Termination and wrongful dismissal in Georgia: building the grounds file

Direct answer and scope

Dismissal requires a valid ground, consistent facts, an appropriate decision and correct financial settlement; employer and employee should preserve the notice and service date immediately. The Labour Code's Article 48 windows for requesting written reasons and going to court must be calculated separately.

In employment, the written terms and actual working arrangement are assessed together. Function, control, time, pay, equal treatment, data and termination grounds should be documented consistently with reality.

• Employees, employers, HR teams, contractors and foreign workers
• Responsible authority: The Labour Inspection Service, labour-migration authority and Common Courts of Georgia
• Jurisdiction: Georgia

Documents and evidence to prepare

Start the assessment with a complete and consistent file covering: contract and job description, warnings, appraisal and HR record, termination decision and service, pay, leave and final settlement.

A foreign document may require apostille or legalisation and a compliant Georgian translation. Check the copy, date, issuer and its connection to the fact being proved.

• contract and job description
• warnings, appraisal and HR record
• termination decision and service
• pay, leave and final settlement

Procedure and working sequence

Preserve the contract, job description, time and pay records, warnings and correspondence. For a foreign worker, separately check the 2026 work-right and immigration requirements.

For this issue, the practical sequence is: select legal ground; check facts and equal treatment; issue and serve written decision; calculate the written-reasons and court windows separately; plan challenge, negotiation or court. Before each step, recheck the competent authority, filing form and current deadline.

• select legal ground
• check facts and equal treatment
• issue and serve written decision
• calculate the written-reasons and court windows separately
• plan challenge, negotiation or court

Principal risks and common mistakes

The principal risks are: inventing grounds later; discriminatory comparison; loss of evidence; missing final settlement; miscalculating the deadline. Assess each risk not only by legal outcome but also by time, cost, enforceability and its impact on any other current status.

Where documents conflict, explain and correct the inconsistency first; an unplanned additional filing may deepen the problem.

• inventing grounds later
• discriminatory comparison
• loss of evidence
• missing final settlement
• miscalculating the deadline

Decision plan for the next step

Create one working file containing the chronology, objective, document register, official-source links, deadlines and responsible people. Termination and wrongful dismissal in Georgia should not be handled as a form-filling exercise; the final step must fit your facts and risk tolerance.

If the outcome affects liberty, lawful stay, a child, significant property or business continuity, obtain an individual legal assessment before acting.

• Confirm facts and current status
• Recheck the current official source
• Record the deadline and fallback route
• Obtain the written decision or registration evidence

Requesting reasons and the 30-day windows

Under Article 48 of the Labour Code, an employee may request written substantiation within 30 calendar days of receiving the employer's termination notice. The employer must provide the substantiation within 7 calendar days, and the employee's 30-day court window after receiving it must be calculated separately. If substantiation is not provided, the Code sets a different calculation rule; preserve the notice and proof of service in full.