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.
Probation and Remuneration Clauses
Probation is part of the open-ended orientation: it is possible only once, for not more than 6 months and only in writing; work performed during the period is paid, and the employer may at any time conclude a fixed-term or open-ended contract or terminate the existing one — without the general termination-procedure requirements, paying the remuneration for the time worked.
The remuneration clauses are the contract's financial core: the form and amount of remuneration are determined by the contract, it is paid at least once a month, and for each day of delay of any remuneration or settlement the employee is entitled to 0.07 percent of the delayed amount. For the drafter this last clause is a standing warning: the payment schedule must be built so that no delay ever arises.
What Does Not Apply in Georgia
The English-law doctrine of implied terms — under which a court writes terms into the contract — is not applied in Georgia: the completed frame of the contract is given by the Code itself, and even the filling of a defective item happens in the manner established by law. Carrying over a foreign template risks the contract not fitting the Georgian frame at all.
The rules of conversion into an open-ended contract are likewise codified: where the term of the employment contract exceeds 30 months, or the relationship continues through two or more successive fixed-term contracts with a total duration exceeding 30 months, an open-ended employment contract is deemed concluded. Fixed-term contracts are deemed successive where the existing contract was continued immediately upon expiry or the next fixed-term contract was concluded within 60 days of the expiry of the previous term. A fixed-term contract concluded without one of the listed grounds is likewise deemed open-ended. The essence of these rules is simple: fixed term is the exception, not the norm, and the law limits its use to an independent ground.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions most frequently asked about drafting open-ended contracts.
When does a fixed-term contract become open-ended?
When concluded without a ground, when the term exceeds 30 months, or when consecutively concluded contracts exceed 30 months in total.
What must the contract contain?
The essential terms — time and place, position, remuneration, leave and termination procedures; every empty item is a seed of a future dispute.
How much probation is allowed?
One — up to 6 months, in writing only, with pay; during the period the parties end the relationship freely.
What accrues on late payment?
0.07 percent of the delayed amount for every day of delay — the schedule is built with this percentage in view.
When is a fixed-term contract deemed open-ended?
Where the term exceeds 30 months, or successive fixed-term contracts together exceed 30 months.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team assembles the open-ended contract with a checklist and the conversion numbers: we verify the lawfulness of any fixed-term blocks, complete the essential-terms frame, and draft the probation and remuneration clauses with the 0.07 percent in mind. Contact us — a properly drafted open-ended contract extinguishes the risk of dispute at the outset.