The Legal Framework of the NGO as Employer
A non-commercial legal person hires its staff under the same Labour Code as any commercial company — no special employment rules for the non-governmental sector exist in Georgian legislation. Hiring in an organization therefore depends on knowing four norms: the pre-contractual information duties (Article 11), the form and term of the contract (Article 12), the mandatory list of essential terms (Article 14), and the continuation of work after expiry (Article 51). These four knots form the legal frame in which an NGO acts in the employer's role.
The Pre-Contractual Stage — Article 11
The relationship with a candidate begins before the contract, and the law regulates that stage too. The employer may obtain information about the candidate, except information not connected with the performance of the work and not necessary for assessing the ability to perform it; the candidate, in turn, must inform the employer of any circumstance that may hinder the work or endanger the employer's interests. The candidate's data may not be made available to another person without consent, and the candidate may reclaim submitted documents if no contract is concluded. The employer must provide the candidate with information about the work to be performed, the form and term of the contract, the working conditions, the employee's legal status and the remuneration. Refusal to hire need not be justified; the equal-treatment provisions, however, must be reflected in internal rules and other documents.
Form and Term of the Contract — Article 12
An employment contract is concluded in oral or written form, for a fixed or indefinite term; where the employment relationship exceeds 1 month, written form is mandatory. A fixed-term contract is, as a rule, permissible only on a statutory ground — a specific volume of work, seasonal work, a temporary increase in workload, replacement of a temporarily absent employee, or another objective circumstance — except where the contract term is 1 year or more. The main protective rule is the continuation construction: where the term exceeds 30 months, or where successive fixed-term contracts together exceed 30 months, the contract is deemed indefinite; contracts are successive if continued immediately upon expiry or re-concluded within 60 days. A fixed-term contract concluded without a ground is likewise deemed indefinite. For starting enterprises a 48-month exception applies, in which a fixed-term contract may not be shorter than 3 months.