The “Young Barristers” legislative proposal about defining the internship idea and the legal issues related to it at the legislative level, among the changes to be made in the Labor Code of Georgia, is one of the main initiative by the Parliament and essentially shared the organization’s primary approaches, as well as, part of the justification.

The organization “Young Barristers” addressed to the Parliament of Georgia with a legislative proposal in 2014 and due to the fact that until now we don’t have the legal definition of internship, but still, it is considered as an unpaid work in the learning process, which offers staff professional development, to define it. The employer, in most cases, distinguishes the internship process from ordinary work, and there is discriminatory practice, that puts an intern to the exploitation. In such situation, it is difficult to protect the labor rights, as there are no proper legal tools in the legislation. Therefore, the aim of the legislative proposal was to establish the imperative requirement, which the internship agreement had to meet.

The legislative proposal of the “Young Barristers” meant to draw up a new article In the Labor Code of Georgia, which would determine the legal regime of the internship. The essence of it was as following:

1.  Internship is a special labor-legal relationship between the employer and the employee, when the employer does the work without salary.
2.  With the intern it is possible to conclude a contract for only once, in a written way, for a maximum date of 5 month. That period of time can’t be prolonged.
3.  Based on the agreement of the sides, the internship period can be paid. The amount of it will be considered based on the agreement.
4.  The employee is entitled to conclude the legal-labor contract with the intern anytime.
5.  The internship contract can be terminated based on the initiative of one side, according to the Article 37 of the act.
6. When terminating the internship contract, Article 38 requirements shouldn’t be considered, if there is nothing opposite in the agreement.
7. Internship is considered as a labor experience.

The legislative proposal of the “Young Barristers” was discussed in the Parliament in January 2015. According to the Health and Social Affairs committee, the legal regulation for the problem was necessary, but, according to the International Labor Organization’s recommendation, it wouldn’t be advisable to make small changes in the labor legislation at this stage, as it should be regulated with a systematic approach. Without changing the same institutions in the Labor Code of Georgia, the effect of protecting the right of employees would be minimum. Based on that particular opinion, as a result of voting, the committee didn’t support the above mentioned legislative proposal of the organization, but, noted out, that, when the systematic changes in the Labor Code starts, that initiative will be refined and taken into consideration, which, objectively happened. The organization subsequently participated in the meetings with the head of the working group, Dimitri Tskitishvili, who is a member of the Parliament and again supported the proposal.

Organization “Young Barristers” welcomes the large-scale reforms planned in the Labor Code of Georgia, which was submitted to the Parliament of Georgia on May 13, 2020, by Dimitri Tskitishvili and, among the other problematic issues, reflects the legal regulation of the internship. Based on the draft of the legislative initiative:

1. The intern is individual, who based on the compensation or not, does the specific job for the employer in order to improve their qualification, gain professional knowledge, abilities or practical experience;
2. The employer is forbidden to use the labor of the intern in order to avoid concluding a labor agreement. The intern doesn’t change the employee. The employer isn’t entitled to hire an intern in exchange for the employee, whose employment has been terminated or suspended.
3. The maximum period of internship, without compensation, can be up to 6 months, and with compensation – 1 year. The internship agreement can be drawn for only one time.
4. The relationship should be described in a written agreement, including the detailed description of the work provided.

The organization “Young Barristers” notes out, that the draft of the initiative in essence shares and considers the legal spirit and purpose of the organization’s legislative proposal. Moreover, better concretes the extent of the internship, deadlines and employer rights. The principle of having the internship agreement between the sides is fully considered, as well. The organization will support to carry out the changes and at that time, based on the principle of fairness, considers that it is still important to follow the idea of considering the internship as a labor experience. Therefore, it continues to have communication with the Parliament.

To note out: the initiative deputies are: Dimitri Tskhitishvili, Sophio Kiladze, Davit Matikashvili, Tamar Chugoshvili, Irakli Kobakhidze, Rati Ionatamishvili and Tamar Khulordava. The main committee is the Health and Social Affairs committee. And about the legislative proposal of the organization, it was done independently by the organization, it self. The organization founded the working group in July 2014, which was man up by the specialists from public and private sector. Based on the consultations, the organization chose to pay attention to the legal regulation of the internship.