1. What the Labour Code provides
Fourteen weeks (article 152)
An employee whose pregnancy is attested by a medical certificate is entitled to fourteen weeks of maternity leave, unless the employment contract, the collective agreement or the internal rules provide something more favourable.
Article 154 sets the period: the employee may suspend her employment contract from seven weeks before the expected date of delivery until seven weeks after it.
Extension for a pathological condition
If a pathological condition attested by a medical certificate, resulting from the pregnancy or the confinement, makes an extension necessary, the leave is increased by the duration of that condition.
The law sets two limits: the suspension may not exceed eight weeks before the expected date of delivery, nor fourteen weeks after it. There is no automatic flat-rate extension for a multiple birth.
If delivery occurs before the expected date, the suspension may be extended until the employee has used the fourteen weeks she is entitled to (article 154).
Not returning immediately (article 156)
To raise her child, an employee may refrain from returning to work at the end of the seven weeks following delivery, or the fourteen weeks where applicable, provided she gives her employer notice at the latest fifteen days before the end of the leave. That suspension may not exceed ninety days.
She may also, by agreement with her employer, take one year of unpaid leave. At the end of the suspension she returns to her position with the benefits acquired beforehand.
The nursing hour (articles 161 and 162)
For twelve months from her return to work, a nursing mother is entitled each day to a special rest period paid as working time: half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon. This hour is separate from the rest periods applied in the company.
By agreement with the employer, this hour may be taken at any point in the working day. Any company employing at least fifty women over sixteen must also set up a nursing room.
2. The allowance paid by the CNSS
How much, and on what basis
The maternity daily allowance equals 100 % of the capped average daily wage, calculated on the last six months of salary subject to contributions.
It is paid over fourteen weeks, that is 98 days, of which at least seven weeks must be taken after the birth.
The cap applies to the salary subject to contributions: above it, the allowance no longer tracks the salary. Some collective agreements provide an employer top-up to close that gap, which is worth checking in your agreement or contract.
The three conditions
Having accumulated at least 54 days of contributions over the last ten months of registration preceding the date work stopped for the birth.
Ceasing all salaried activity during the period covered by the allowance.
Residing in Morocco.
If the beneficiary dies
If the beneficiary dies during the payment period, the unpaid balance goes to the entitled party, under the same terms as those applied to the death grant.
3. Filing the claim, and by when
Two deadlines not to miss
The notice of work interruption must be filed within 30 days of the date work stopped.
The maternity daily allowance application must be filed within a maximum of nine months from that same date. It is the most commonly overlooked deadline, and the most expensive.
Where to file
Claims are submitted online through TAAWIDATY (taawidaty.cnss.ma), reachable from the macnss.ma insured portal, or filed at the CNSS branch of your choice.
The file starts with the work interruption notice and daily allowance application form, reference 312-1-16, together with a copy of the electronic national ID card or residence permit. The CNSS publishes the full list of documents on its dedicated page.