, the pay and how it is paid, the trial period, the agency’s membership number and the worker’s CNSS registration number, and it must allow the user company to hire the worker after the assignment (article 501).
• The user company is responsible for health and safety, and for insuring temps against work accidents (article 504).

Breaches of these rules carry a fine of MAD 2,000 to 5,000 (article 505).

Common pitfalls

1. A CDD outside the listed cases. Article 16 is a closed list. A “CDD” for a permanent job with no replacement, peak or season behind it has no footing in the Code.
2. Disguised probation. Chaining short CDDs to “test” a candidate gets around the trial caps in article 14.
3. The new-business CDD that runs on. Past one year plus one renewal, or kept beyond its end date, it becomes a CDI under article 17.
4. No written contract. It does not mean no contract: article 18 lets you prove the relationship by any means.
5. Internship vs CDD confusion. Internships have a distinct regime (internship agreement) and must not be used to mask employment.
6. An unlegalised resignation. Article 34 requires a legalised signature on a CDI resignation. Before signing anything that ends a CDI, check which document it is and whether the signature has been legalised.

Looking for a CDI?

CDI is the default contract for most permanent hiring on Bayt’s Morocco listings. Filter Bayt.com job listings by “Full-time / Permanent”, and confirm CDI explicitly at offer time. Some employers default to CDD or “trial CDD” to delay commitment; ask.

Further reading

• Labour Code glossary entry
• Guide: Severance calculation, what a CDI termination triggers
• Guide: Paid annual leave, leave accrual under each contract type
• Guide: Understanding your Moroccan payslip, which contract details show up on every slip
• Guide: First job checklist, what to verify before signing your first contract
• Morocco’s 2026 minimum wage, the floor that applies under every contract type
• Blog: Remote work in Morocco, addendum requirements for hybrid arrangements
• Blog: Salary negotiation in Morocco, what’s negotiable alongside base pay

Sources

• Labour Code, law 65-99, promulgated by dahir n° 1-03-194 of 11 September 2003, articles 13 to 18, 23 to 25, 33 to 35 and 495 to 505: Bulletin officiel n° 5210 of 6 May 2004, official French translation, pages 605, 606, 648 and 649. Read 8 October 2026, as published in 2004; check later amendments before relying on a specific article in a dispute.