A parliamentary committee in Morocco has unanimously approved a labor reform that will require private security guards to follow the country’s standard working-hour rules, ending a system that allowed many guards to work up to 12 hours a day while being paid on the basis of an eight-hour workday.
The House of Councillors Committee on Education, Cultural, and Social Affairs approved the bill, which amends Article 193 of Morocco’s Labor Code and removes private security guards from a category of workers whose jobs are considered intermittent.
With the new amendment, private security guards will be subject to the same standard working-hour rules as other employees under Article 184 of the Labor Code. The change is expected to improve labor conditions across the sector and provide greater protection for workers.
The new rules will apply to employment contracts signed after the law enters into force following its publication in the Official Gazette. Companies that signed contracts before the law takes effect will be given a nine-month transition period to comply with the new requirements.
During committee discussions, several councillors called for reducing the transition period from 12 months to six months to prevent possible attempts to avoid the new regulations. However, Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment, and Skills Younes Sekkouri proposed nine months instead.
Sekkouri said a shorter deadline could create practical difficulties, especially for ongoing contracts and budgets that have already been allocated under existing agreements.
The discussions revealed broad agreement among lawmakers and stakeholders on the need to address what many described as unfair conditions faced by private security guards.
Lawmakers emphasized the need to balance workers’ rights with business continuity. They argued that improving conditions for security guards should go beyond reducing working hours and should also include enforcing minimum wage requirements, ensuring workers are registered with the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), and preventing attempts to undermine the new protections.
Several speakers also said that shorter working hours should not be used as a justification for lowering wages. They called for legal and regulatory solutions that take into account special situations, particularly for guards working in remote areas or at sites with exceptional operating conditions
