Labour law in security: continuous operation and shifts

• 40 hours: full time in every sector, over a five-day week (8 hours a day) or a six-day week (6 hours 40 minutes) (art. 189 §1).
• 8 and 48: working hours may not exceed 8 a day and 48 a week (art. 187).
• 48 on average: over a period of up to 4 months, overtime included; leave and sickness are neutral (art. 174).
• Continuous operation: where the nature of the work requires successive staff rotation, the 8-hour limit may be exceeded if the average stays at or below 48; teams must then change order every week (the night team moves to days) and any team working a Sunday gets 24 hours’ rest on another day (art. 201).

What this means for the guard, shift by shift, is in our guide to guard shifts and working hours. Here we look at it from the side of the employer, the supervisor and the client.

• In total: 24 × 7 = 168 hours a week · 168 ÷ 40 = 4.2 full-time positions.
• Night: 8 hours × 7 nights = 56 hours a week at a 25% premium.
• Sunday: 24 hours every week at a 75% premium.
• Holidays: the nine holidays of art. 219 §2 are up to 9 × 24 = 216 hours a year at the same premium.
• Leave: every worker is entitled to at least four weeks’ paid annual leave after 12 months of continuous employment (art. 175 §1) — hours someone else must cover.

How these hours become people and shifts, with a margin for absences, is shown in how many guards do I need and the security shift roster.

Article 176 sets two rules:

• §1 — average: normal night working time may not exceed an average of 8 hours per 24 hours over one week. Only a national or regional collective agreement may set another reference period. The 24-hour weekly rest is left out of the average.
• §2 — hard limit: where night work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain, no more than 8 hours in any 24-hour period in which night work is done. Unless law or a collective agreement defines it, which work falls here is decided within the business, after consultation with worker representatives, through the written risk assessment (art. 534 §1), which must also assess the risks of night work.

For employers: the written risk assessment must address night posts explicitly. See our guide to occupational safety for security guards.

• Daily: at least 11 consecutive hours in every 24 hours (art. 171).
• Weekly: 24 consecutive hours, in principle including Sunday, plus the 11 hours; in round-the-clock activities with successive teams, “Sunday” may run from 06:00 or 07:00 to the same hour on Monday (art. 173).
• Sunday in continuous operation: a team that worked Sunday gets 24 hours’ rest on another day of the week (art. 201).
• Derogations: art. 182 §2.1(β) allows derogations from arts 171, 172, 173 and 176 for guarding work that needs continuous presence, only through collective agreements or agreements with worker representatives in works councils, and with equivalent compensatory rest.

We could not verify a current sector-wide collective agreement for guarding. If a roster gives less rest, the provider must be able to show which agreement it relies on.

Night work carries +25% (art. 150 §1), and work on Sundays and on 25 March, Easter Monday, 1 May, 15 August, 28 October, 25 and 26 December, 1 and 6 January carries +75% (art. 219). On a 24/7 post that means 56 night hours and 24 Sunday hours every week.

For the client, price is never a reason to choose, only to reject: an offer that cannot show how it pays these hours lawfully is rejected, because something essential is missing — usually from the guard. How to check this in practice is in check your security company pays guards legally.

• Duty: the employer runs an electronic working-time system connected in real time to ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ΙΙ; the card records start, end, breaks, work beyond the schedule and leave (art. 580 §1–2).
• Guarding: Ministerial Decision 24595/2024 brings in businesses whose main activity is guarding and protection services, ΚΑΔ 8010 and 8020.
• Enforcement: the data are cross-checked against the employer’s periodic social-security return and used by the Labour Inspectorate; a card found not activated on inspection means a fine per worker, and the same breach found in three inspections within 12 months means a 15-day suspension of operations (§3–4).

The card shows the hours, not the work. OVIT brings patrols, incidents and reports together in the Guardly platform, so the client sees what happened within those hours. More on the card in our guide to the digital work card in security. For a 24/7 post with a lawful roster, request a proposal.