About this service
Anti-discrimination training is valuable only when it is built on the exact norms of the law — not on general ethical attitudes, but on the rules the Labour Code of Georgia establishes and whose breach triggers a real sanction. This page unpacks the tectonic blocks of the training: the concept and forms of discrimination, the scope of the prohibition from vacancy to termination, the employer's obligation in internal rules, and the liability regime — together these four blocks create the knowledge that teaches an employee to recognise a right and a manager to avoid a risk.
The concept of discrimination: grounds, direct and indirect forms
Article 4 of the code defines discrimination as the intentional or negligent distinction, exclusion or granting of preference to a person on a prohibited ground. The code's list of grounds is broad: race, colour of skin, language, ethnic or social affiliation, nationality, origin, property or social status, status under an employment contract, place of residence, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, state of health, religious, social, political or other affiliation, family status, political or other opinion, and any other ground that aims at or causes the negation or infringement of equal opportunity or treatment in employment and professional activity.
The forms are interpreted within the law itself: direct discrimination is unequal treatment of a person on a ground compared with another person in the same situation; indirect discrimination is where a neutral provision, criterion or practice places a person at a disadvantage, unless it is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means are necessary and proportionate. A separate rule concerns equal work: a woman and a man performing equal work are entitled to equal pay. Harassment — including sexual harassment — is a form of discrimination: unwanted conduct that violates dignity and creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading environment. Protection of complainants is also secured: dismissal of an employee because he or she applied with a statement or complaint is prohibited.
The scope of the prohibition: from vacancy to termination
Article 5 of the code extends the prohibition even to employment and pre-contractual relations — including the publication of a vacancy announcement and the selection stage. The prohibition covers selection criteria and employment conditions, access to career advancement at every level of the professional hierarchy, access to vocational guidance, training, qualification and retraining, conditions of labour, pay and termination, membership in associations, and conditions of social protection and health care. For the training, this means the risk of discrimination does not begin with the signing of a contract — it begins with the text of the vacancy.