Termination procedure under Georgian Labor Code Article 47

Permissible grounds for employer-initiated termination

• Redundancy / business reorganization (eliminates the role)
• Inadequate performance (after documented warnings and opportunity to improve)
• Gross misconduct (theft, violence, breach of fiduciary duty, repeated unjustified absence)
• Long-term incapacity preventing return to work for an extended period
• Refusal of a substantive lawful change to terms (when the change is itself permissible)
• Expiry of a fixed-term contract (no Article 47 procedure required for clean expiry)

The 30-day written notice requirement

For non-misconduct termination, Article 47 requires at least 30 calendar days written notice to the employee. The notice must specify the grounds for termination and the effective date. Notice can be delivered by registered post, in person with signed acknowledgment, or via email/digital channel if the contract specifies that as a valid notice method. The 30-day clock runs from delivery of notice to the employee, not from the date the employer signed it. During the notice period, the employment relationship continues normally — full wages, full duties, full statutory protections.

Payment in lieu of notice

The employer can elect to terminate immediately and pay 30 calendar days' wages in lieu of the notice period. This is common when the role involves access to sensitive information or systems and the employer wants to end access immediately. Payment in lieu does not affect the Article 48 severance obligation — both apply for non-misconduct termination. Payment in lieu must be at the employee's gross wage rate (not net), calculated on a calendar-day basis.

Written statement of grounds

The notice must include a written statement of the grounds. Generic boilerplate ("business needs", "at our discretion") is not adequate — the grounds must be specific enough that an employee understands the basis for termination and can challenge it if they believe it is pretextual. For redundancy, this means identifying the specific role being eliminated and the business reason. For performance, it means citing the documented performance issues. For misconduct, it means describing the specific conduct. Vague grounds are a frequent basis for procedural challenges, even when the underlying basis would be legally adequate.

Prohibited periods (when termination cannot be delivered)

• During pregnancy (from announcement onward)
• During maternity leave or parental leave (Articles 27-28)
• During documented sick leave (Article 31) — notice clock is paused
• During annual leave (Article 24) — notice clock is paused
• Reasonable accommodation periods for documented disability

Misconduct termination — exception to notice

Termination for gross misconduct (Article 47) does not require the 30-day notice and does not require Article 48 severance. However, it does require: (a) the misconduct be substantively gross (not minor or repeated minor issues), (b) written documentation of the specific conduct, and (c) opportunity for the employee to respond before final termination. Skipping documentation or the response opportunity is a frequent reason misconduct terminations are reclassified by courts as ordinary termination — triggering retroactive notice-pay and severance obligations. The misconduct path is faster but riskier; many employers default to the 30-day notice procedure even for borderline cases to insulate against challenge.