The Health and Social Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia has discussed the the legislative proposal of the "Young Barristers”, which concerns the introduction of legislative regulation about internship in the Labor Code of Georgia. The legislative proposal was introduced by chief-executive of the organization - Archil Kaikatsishvili, who listened comments and remarks of the MPs and responded to questions. As the chairman of the Committee Dimitri Khundadze said during discussion legal regulation of the internship is necessary, however, according to the recommendation of the "International Labour Organization" the small-scale changes to the labor legislation, at this stage, is no reasonable and it is better, that similar proposals, with the participation of social partners and the International Labour Organization, to be considered with systematic approach. According to statement of the members of the Commettee, discussion such changes in labor relations independently from other matters will be less effective regarding protection of the rights of employees. Based on this view, after the result of the voting, members of the Committee did not support the legislative proposal, however, it was noted that within the format of the parliamentary working group, burst changes to the labor code, the initiative will be improved and will be taken into account.
According ro the “Young Barrister”, the aim of the presented legislative proposal is to regulate the definition of internship and related legal issues on the legislative level. The current legislation does not provide a definition of the internship; however it is considered that it is unpaid job during study process, which offers professional development for inexperienced staff. Employer, in many cases, distinguishes an ordinary job and internship and there are discriminatory practices, when an intern gets exploitation. In such circumstances, protection of labor rights is difficult, as there are no relevant legal leverages. Accordingly, the aim of the legislative proposal is to establish specific imperative requirements, that internship agreement should satisfy.
The legislative proposal prepared by the “Young Barristers” envisages the creation of a new Article 91 in the Labor Code of Georgia, which will define the legal status of internship. The legislative proposals include the following regulations:
1. Internship is a special labor relationship, during which under organized labor conditions, shall be performance of work by an employee for an employer without remuneration.
2. A labour agreement for internship period shall be concluded only once in writing, for a period of no more than six months. This extension of the term is not permitted.
3. By the agreement of the parties the work during internship period shall be payable. The amount of payment and the payment procedure shall be determined by agreement of the parties.
4. An employer may, at any time during the internship period, conclude a labour agreement with the employee.
5. An internship agreement may be terminated at the initiative of one of the parties, in compliance of the requirements of Article 37 of this Law.
6. The requirements of Article 38 of this Law shall not apply to termination of labour agreements for internship period unless otherwise determined by the above labour agreements.
7. Internship is considered to be the length service of labor.
According to statement of the “Young Barristers” the legal regulations of the internship for young people, especially for the employment of students, creates progressive basics regarding labor rights protection. The legislative proposal responds to the issue of the fulfillment of obligations from the EU Association Agreement. During the preparation of the proposal, international experience had been taken into account, including the US, Germany, Albania, Denmark and other countries’ forms of legislative regulations.
The “Young Barristers” began work on the issue in November 2013. In the 2013-2014 years, the organization has applied with the recommendations to the government of Georgia to provide labor rights of students while making the changes in the Labor Code. In addition, in parallel with the increased powers of self-government in the country, successful have started to work on new regulations for the introduction of financing further education and employment issues of successful young people living in the regions. The organization created working group on the legislative proposal in July 2014, which was composed of experts from the private and public sector. After consultations, the organization stopped the choice for legislative amendments on the legal regulation of the creation of internship.
