Anti-harassment mechanisms in Georgia are no longer a private company's goodwill initiative — their legal foundation is defined by Articles 4, 45, 23 and 78 of the Labour Code: which conduct must be prohibited, what environment must be created, where the complaint route must be written down and what inaction costs. Foreign mandatory risk-assessment models are not reflected in the Georgian statute — the architecture of prevention is created entirely by the Georgian Labour Code.
Which conduct is being prevented
Prevention mechanisms target precisely the conduct defined in Article 4 of the Code. Workplace harassment, including sexual harassment, is a form of discrimination — unwanted conduct conditioned on a protected ground that aims at or causes an infringement of dignity and creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment. Sexual harassment is defined separately as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature with the same result. The first task of prevention is to operationalise these definitions: internal documents must describe this conduct with concrete examples so that every employee recognises the prohibited boundary.
The environment and information duties
Article 45 of the Code creates the substantive foundation of prevention: the employer is obliged to ensure a working environment that is maximally safe and healthy for the employee's life and health — and a healthy environment includes one in which harassment does not occur. Under the same article the employer is obliged to supply the employee, within a reasonable period, with complete, objective and comprehensible information on every factor affecting the employee's life and health. In prevention practice this means: information about what harassment is, how the organisation responds and who the contact person is — this is part of the statutory information duty.
The home of the complaint route — the internal rules
Article 23 of the Code gives the prevention mechanisms their instrument: the internal labour rules are a written document by which the procedure for reviewing an application or complaint may be defined. It is this item that is the home of the complaint channel: who receives the application, within what period it is reviewed, how the outcome is recorded and how the complainant's confidentiality is protected — all of this must be written into the internal rules. Under the same article the employer is obliged to reflect anti-discrimination provisions in the internal rules and other documents and to ensure their performance — this is the documentary backbone of the preventive system.
The knowledge trigger and sanctions
The note to Article 78 disciplines the prevention mechanisms: an employer may be held liable where it became aware of a fact of harassment or sexual harassment and failed to notify the Labour Inspectorate of that fact or failed to take appropriate measures to stop the conduct. The violation entails a warning or a fine in the triple amount, and repetition within one calendar year — a fine in the double amount. Prevention mechanisms are precisely the management of this risk: a functioning complaint channel and a documented response at the moment of knowledge reduce the scope of the employer's liability.
The assembly of the mechanisms proceeds in four blocks. The first is documentary: on the basis of the definitions of Article 4 a list of prohibited conduct with examples is written and attached to the internal rules. The second is informational: the informing required by Article 45 reaches every employee — what harassment is, what the response procedure is and who the contact person is. The third is procedural: the complaint review procedure provided for by Article 23 assembles the channel — receipt, review, answer, record. The fourth is the response algorithm: at the moment of knowledge the employer chooses to inform the Inspectorate, to take measures or both, and the choice remains documented. Such a four-block system turns prevention from a one-off campaign into a permanent organisational function.
Frequently asked questions
Below are the questions most frequently raised about anti-harassment mechanisms. The preventive legal frame rests on three norms: the law defines the concept of labour discrimination, guarantees every employee the right to a safe and healthy working environment, and requires the internal labour rules to observe the principle of non-discrimination. Violation of that principle is sanctionable — preventive mechanisms such as attitude assessment, complaint channels and detailed internal rules are therefore not formal paperwork but an element of the organization’s legal security.
Where is the complaint procedure written down?
In the internal labour rules — the procedure for reviewing applications and complaints is part of the list of Article 23.
When does the employer begin to bear responsibility?
From the moment of knowledge: where the fact became known and the Inspectorate was not notified and no measures were taken, liability attaches under Article 78.
What fine corresponds to a violation?
A fine in the triple amount; upon repetition within one calendar year — in the double amount.
Are trainings mandatory?
The information duty of Article 45 requires informing; a training is a form of performing that duty and also evidence of the preventive system.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The specialists of Legal.ge build anti-harassment systems on the basis of Articles 4, 45, 23 and 78 of the Labour Code: we draft the relevant provisions of the internal rules, shape the complaint channel, prepare information materials and establish the response algorithm for the moment of knowledge. Submit a request on this page — let us build your organisation's preventive system.