The Court of Cassation put an end to the debate concerning the relationship governing cooperation between service providers, known as independent workers (freelancers), and employing companies, by affirming that a contract for the “provision of services” concluded between an individual entrepreneur and a company cannot be qualified as an employment contract.
Now a fashionable way of working, “freelancing”, adapted by several young people because of its flexibility, raises several questions. This topic sparked heated discussions after it was revealed that a number of public and private companies had chosen to circumvent labor laws in Morocco by employing workers under “contracts” independent workers ».
This practice deprives employees of many rights and benefits guaranteed by labor law, thus encouraging many young people to accept this type of unfair contract to escape the precariousness of unemployment.
This circumvention of the rules led the government, within the framework of the 2023 finance law, to introduce a new tax measure requiring individual entrepreneurs to pay 30% of their turnover exceeding 80,000 dirhams with the same client, after these Workers had until then paid a tax of 1% on their quarterly turnover.
This tax is deducted at source, with entrepreneurs being forced to open bank accounts dedicated to their activity and to prohibit any transactions with their “clients” via their personal accounts.
These measures caused general discontent among freelancers, who demanded an increase in the threshold to at least 100,000 dirhams as part of the 2025 finance law. However, this request was rejected by the government. As a result, many contractors have sought to renegotiate their contracts with their “clients/employers » in order to clarify and improve their contractual framework, by attempting to reclassify it as an employment contract, while the new restrictions make the status of the individual entrepreneur increasingly restrictive.
-In this context, Moroccan courts have received numerous cases opposing employing companies to workers disguised as “ individual entrepreneurs “. A notorious example of this type of case was revealed by M’hammed Abdenabaoui, first president of the Court of Cassation, during the opening of the 2025 judicial year, this Wednesday in Rabat.
The manager specified that the social chamber of the Court of Cassation, by its judgment no. 887/1 of 10/29/2024 in social case no. 2995/5/1/2024, ruled that “ the contract concluded with an individual entrepreneur is not an employment contract due to the absence of a relationship of subordination between the entrepreneur and the employer ».
In the same area, Abdennabaoui mentioned another judicial decision affirming that the application “WhatsApp » can be used as a valid means of informing an employer of an absence due to illness, in accordance with the ruling of the social chamber no. 46/1 of 01/23/2024 in case no. 237/5/1 /2023.
He said an employee, who was absent for six days after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor, had sent two medical certificates for a total of 34 days to her employer via WhatsApp, an app regularly used for communication within the company.
The employer having received these certificates was thus informed of the absence, rendering the allegation that the employee left her position without notice null and void. This decision annulled the appeal judgment for lack of reasoning.
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