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.
Compensation for Non-Pecuniary Damage
In cases of bodily injury or damage to health the victim may also claim compensation for non-pecuniary damage. This is damage that is not expressed in money — pain, the loss of customary comfort, a reduction in the quality of life. The law keeps the formulation precise here: monetary compensation for non-pecuniary damage may be claimed only in the cases precisely defined by law, in the form of reasonable and fair compensation. Damage to health is exactly such a case, and the court determines the amount of compensation by assessment.
Where the Disease Is Caused by Defective Equipment: Producer Liability
Sometimes the source of an occupational disease is not the employer's conduct but a defect in industrial or protective equipment. In such a case the rules on liability of the producer of a defective product are useful: the producer of a defective product is liable for damage caused by that product irrespective of whether it stood in a contractual relationship with the victim. The victim therefore needs no contract with the producer — it suffices that the damage was caused by a defect of the product.
A product is deemed defective if it does not provide the reliability that, taking all circumstances into account, was to be expected of it. The producer is relieved if it has not put the product into circulation, if the defect was caused by the construction of the product of which this component became a part, or if the product had a defect corresponding to the norms in force at the time it was put into circulation, and likewise where discovery of the defect was impossible taking into account the level of science and technology existing at the time of circulation. The producer's obligation is reduced or excluded if the occurrence of the damage was caused by the culpable conduct of the victim. Structuring such a case correctly makes it possible to bring claims against several liable persons simultaneously.
Time Limits: When to Go to Court
The limitation period for the right to claim compensation for damage caused by a tort is three years from the moment when the victim learned of the damage or of the person obliged to compensate it. The specific character of occupational diseases is precisely that the disease often manifests years later — and the period runs not from the infliction of the damage but from the moment of its discovery. Nevertheless a timely reaction remains critical: evidence about working conditions disappears with time.
In preparing your claim, the first stage is establishing the link between the working conditions and the disease that arose from them, then identifying the liable person and calculating the damage with every component the law contemplates. The specialists of Legal.ge will assist you with the full preparation of an occupational disease claim — from collecting evidence to conducting the court dispute.