Equal Employment: The Lawful Framework
Equal employment in Georgia spans the entire recruitment trajectory — from publishing a vacancy to refusing an application. The Labour Code prohibits discrimination in employment, in pre-contractual relations and in professional activity, and creates measurable obligations at every stage of hiring. The United States federal systems of civil-rights reporting and affirmative appointment do not apply here — the selection process of a Georgian employer is governed by the Georgian Labour Code.
Three norms carry the subject: the scope of the prohibition, the genuine-requirements test, and the allocation of the burden of proof; to them is added the special regime of the pre-contractual relationship — the rules on exchanging information before the contract is concluded.
The Scope of the Prohibition and Selection Criteria
Under Article 5, discrimination is prohibited in employment and pre-contractual relations — including when a vacancy is published and at the selection stage. The prohibition covers selection criteria and employment conditions, access to career advancement at every level of the professional hierarchy, access to professional orientation, qualification raising, professional training and retraining in every form — including practical professional experience — the conditions of labour, remuneration and termination, membership of associations of employees or employers — including benefit received from such an organization — and occupational social-protection conditions, including social security and health protection. Even a recruitment advertisement built on a protected ground falls within the prohibition.
Article 6 is the test that makes a differentiated requirement lawful: distinguishing a person is not discrimination where it follows from the essence or specificity of the work or the conditions of its performance, serves a lawful aim, and is a necessary and proportionate means. Every selection criterion should be run through this test: a requirement of age, sex, family status or another protected ground survives only if it flows directly from the nature of the work and is proportionate.