EMC and GYLA call on the Parliament to carry out a labor reform

EMC and GYLA call on the Parliament of Georgia to reform the labor legislation necessary to safeguard the basic rights of employees.

Labor rights are being massively violated in the country. Dangerous and demeaning (committing outrages upon personal dignity) working environment, unregulated working hours, working without breaks and rest time, unpaid overtime work, discrimination in the workplace and other common practices of violation of rights, against the background of the weakness of labor law enforcement mechanisms, causes mass exploitation and vulnerability of workers.

We positively assess the planned changes in the labor legislation, such as: regulation of break and rest time; Improving the legal framework for the protection of employees from labor discrimination and defining the concept of reasonable accommodation; The new reorganization of the working hours; Guaranteed reimbursement of overtime work with increased tariffs, regulation of internship issues, etc. In addition, we welcome the institutional strengthening of the Labor Inspectorate and the increase of its mandate, which will be an important step towards effective enforcement of labor rights.

However, unfortunately, the initiated package of bills still does not envisage the ceiling of overtime working hours, does not offer comprehensive grounds for termination of the contract, does not introduce the right to solidarity strike or paternity leave, leaves extremely low maternity leave reimbursement and remains unfulfilled in other directions.

The package of initiated bills envisages important provisions, standards set by European directives and conventions of the International Labor Organization, the reflection and regulation of which in law will substantially enhance the rights of employees and their implementation in practice. However, at the same time, weak regulation or disregard for a number of issues remains a significant shortcoming of the package. We call on the Parliament that the important safeguards aiming for reinforcement of workers are reflected in the legislation and supported and the enforcement mechanisms are strengthened.