On December 12, The Social Justice Center (SJC) has issued a statement, criticizing the draft amendments to the Public Service Law of Georgia, proposed by Georgian Dream party, calling them a violation of labor rights and a potential tool that can be used for political persecution in the public sector. SJC argues that the amendments would facilitate the dismissal of critical public servants under the guise of reorganization and establish full Georgian Dream party control at all levels of the public sector.
SJC stated that the chronology of events, public statements by high-ranking government officials, and the content of the proposed amendments indicate that the planned changes to the Law on Public Service aim, on the one hand, “to facilitate the dismissal of critical public servants under the guise of reorganization and, on the other hand, to establish full partisan control over all levels of the public sector”. It argues that the amendments coincide with protests from public servants against the suspension of Georgia’s EU integration process. GD leaders including Irakli Kobakhidze and Kakha Kaladze, have called the protests an attempt to “attempt to overthrow state institutions through sabotage” and said it’s a “self-cleansing process.” They indicated the expected retaliatory steps from the government “within the framework of the Constitution and the law.”
The watchdog’s statement highlights some of the most controversial aspects of the bill. In particular, the SJC notes that the draft law expands the grounds for reorganization. “Specifically, the draft law proposed by “Georgian Dream Party allows reorganization to be declared based on minimal changes, such as adding new functions to each employee within a structural unit or modifying existing functions,” says the JSC. Currently, the assignment of a new function not only to a specific employee, but even to a structural unit of a public institution cannot be considered a basis for reorganization
SJC also states that the draft law simplifies dismissals during reorganizations. The watchdog say “it is extremely alarming” that, with the initiated changes, during the reorganization of an institution, the dismissal of an official is automatic. In the event of dismissal of employees due to reorganization and the announcement of a new competition, “the head of the institution is granted discretionary authority to decide the type of competition to be held—open, closed, or internal—for selecting public servants at all levels.”
Another key aspect, according to SJC is the elimination of the option to transfer public servants to equivalent positions in case of reduction in staff due to the reorganization. The amendments remove the possibility of transferring dismissed employees to equivalent or lower-ranking positions within the public sector, further reducing job security for public servants that are facing reorganization. In addition, the duration of reorganization process is set to be shortened from three to two months.
Furthermore, as SJC says the draft law also restricts the restoration of rights for violated public servants. The proposed amendments introduce a troubling provision regarding the restoration of rights for unlawfully dismissed public servants. If a court rules that a public servant has been unlawfully dismissed or wrongly selected in a competition, as per the court’s ruling, the draft law stipulates that the individual will not be reinstated to their position. Instead, they would only receive compensation equivalent to three months’ salary.
SJC also notes that the the draft law violates the International Labor Organization’s Convention N158. That convention establishes that the termination of employment can be justified by legitimate reasons such as economic, technological, or structural changes within an organization. However, the amendments proposed by the Georgian government go beyond these criteria, allowing dismissals based on arbitrary modifications to individual employees’ roles, such as the addition or modification of functions.
The organization assesses that the planned amendments to the Georgian Law on Public Service will alarmingly worsen the labor rights of civil servants. It notes that the amendments coincide with the large-scale protests of civil servants, with which they distanced themselves from the ruling party’s decision to suspend Georgia’s EU accession process and demonstrate that the real goal of the amendments is to demonstratively punish critical civil servants and completely subjugate the civil service to the Georgian Dream party.
Other human rights organizations, including the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) have also criticized the draft amendments, highlighting concerns over the erosion of public servants’ rights, the potential for politically motivated dismissals, and violations of international labor standards.
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