What corrective labour is
Corrective labour is the form of administrative penalty that involves neither a change of workplace nor deprivation of liberty. Under Article 31 of the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia, corrective labour is applied for a period of up to six months, and the person who committed the administrative offence must serve it at their permanent place of work. Up to twenty per cent is deducted from their wage in favour of the State. In other words, you keep working where you already work, and the penalty is served through wage deductions and through the recorded time actually worked. That structure is what makes the arithmetic of the sentence, rather than the fact of it, the thing most often disputed.
One practical consequence follows directly from it: the penalty is measured in two units at the same time — the calendar period fixed by the court, and the working days actually worked and recorded at your place of work. Almost every question people have about corrective labour comes out of the gap between those two units: when the penalty ends, what happens during a period of illness, and what becomes of the term when a person is temporarily not working at all.
Who imposes it, and for how long
Article 31 provides that corrective labour is imposed by a judge of the district (city) court, an administrative judge. It is not a penalty an administrative body decides on by itself; it belongs to the court. The period is bounded at both ends. The upper limit is six months. At the lower end, the period of corrective labour may not be less than fifteen days, unless the legislative acts of Georgia provide otherwise. The deduction is bounded too: what Article 31 sets is a ceiling of up to twenty per cent, not a fixed rate, so twenty per cent is a maximum, not a rate that applies automatically.
Those are the only limits Article 31 places on the period and the deduction. Article 305 then ties them to the workplace: the days actually worked must not be fewer than the working days falling within the calendar period set by the court (the judge). Where a given case lands within those limits, the Code does not regulate further.
How the term served is calculated
Article 305 provides that the serving of corrective labour is calculated according to the time during which the offender worked and deductions were made from their wage. From this follows a rule that surprises many people: the number of days the offender has worked must not be fewer than the number of working days falling within the calendar period of the penalty set by the court (the judge). If the offender has not worked that number of working days and there is no ground for counting the days not worked towards the term of the penalty, the serving of corrective labour continues until the established number of working days has been fully worked. The consequence is direct — the calendar expiring does not, by itself, mean the penalty has been served.
The practical advice that follows is simple: keep your own record of which days you worked and how much was deducted in each month. That record is what you will later compare against the official working-time sheet and the payroll statements. A discrepancy between them is normally how the problem first becomes visible, and it is that discrepancy which decides whether the penalty has in fact been served.
Which time counts towards the term, and which does not
Article 305 lists the periods that are counted towards the term of serving:
- time during which the offender did not work for a valid reason and was paid a wage in accordance with the law;
- time of illness;
- time granted for caring for a sick person;
- leave on account of pregnancy and childbirth.
There is one express exception: time of illness caused by intoxication, or by an act connected with intoxication, is not counted towards the term of serving corrective labour. This is precisely why it matters how the cause of an illness is recorded in the documents, and by whom. A medical record that is silent or ambiguous about cause is a different document, in this context, from one that is clear.
Where disputes arise, and where representation changes things
Disagreement usually appears at three points: whether the working days falling within the calendar period have been counted correctly, whether the deduction from wages is being made correctly, and whether a particular absence counts as being for a valid reason. Each of these is settled on documents — the court decision, the record of working time, and the payroll statements. The lawyer's contribution here is not a promise about the result but a check on the calculation: whether the imposed period and percentage sit inside the frame set by Article 31, whether the rule in Article 305 has been applied correctly, and whether there is a ground for particular days to be counted towards the term.
What to bring
- the decision of the court (the judge), showing the calendar period of the penalty and the percentage of deduction;
- a statement from your place of work and the records of working time;
- payroll statements showing the amount deducted and the period covered;
- sick notes or other medical documents, including for any period of caring for a sick person;
- documents confirming leave on account of pregnancy and childbirth.