Drafting an Ethics and Equality Policy
An ethics and equality policy in Georgia is not an imported corporate document — it is an instrument built on precise norms of the Labour Code. The federal models of United States corporate codes of conduct and compliance programmes do not apply here: the content of a Georgian policy is given by the concept of discrimination, its form by the internal labour rules, its teeth by the sanctions norm, and its governance by the rules on information and consultation.
The architecture of the document rests on four questions: what to prohibit (the concepts), where to write it (internal rules), how it works (the complaint procedure), and how it is launched (the exchange of information with employees).
Content: What the Policy Must Prohibit
Article 4 of the Code is the catalogue of the policy's content. Discrimination is the intentional or negligent distinction, exclusion or preference of a person on protected grounds — including race, language, ethnic and social origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, membership of a religious, public or political association, family status and others. Direct and indirect discrimination are both defined. Harassment at the workplace and sexual harassment are forms of discrimination: unwanted conduct that violates dignity and creates an intimidating, hostile or degrading environment. Retaliation against an employee for a statement or complaint is prohibited — this last norm is written into the policy as its whistle-blower protection clause.
Each of these concepts should be described in the policy text with examples — otherwise the document remains a repetition of the Code and stays incomprehensible to employees. Indirect discrimination needs the most detailed explanation: a neutral rule that in fact places a protected group at a disadvantage is permissible only where it is objectively justified by a lawful aim and is a necessary and proportionate means.