Morocco’s Ministry of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills on Wednesday launched a nationwide program to inspect working conditions for private security guards, targeting companies that fail to comply with a new legal limit of eight hours of actual work per day.
The “National Program for Inspecting the Working Conditions of Private Security Guards — Toward Decent Work” will review employment contracts, working hours and wages across Morocco, the ministry said.
More than 600 labor inspectors will conduct visits to company headquarters as well as the sites where private security guards are actually deployed, according to the ministry.
The campaign seeks to curb practices that remain widespread in the sector, including 12-hour shifts, despite a recent amendment to Morocco’s Labor Code.
The amendment, Law 32.26, supplements Article 193 of the Labor Code and establishes an eight-hour maximum for the daily working time of private security guards.
Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills Minister Younes Sekkouri said the inspection program follows agreements reached through Morocco’s social dialogue process, which resulted in Parliament’s two chambers unanimously approving the legislation.
“The law clearly states that security guards may no longer work 12 consecutive hours under the pretext of intermittent work,” Sekkouri said in a statement to reporters. “Actual working time must be limited to eight hours per day.”
Sekkouri said the law also prohibits companies from including a 12-hour workday in new contracts signed after July 16.
Existing contracts signed before that date have been granted a transition period until Sept. 16, 2027, to comply with the new rules, he said.
However, the ministry decided to deploy 600 labor inspectors nationwide after identifying cases in which companies were not complying with the new provisions, Sekkouri said.
Inspectors will visit companies that have won security contracts as well as the sites where guards are assigned to work, he said.
The inspections will focus on three main areas: verifying actual working hours, ensuring that net wages do not fall below the statutory hourly minimum wage, and checking whether companies have properly registered their security guards with Morocco’s National Social Security Fund, known by its French acronym CNSS.
The ministry has also issued an administrative circular to labor inspectors instructing them to establish regional committees and organize field visits, Sekkouri said.
The campaign will result in reports documenting violations that can be referred to the relevant authorities, including the public prosecutor’s office and the National Social Security Fund, he said.
Sekkouri said the measures are intended to enforce labor laws while also supporting companies and public administrations during the transition period.
The ministry will work to raise awareness among employers and help them adjust future contracts and procurement procedures to comply with the new legal limits on working hours, he said.
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