Unvaccinated public employees in Morocco could face wage deductions

Morocco’s government is considering to impose wage deductions if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19 within the next 7 days, a circular from the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform showed.

The memorandum, received by Hespress AR, says that “in order to optimally implement national precautionary measures recommended by health authorities, and to ensure the normal course of work in the various interests of this ministry, it has been decided that the employees of this ministry must provide their vaccine pass prior to entering the headquarters of the administration.”

In addition to checking vaccine passes and vaccine exemption permits, the memorandum confirmed that “all employees of the Ministry who did not comply with these procedures, after the expiry of the seven-day period, will be prevented from entering the workplace.”

Unvaccinated public servants who are unable to enter their workplace due to their vaccination status will be noted as “deliberately interrupting their work,” and will be dealt with “in accordance with the procedure” allocated to this claim, which entails wage cuts and disciplinary actions such as suspension.

An official source at the Ministry of Economic Integration, Micro-enterprise, Employment, and Competencies confirmed to Hespress AR that “there is a tendency to tighten procedures in all public departments, especially after reopening the borders,” without adding any details or clarification regarding the nature of these procedures.

Hespress found data that employees working within the national education sector received calls from their superiors and managers this morning, urging them to receive their booster shots as soon as possible.

According to additional sources to Hespress AR, meetings and discussions are now being prepared within the management departments in various public sector services and administrations to “identify the individuals who are not vaccinated, or whose vaccination has expired.”

Anas Dahmouni, a member of the National Union of Labor in Morocco, said that the implementation of this procedure “has no legal basis,” noting that “there is no clause in the law framing public office that imposes compulsory vaccination on employees.”

This new internal memo comes only days after Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s head of government, called on private companies in the Kingdom to push for generalizing vaccine passes for all their personnel working in person.

Following Morocco’s reopening of borders, and with the new “strict and exaggerated” territory entry measures, Morocco is clearly pushing for a fully vaccinated population, slowly retracting an early pandemic assurance that “vaccination will not be compulsory, and will remain a personal choice for all citizens.”