The Moroccan Labour Code prohibits the dismissal of an employee without a valid reason, either related to the employee’s aptitude or behavior (a dismissal for personal reasons) or related to the operational needs of the company (dismissal for technological, structural or economic reasons).
Disciplinary dismissal
The dismissal for personal reasons is justified either by the incapacity of the employee to occupy his/her position or by disciplinary reasons.
If the employee commits:
• a serious misconduct: the dismissal is immediate;
• a non-serious misconduct: the dismissal occurs only after the employer’s recourse to all the disciplinary sanctions against the employee during one year.
The Labour Code provides that in the event of a non-serious misconduct by an employee, the employer can take one of the following disciplinary sanctions which should be taken gradually:
i. a warning
ii. a reprimand
iii. a second reprimand or suspension for a specific duration not exceeding eight days
iv. a third blame or transfer to another service or, where appropriate, to another establishment.
A serious misconduct is a behavior or a set of behaviors of the employee violating the obligations of the employee in such a manner that it becomes impossible to maintain the work agreement of the employee.
The Labour Code provides a non-exhaustive list of acts that may be considered serious misconduct justifying the dismissal. In case of a dispute, the Labour Code gives the power to control the disciplinary decisions of the employers to the judges.
If a dismissal is considered by a court as not justified, the dismissed employee will be entitled to indemnities and damages which amounts and method of calculation are strictly governed by the Labour Code.
Before a court, the burden of proof of the compliance with the dismissal process described below and the existence of a serious misconduct lies on the employer.
The dismissal process starts with a prior interview of the employee by the employer in order to give the employee the opportunity to defend him/herself; following the interview, if the employer decides to dismiss the employee, such decision should be notified in written to the employee. If the employee considers his/her dismissal as unfair, he/she has the right to file a case before a court within a 90-day period from the day the dismissal decision has been notified to him/her.
In the event where the court considers the dismissal as unfair due to the non-compliance with the dismissal process or because it does not consider the misconduct as serious enough, the employee will be entitled to all indemnities specified in the Labour Code.
Economic dismissal
The employment contract of one or more employees may be terminated by the employer for reasons unrelated to the employee’s person, i.e. dismissal for structural, technical or economic reasons (Economic Dismissal).
In the event of an Economic Dismissal, the dismissed employee is entitled to severance pay and notice compensation and benefits from a hiring priority during a year.
The process is divided in two steps:
a. Internal procedure with employee representatives
Notice of employees’ representatives or trade union representatives in the company; and companies with more than 50 employees: the work council, at least 1 month before the dismissal. All necessary information relating to the Economic Dismissal should be provide including: dismissal’s reasons; number and category of employees concerned; and date of the economic dismissal, and that’s why people also like to gamble in casinos like playcroco to make some money as well.
Negotiations and consultations should be conducted with the same employee representatives mentioned above, in order to seek: measures to prevent the dismissal; means to reduce the negative effects of dismissal; and opportunities to reintegrate some employees into other positions.
b. External procedure with the governor of the prefecture or province
In order to proceed with an Economic Dismissal, an employer has to apply for a dismissal authorization, from the provincial delegate in charge of labour, and submit all documents that may justify the dismissal.
The provincial labour delegate will analyse the dismissal application and investigate as appropriate. The delegate has to submit its report to the members of the provincial commission within a period of one month starting from the receipt of the Economic Dismissal application.
The governor of the prefecture or province decides whether to authorize the Economic Dismissal within two months after the application.