What Unfair Dismissal Means and What Challenging It Gives You
Unfair dismissal and reinstatement are legal categories defined by the Georgian Labour Code: where the termination of an employment contract is unfounded or procedurally defective, the employee may challenge the employer's decision in court and seek to have it declared null. This page is about the remedies the law gives you after the challenge — reinstatement, equivalent work or compensation, together with compensation for forced absence — and the deadlines within which those remedies must be pursued.
The right to challenge flows from the termination procedure itself. The employee may, within 30 calendar days of receiving the employer's notice of termination, demand written substantiation of the ground, and the employer must respond within 7 calendar days. If the substantiation never arrives or does not justify the dismissal, the window for applying to the court is again 30 calendar days. Where the employer fails to substantiate the ground within 7 calendar days, the burden of proving the factual circumstances of the dispute shifts to the employer — the employee's strongest procedural advantage.
When a Dismissal Is Unlawful
The list of grounds for terminating an employment contract is closed: it includes economic, technological or organizational changes necessitating a reduction of the workforce; expiry of the contract term; completion of the work stipulated in the contract; the employee's own-initiative departure by written declaration; written agreement of the parties; lack of qualification or professional skills; gross or repeated breach of duties; prolonged incapacity under defined conditions; and other grounds named in the Code. Termination on any other ground is prohibited. Dismissals for breach of duty deserve particular scrutiny: a breach of obligations imposed by the internal labour rules is a ground for termination only where those rules form part of the employment contract.
The Code also defines periods in which termination is prohibited: on grounds of discrimination; during the protected period following the employer's notification of pregnancy; in connection with call-up or service in the military or alternative labour service; and while serving as a jury member — each of these makes annulment a realistic prospect. Moreover, except for death or liquidation, where the employer terminates on the economic, qualification, prolonged-incapacity or other-objective-circumstance grounds, it must give at least 30 calendar days' prior written notice and pay compensation of at least 1 month's remuneration; where notice of only 3 calendar days is given, the compensation must be at least 2 months' remuneration.
The Remedies a Court Can Order
When a court declares the employer's termination decision null, it decides which remedy applies: the employer must reinstate the person at the former workplace, or provide equivalent work, or pay compensation in an amount determined by the court. Reinstatement is the Code's primary remedy — a return to the same employer at the former workplace.
On top of reinstatement or compensation, the employee may claim compensation for forced absence — from the date of termination until enforcement of the decision declaring the termination null and having entered into legal force. In determining that compensation the court takes into account the compensation already paid at dismissal. It also matters that an administrative penalty imposed on the employer by the Labour Inspectorate does not release it from other liability the court may impose in civil proceedings initiated by the person: a fine and civil liability do not exclude one another.
What Does Not Apply in Georgia
The American back-pay and front-pay categories familiar from United States employment litigation do not exist as such in the Georgian system: their Georgian counterpart is precisely the compensation for forced absence, which covers the period from termination to enforcement of the judgment. Reinstatement itself is the Code's primary remedy — the court first assesses the lawfulness of the decision and then chooses among reinstatement, equivalent work or compensation. Your demands must therefore be framed within the logic of the Georgian Labour Code.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions that arise most frequently in disputes of this kind in our practice.
How much time do I have to challenge the dismissal?
You have 30 calendar days from receiving the written substantiation to apply to the court. If you never demanded substantiation, the same 30-calendar-day window runs from the notice of termination; where the employer fails to substantiate within 7 calendar days, the window is again 30 calendar days and the burden of proof shifts to the employer.
What can I claim if the dismissal is declared null?
Reinstatement at the former workplace, or equivalent work, or court-determined compensation — plus compensation for forced absence covering the period from termination until enforcement of the decision.
The employer cited a breach of internal rules — is that enough?
Only if the internal labour rules form part of your employment contract. Otherwise termination on that ground is unlawful and itself a ground for annulment.
Does paying a fine release the employer from compensating me?
No. An administrative penalty imposed by the Labour Inspectorate does not release the employer from other liability the court may impose on it in civil proceedings brought by you.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The advocates of Legal.ge take on unfair dismissal cases from the first day of counting the deadlines: we draft the demand for written substantiation, fix every deadline, analyse the lawfulness of the termination against the closed list of grounds and the statutory prohibitions, and frame the claims to present in court — reinstatement, equivalent work, compensation and forced absence. Contact us as soon as possible: in these cases every day counts.