Labour Dispute: Health Damage at the Workplace
Health damage at the workplace becomes the subject of a court dispute in Georgia through a precisely defined mechanism: the employer's duty of compensation, the written form of the dispute, the one-year limitation, and civil liability running in parallel with the administrative penalty. The United States system of exclusive workers' compensation does not apply here — in Georgia the employer's liability is direct and is enforced through the court.
Four anchors carry the dispute: the compensation norm of Article 45, the concept of a dispute in Article 61, the time limit of Article 74, and the two-tier liability of Article 81.
The Compensation Duty and Its Safety Preconditions
Under Article 45, the employer must provide a working environment maximally safe and healthy for life and health; supply complete and comprehensible information about risks; introduce a preventive safety system; provide personal protective equipment; and take measures for the localization of incidents, first aid and evacuation. Together, these duties are the measure by which a court assesses the employer's conduct in case of injury. The decisive norm is compensatory: the employer must fully compensate the employee for damage caused by the deterioration of health connected with the performance of work, and the costs of necessary treatment. The employee also has the right to refuse work posing a clear and substantial threat to life or health.
The evidentiary base begins with the written notice itself. Recording the circumstances of the injury — when, where, in the performance of which task it occurred — the medical documentation of the health condition, proof of treatment costs, and the trail of information supplied or protective equipment provided together build the picture a court assesses. Moreover, the consideration of the dispute does not suspend the employment relationship: the injured employee remains within it, and this circumstance strengthens the position — the relationship continues, and so does the duty of the parties to cooperate. The right of refusal flows from the same norm: work posing a clear and substantial threat to life or health may be refused with immediate notice.