Occupational Disease Claims in Georgian Law
If you have developed an occupational disease as a result of your work, it is important to know from the outset: the Civil Code of Georgia does not provide a separate, special claim scheme for occupational diseases. Compensation for damage caused by such diseases follows the ordinary tort rules: a person who causes damage to another person by an unlawful intentional or negligent act is obliged to compensate that damage. The special rules on occupational safety are defined in separate legislation and do not replace the civil claim — they complement it.
This determines the architecture of the claim: the dispute is built on fault, causation and the establishment of damage, not on automatic liability for the fact of employment. In practical terms it means the claimant must establish who caused the disease by which act, and what damage ensued. It is precisely the evidentiary support of these elements that determines the viability of the claim.
Who Is Liable: the Employer's Role
The employer's liability connects to the performance of employment duties: a person is obliged to compensate damage caused to a third person by the unlawful act of its worker in the performance of that worker's labor duties. This rule makes it possible to claim damages from the organization for which the person causing the damage worked, provided the act was committed within the framework of employment duties.
This norm also carries an important exception: no liability arises if the worker acted without fault. In other words, if the worker who caused the damage acted simply, without negligence, the employer's liability under this norm does not arise — and the matter moves to the general rule of fault directly. Each concrete case therefore separately analyzes whether fault existed and whether the person acted in the performance of employment duties.
Forms of Compensation for Health Damage
Compensation for damage to health is not limited to a one-off payment. The law provides that the person under the obligation to compensate damage must restore the condition that would have existed had the circumstance giving rise to the obligation of compensation not occurred. Restoration in kind or monetary compensation — that choice depends on the circumstances, but the starting rule is precisely the restoration of the condition.
Where, as a result of bodily injury or damage to health, the victim has been deprived of the capacity to work or that capacity has diminished, or the victim's needs have increased, the damage must be compensated by payment of a monthly allowance. For occupational disease this is particularly significant: the disease often increases the costs of treatment and living while reducing the ability to earn income, and it is exactly these two directions that are reflected in the monthly allowance.
The victim is entitled to claim the costs of treatment in advance, and the same rule applies where professional retraining becomes necessary. In other words, if the disease makes a transition to a new occupation necessary, the retraining costs can also be claimed in advance. Instead of the allowance the victim may claim receipt of compensation where a significant ground exists for it — for example, where a one-off payment genuinely better protects the victim's interests.