Drafting an Equal-Opportunity Policy
An equal-opportunity policy in Georgia grows out of the norms of the Georgian Labour Code — not out of imported manuals. Federal equal-opportunity programmes of the United States type do not apply here: the lawfulness of a Georgian policy is determined by four norms — the scope of the prohibition, the status of special protective measures, the reasonable-accommodation requirement, and the internal rules as the policy's legal form. Drafting the document means taking three decisions: which conduct the policy excludes, which measures are permissible as protective, and who secures performance and how. The answers to all three questions come from the four norms of the Code, and a properly written policy is the continuation of precisely these norms, not a declaration alongside them.
The Scope of the Prohibition and Protective Measures
Article 5 is the policy's boundary norm: discrimination is prohibited in employment and pre-contractual relations — including when a vacancy is published and at the selection stage — and in professional activity. The prohibition covers selection criteria and employment conditions, access to career advancement at every level of the professional hierarchy regardless of the field of activity, access to professional orientation, qualification-raising, training and retraining in every form, the conditions of labour, remuneration and termination, membership and activity in associations of employees or employers, and occupational social-protection conditions, including social security and health protection. The policy should repeat this scope rather than exceed it with formulations that no longer rest on the law.
The second anchor is special measures of protection or support: they are not deemed discrimination. These are measures implemented to satisfy the needs of persons who, considering age, sex, disability, family responsibility, social or cultural status, require special protection or support. Writing protective formulations into a policy is therefore lawful — and this is precisely the channel through which a favourable approach to protected groups is possible.
Reasonable Accommodation and the Form of Performance
The third anchor is the block concerning persons with disabilities: to protect the principle of equal treatment — specifically, reasonable accommodation — the employer must, where necessary, carry out appropriate measures so that such a person has equal access to employment, career advancement, qualification-raising, training and retraining, except where the measure imposes a disproportionate burden on the employer. The burden is not deemed disproportionate where state support programmes, benefits or other alternative means operate for the concrete measure. This norm must be reflected in the policy as an accommodation procedure — the very word "reasonable" comes from the law, and the mode of its application should be defined in the document itself. The employer's duties in this block do not end here: the Code obliges it to promote the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities at the workplace, including compliance with the mandatory standards envisaged by the corresponding law.
The final anchor is form: the employer must reflect anti-discrimination provisions in the internal labour rules and other documents and ensure their performance. The policy text becomes part of the internal rules and thereby gains enforceable force; and a provision of the internal rules contradicting the law, the individual contract or a collective agreement is void.
The Full Internal-Rules Frame for the Policy
For embedding the policy, the whole frame of the internal rules is useful: under Article 23, the document may define the length of the working week and the start and end of the working day, the length of the shift in shift work, the length of breaks, the time, place and procedure of paying remuneration, the length and procedure of paid and unpaid leaves, the rules on protecting working conditions, the types of incentives and responsibility and the rules for applying them, and the procedure for considering applications and complaints. In view of the specifics of the work the employer may also adopt special rules, and it is the employer's duty to acquaint employees with the internal rules and ensure their performance. The policy's place is within this list: the equal-opportunity clauses fit precisely into this document's structure. Such integration turns the policy from a separate sheet of paper into a rule of everyday work, giving each clause enforceable content.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we summarize the questions most often asked about equal-opportunity policies.
May a policy grant favourable terms to protected groups?
Yes — special measures of protection or support are not deemed discrimination; this is the lawful channel.
What is reasonable accommodation?
Measures giving a person with disabilities equal access; where the burden is disproportionate, it is no longer mandatory.
Where is the policy written?
In the internal labour rules and other documents — reflecting anti-discrimination provisions is a statutory requirement.
Which stages does the prohibition cover?
From the vacancy to termination: selection, conditions, career, qualification, pay and social protection.
What happens to a discriminatory provision of the internal rules?
A provision of the internal rules contradicting the law, the individual contract or a collective agreement is void.
How We Help on Legal.ge
On Legal.ge we draft equal-opportunity policies on lawful anchors: the scope of the prohibition, the protective-measures block, the accommodation procedure, and embedding into the internal rules. Contact us — your policy will fit the statutory frame and work.