What Drafting an Open-Ended Contract Means
The open-ended employment contract is the default regime of employment under the Georgian Labour Code: the system is built so that the open-ended contract is the rule and the fixed-term one the exception that requires a ground. Where the employment relationship exceeds 1 month, the contract must be in written form. And where a fixed-term contract is concluded without a ground provided by law, it is deemed open-ended — this automatic conversion is the foundation of the drafting strategy.
The numerical boundaries of conversion are in the law itself: a term exceeding 30 months makes the contract open-ended; fixed-term contracts concluded consecutively that exceed 30 months operate the same way, consecutive meaning continuation immediately upon expiry or a new contract within 60 days. The drafter stands before these numbers in advance: each fixed-term block must fit within the law's frame of 30 months and 60 days.
Essential Terms — the Completion Checklist
The content of the open-ended contract is described by the Code's list of essential terms: information about the parties; the start date of work and the duration of the relationship; working and rest time; the workplace — permanent, or an indication of multiple places; the position and the type or description of the work; remuneration — salary and supplements — and the manner of payment; the overtime remuneration procedure; the duration of paid and unpaid leave and the rules for granting them; the termination procedure; and the provisions of collective agreements where working conditions are regulated differently.
Two tests apply to the quality of completion: completeness — no item may remain in a simplified formulation; and conformity — a term contradicting the law or the collective agreement is void unless it improves the employee's position. On the employee's request the employer must also issue a certificate of employment — covering the work performed, the remuneration and the contract's term.