Paid leave in Morocco: accrual, balance and payroll impact

One employee takes three weeks and you wonder what to pay them. Another has taken nothing for two years and you think you have saved money. In both cases the logic is the same: the entitlement accrues at the pace of work, a day and a half a month, and an untaken balance remains owed. Leave not taken is not a saving; it is a growing debt.

1. How the entitlement accrues

Leave does not open as a block at the start of the year: it builds month by month, in return for work performed. That is why an employee who joined in September does not have the same balance in December as a long-standing colleague.

• The accrual rate: A day and a half of leave per month of actual work, giving eighteen working days over a full year.
• The effect of seniority: The labour code provides for the duration to increase with the employee’s seniority. Check the exact entitlement before settling a long-standing account.
• What counts as actual work: Periods the law treats as equivalent continue to accrue entitlement. Not every absence suspends accrual, which is checked case by case.
• Carry-over: An untaken balance does not disappear at the end of the calendar year. It stays on the employee’s account until taken or paid.

That last line is what costs businesses that never organise departures. A team that never takes leave accumulates a liability that surfaces all at once, usually at the worst moment: a termination or a sale.

---

2. What the employee receives while on leave

The principle is simple: leave is paid as though worked. The difficulties come from variable elements, which are not all treated the same way.

Item	Treatment during leave
B	a	s	e		s	a	l	a	r	y
M	a	i	n	t	a	i	n	e	d	,		s	i	n	c	e		l	e	a	v	e		i	s		r	e	m	u	n	e	r	a	t	e	d		a	s		w	o	r	k

The third line is forgotten in both directions. A travel expense reimbursement is not paid during leave, since there is no travel; but an allowance that is “expenses” in name only and is paid every month without documentation will be treated as salary, leave included.

How these items are classified between subject and not subject is set out in our guide to the lines on a payslip.

3. Tracking the balance without a parallel register

Tracking always fails the same way: days taken are noted somewhere, days accrued nowhere, and nobody knows where the account stands. A balance is kept like a running account.

1. Credit the entitlement each month, rather than opening an annual allowance in January.
2. Debit the days actually taken, distinguishing paid leave, absence and public holidays.
3. Show the balance on the payslip, so the employee sees it every month.
4. Close the account at the year end and provide for the untaken balance.
5. Settle the account on termination, as compensatory pay.

Showing the balance on the payslip settles a good share of disputes before they exist: an employee who sees their counter every month does not discover a ten-day disagreement on the way out.

4. The accounting impact, and what BelloPOS does

Leave accrued and untaken at the closing date is a cost of the year, even though the cash will leave later: the service was rendered and the right arose. Ignoring it flatters the result and defers the problem. The provision is calculated on the balance in days, valued at the relevant employee’s salary, employer contributions included.

The treatment of that accrual entry is developed in our guide to accrued charges and income; this article stays on the payroll side.

BelloPOS Pro manages leave alongside employee records and payslips, which lets you keep the counter rather than rebuild it. The software does not calculate your provision for you: it gives you the balance in days, which is its base.

Mistakes to avoid

• Opening an annual allowance in January instead of crediting the entitlement month by month.
• Believing an untaken balance lapses at the end of the calendar year.
• Paying expense reimbursements during leave, when they offset costs that do not arise.
• Leaving the balance off the payslip, which turns every departure into a negotiation.
• Failing to provide for accrued leave at the closing date, which flatters the year’s result.

---

Frequently asked questions

Can an employee waive leave in exchange for payment?

Leave exists for rest and is not simply a negotiable element of pay. Compensatory pay is provided for on termination, not as a substitute for the annual rest.

Do public holidays count as leave?

No, they are two distinct regimes. A public holiday falling during a leave period should not be deducted from the paid leave balance.

How is an employee who joined mid-year treated?

Their entitlement is calculated pro rata to months of actual work, at the same day-and-a-half rate. There is no annual allowance to apportion.

Must the balance appear on the payslip?

Whether it appears or not, you must be able to justify it. Showing it is the simplest way to keep the evidence and avoid late disputes.

What to take away

A day and a half a month accrues, is taken, or is owed. Credit the counter monthly, show it on the payslip, provide for the balance at year end and settle it on termination. Leave not taken is never a saving, only a deferred debt.

Sources

The figures and rules quoted above come from these pages, read on the date given in the article.

• Ministry of Justice, Labour Code, read 31 August 2026
• National Social Security Fund, contribution rates and ceiling, read 8 September 2026
• Ministry of Economy and Finance, General Code of Accounting Standardisation, read 1 September 2026

Read next

Other practical guides on the same subject:

• The payslip in Morocco: reading and filling in every line
• The real cost of an employee in Morocco: well beyond the salary
• Accrued expenses and accrued income in Morocco: the closing method
• The employee file in Morocco: documents to collect and to keep