The employee suspensions came from 134,000 companies.
Rabat – The Moroccan Minister of Labor and Professional Integration, Mohamed Amkraz, declared today that more than 900,000 employees were temporarily suspended from work during the month of April due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The suspended employees belong to 134,000 companies.
Amkraz made the statement during a question and answer session at the House of Representatives.
The minister said that this number provides a rough picture of the damage that the pandemic has caused to Moroccan companies and employees.
The official announced that during the month of March, the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) web portal recorded 131,955 economically damaged companies out of 216,000 registered companies in total.
This represents 61% of the affiliates, and translates to two damaged companies out of every three.
Meanwhile, the number of temporarily suspended employees reached 808,199, out of 2 million total, which translates to one suspended employee out of every three.
Amkraz indicated that the ministry has taken several measures to raise awareness among employers about respecting preventive measures against COVID-19, via labor inspectors.
He also said that the labor inspectors’ efforts focus mainly on guaranteeing the safe continuity of activity, by tracking preventive efforts on-site, encouraging offering employees early or exceptional holidays, and encouraging remote working and rotary work in order to reduce crowding.
Labor inspectors conducted 6,761 work site visits between March 13 and April 15, the minister noted.
Amkraz announced that following these site visits, the ministry closed 10 companies, employing 9,764 individuals, for not complying with preventive measures against the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, CNSS launched a new version of its COVID-19.cnss.ma portal on April 28 to allow affiliated companies to submit stipend requests for employees whose payments are suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The new website takes into account the provisions of decree 2-20-331 that the government council adopted on Friday, April 24.
The CNSS said employers are only eligible if they completely suspended activity because of the COVID-19 or have suffered a net drop in turnover of at least 50% for April, May, and June 2020 compared to the corresponding months of the 2019 financial year.
The number of employees at a company suffering payment suspension should not exceed 500, to be eligible for the benefits. For companies suspending more than 500 employees, requests will undergo a case-by-case review.
