Employment contracts in Georgia: thirty days’ notice — or three

Anyone hiring their first employee in Georgia usually brings German or Austrian expectations along: written form as a matter of course, six months’ probation, notice scaled to length of service. Two of those three do not hold — and the third holds for a different reason than assumed.

Written form only above one month

The Georgian Labour Code expressly allows an employment contract to be oral or written, fixed term or open-ended. Written form becomes mandatory only once the relationship lasts longer than one month.

In practice that freedom is theoretical. As soon as someone stays beyond four weeks the duty applies anyway, and an oral contract cannot be proved in a dispute — neither the pay nor the role nor how it ends. The more interesting rule sits alongside it: written form is always required for a probation period, whatever its length.

Multilingual contracts add a duty that is easy to miss. The contract must be concluded in a language both sides understand, and several language versions are permitted. Where they are, the contract has to state which version prevails in the event of a discrepancy. A German-Georgian contract without that clause is incomplete.

The ten mandatory terms

The statute lists the essential terms exhaustively. Where one is missing it is missing — and in a dispute the employer carries the consequences of the gap:

• Details of the parties to the contract
• Start date and duration of the employment relationship
• Working time and rest periods
• Place of work — and the various places where these vary
• The post, and the type and description of the work
• Remuneration including any increments, and how it is paid
• The procedure for compensating overtime
• Duration of paid and unpaid leave and how it is granted
• The procedure for termination by either side
• Diverging provisions of a collective agreement, where one exists

A term contradicting the statute or a collective agreement is void — unless it puts the employee in a better position. That asymmetry is the core of employee protection in Georgian law: departing upwards is free, departing downwards has no effect.

Probation: six months, once, in writing

Six months are permitted — subject to three conditions. Probation may be agreed with the same person only once, it must be in writing, and work during that time must be paid; the amount and payment terms are for the parties to agree.

The practically most important sentence sits at the end of the provision: the regular termination procedure does not apply to ending a probation contract, unless the contract provides otherwise. So probation genuinely functions as probation — with the consequence that a bespoke termination clause in the contract can narrow that privilege again without anyone noticing.

Fixed terms end at 30 months

Fixed terms are not freely available. Where the duration is under a year, a fixed term is permitted only on one of the grounds the statute names — a defined volume of work, seasonal work, a temporary increase in workload, covering an absent colleague, a wage subsidy under the Employment Promotion Act, or another objective ground.

And there is a hard ceiling: once the duration exceeds 30 months, the contract is deemed open-ended. The same happens where two or more consecutive fixed-term contracts together exceed 30 months. “Consecutive” is defined broadly — it is enough that the next contract is concluded within 60 days of the previous one expiring. The customary gap between two fixed terms achieves nothing.

Termination: thirty days or three

This is the difference that surprises German employers most. On the termination grounds the statute names, the employer has a genuine choice:

Route	Long notice	Short notice
Written notice	at least 30 calendar days	at least 3 calendar days
Severance	at least 1 month’s pay	at least 2 months’ pay
Typical occasion the statute prescribes nothing here	planned headcount reduction	a separation meant to take effect at once

Where the employee resigns, they in turn must give at least 30 calendar days’ written notice.

The claim that all of this is employer-friendly holds for the periods — not for the procedure. The employee may request written reasons for the termination within 30 calendar days of being notified; the employer must supply them within seven calendar days. From receipt of those reasons a further 30 days run for a court claim. Where the employer supplies nothing, the claim period starts anyway — once the seven days have elapsed. Terminating without a documented ground is therefore not the faster route, merely the worse one.

What this means for a draft

Three points decide more in practice than everything else: the language clause, the termination provision, and whether the probation period was actually agreed in writing. All three cost nothing if considered in advance, and all three are expensive if not.

If you employ staff in Georgia, the residence and permit side is covered in Work permits in Georgia 2026; who may advise you in Georgia at all is covered in Who may advise you in Georgia.

Georgian employment contracts — frequently asked

Does a Georgian employment contract have to be in writing?

Only where the relationship lasts longer than one month. Below that an oral agreement suffices. Written form is always required for a probation period, however, regardless of duration.

Which language is the contract concluded in?

A language both parties understand. Multilingual contracts are expressly permitted — but then the contract must state which version prevails in the event of a discrepancy. Without that clause a mandatory term is missing.

How long may a probation period run?

Up to six months, and only once with the same person. Work performed during probation must be paid. The regular termination procedure does not apply to ending a probation contract unless the contract provides otherwise.

Can I use fixed terms indefinitely?

No. Once the duration exceeds 30 months — including across several consecutive fixed terms — the contract is deemed open-ended. A new contract concluded within 60 days of the previous one expiring counts as consecutive.

Is Georgian labour law employer-friendly?

On notice periods yes, on procedure not throughout. The employee may request written reasons within 30 days, the employer must supply them within seven, and the employee then has 30 days to go to court. Contract terms worse than the statute are void.

This article is general information and does not constitute legal or tax advice. The provisions cited come from the Georgian text of the Labour Code, publication 28 of 17 September 2024; the English translation on matsne shows amendments only up to 2020 and was not relied on as a source. Collective agreements and sector rules may differ. As at August 2026.