Georgian Labor Code — a practical reference

The Georgian Labor Code (in force since 2010, materially amended in 2020) is the primary statute governing employment relationships in Georgia — covering contract formation, working hours, leave, wages, termination, and dispute resolution. It applies to all private-sector employment regardless of the employer's nationality or the employee's residency status, with limited exceptions for public-service workers governed by separate statutes.

Article 6 of the Georgian Labor Code requires every employment relationship to be documented in a written contract specifying the parties, the work to be performed, the workplace, the start date, the working hours, the wage, and (if fixed-term) the duration. A contract not specifying a duration defaults to indefinite-term. Verbal agreements are not enforceable as employment contracts; the absence of a written contract creates default-rule exposure for the employer in any subsequent dispute.

Georgia has 17 statutory public holidays in 2026 under Article 30 of the Labor Code. Employees are entitled to paid time off; work performed on a public holiday must be paid at double the normal rate, or substituted with another paid day off if the employee agrees.

Under Article 24 of the Georgian Labor Code, every employee is entitled to a minimum of 24 working days of paid annual leave per year. Article 25 adds 15 additional days for hazardous, harmful, or specially-conditioned work. Article 26 governs how leave is requested, scheduled, and paid out — including the rule that leave compensation must equal the employee's average wage and be paid in advance of the leave period.

Article 17 of the Georgian Labor Code sets the standard work week at 40 hours for adult employees, organized typically across five 8-hour days. Article 18 caps overtime at 48 working hours per week including base time and requires premium pay for overtime hours — typically 125% of the regular hourly rate, though the contract can specify higher.

Article 27 of the Georgian Labor Code grants 183 calendar days of paid maternity leave (with an extension to 200 days for complications or multiple births). Article 28 expands this into a combined parental-leave entitlement of up to 730 calendar days per child — the additional days beyond the paid 183 are unpaid leave with job protection. The state pays a fixed lump sum from the social fund regardless of the employee's actual wage; employers commonly top up the difference per the employment contract.

Article 31 of the Georgian Labor Code entitles employees to up to 30 calendar days of sick leave per year. Medical certification is required for absences beyond a short threshold (typically two consecutive working days). Sick leave does not consume annual-leave entitlement; the two are separate categories. Payment during sick leave is determined by the employment contract — there is no flat statutory employer-paid sick-pay rate, though employers commonly pay 100% of the wage for the documented period.

Article 32 of the Georgian Labor Code requires wages to be paid in monetary form at minimum monthly intervals, with each payment accompanied by a written calculation breakdown. Cash, bank transfer, and certain non-cash equivalents are permitted; deductions must be authorized by law or employee consent and cannot reduce wages below the statutory minimum.

When an employer terminates an indefinite-term employment contract under specific grounds in Article 47 (most commonly: business reasons / redundancy), Article 48 requires the employer to pay the employee severance equal to at least one month's wages — in addition to honoring the 30-day notice period or paying in lieu of it.

Article 47 of the Georgian Labor Code establishes the procedure for employer-initiated termination: written notice with at least 30 days advance warning (or 30 calendar days' wages in lieu of notice), written statement of grounds, and limited prohibitions during pregnancy, parental leave, and documented sick leave. Article 48 separately governs the severance payment for redundancy-style terminations. The 30-day notice and the severance obligation are independent — both apply to non-misconduct dismissal, and skipping notice does not extinguish the severance obligation.

Article 9 of the Georgian Labor Code permits a probationary period of up to six months at the start of an employment relationship. The probation must be specified in writing in the employment contract; it cannot be added retroactively. During probation, either party may terminate the relationship with three calendar days written notice and no severance obligation. Probation can be applied only once per employer-employee combination — successive probations for the same role are not enforceable.

Article 33 of the Georgian Labor Code (added in the 2020 amendments) formally recognizes remote work as a valid employment arrangement and requires a written agreement specifying the remote workplace, equipment provision, expense reimbursement, and the boundary between work and personal time. All other Code protections — working hours (Articles 17-18), annual leave (Article 24), sick leave (Article 31), termination procedure (Article 47) — apply to remote employees identically. Remote arrangement does NOT change the employer's obligation to track working hours and to ensure overtime rules are observed.