AI in the workplace: the legal framework in Georgia
Artificial intelligence at the workplace is no longer a purely technological matter: Georgian companies use such systems to screen candidates, evaluate employees, build schedules and monitor performance. The Labour Code of Georgia contains no dedicated chapter or article on artificial intelligence, but that does not create a legal vacuum. Everything an employer does — regardless of whether a decision is taken by a human or by a system — remains fully subject to the Code's general rules. On this page we explain the four groups of norms that AI adoption in the workplace most frequently collides with: the prohibition of discrimination, the rules on pre-contractual relations and the exchange of information about candidates, the rules on changing the terms of an employment contract, and the obligations surrounding confidential information.
The prohibition of discrimination and algorithmic decisions
The Labour Code defines discrimination as the intentional or negligent differentiation, exclusion or granting of advantage to a person on a protected ground, where the aim or effect is to deny or infringe equal opportunity or equal treatment in employment and professional activity. The list of protected grounds is broad: race, colour of skin, language, ethnic or social affiliation, nationality, origin, property or social status, status under an employment contract, place of residence, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, state of health, religious, social, political or other affiliation (including trade-union membership), family status, political or other opinion, and any other ground. The concept of indirect discrimination is particularly important: a seemingly neutral provision, criterion or practice that places a person at a disadvantage compared with others because of one of these grounds constitutes discrimination unless it is objectively justified by a lawful aim and the means employed are necessary and proportionate.
This is precisely where the principal legal risk of artificial intelligence arises. A screening or scoring algorithm often looks neutral, yet its criteria — for instance a residential district, an age bracket or a contract status — may correlate with protected grounds and, as a result, produce indirect discrimination. Further statutory requirements apply alongside: where a woman and a man perform the same work, the employer must ensure equal pay for that work; harassment at the workplace, including sexual harassment, is a form of discrimination; and the Code prohibits the termination of an employment contract or any negative treatment of or pressure on an employee because the employee applied or complained to the relevant body for protection against discrimination or cooperated with it. These protections apply equally where the instrument producing the unequal outcome is an algorithmic tool.