The News in Brief
Thursday, March 29
Ombudsman Says Work Safety Law is Step Forward
The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that the Legislative Herald of Georgia has published the Law of Georgia on Safety at Work and the attached amendments.
“Adoption of the mentioned law should be assessed as a step forward,” she says.
The law establishes a mechanism for enforcing the obligations in the field of safety at work.
In particular, the supervisory body [the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs] is granted the authority to inspect safety norms and use sanctions in case of detection of violations in the high-risk and hazardous workplaces.
“The adopted law is better than the initially submitted draft law, as the parliamentary working group, with the involvement of the representatives of the Public Defender, took into consideration a number of remarks,” Lomjaria said.
She said that the amount of sanctions has been significantly increased and certain provisions of the draft law have been improved.
“However, it should be criticized that a number of principled remarks of the Public Defender, concerning the expansion of the scope of the law and authorizing the supervisory body to unconditionally inspect an employer, have not been considered in the law,” Lomjaria said.
Another subject of the Public Defender's criticism was the financial side of the draft law, as it “did not consider budget resources for strengthening the supervisory body, including for increasing the staff resources”.
The sanctions envisaged by the Law on Safety at Work will take effect on 1 August, 2018.
The Georgian Government, in agreement with its social partners, shall define a list of potentially high-risk, hard, hazardous and harmful workplaces.
The Public Defender hoped that the Government will timely adopt the mentioned legal act, while the safety requirements will be effectively fulfilled in practice, which will improve the situation of the employees.
Former Official Says Justice Minister must Resign
Former Deputy Minister of Justice Davit Jandieri stated on Wednesday that Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani must resign in the wake of the sexual harassment scandal involving the former head of the National Agency of Public Registry Papuna Ugrekhelidze.
Jandieri claims that the minister knew about the “misbehavior” of her employee and did nothing to prevent illegalities.
“Moreover, she was protecting Ugrekhelidze,” Jandieri said.
Ugrekhelidze resigned on Tuesday after his former employee openly accused him of sexual harassment.
Ugrekhelidze says the woman is lying.
(By Messenger Staff)
The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that the Legislative Herald of Georgia has published the Law of Georgia on Safety at Work and the attached amendments.
“Adoption of the mentioned law should be assessed as a step forward,” she says.
The law establishes a mechanism for enforcing the obligations in the field of safety at work.
In particular, the supervisory body [the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs] is granted the authority to inspect safety norms and use sanctions in case of detection of violations in the high-risk and hazardous workplaces.
“The adopted law is better than the initially submitted draft law, as the parliamentary working group, with the involvement of the representatives of the Public Defender, took into consideration a number of remarks,” Lomjaria said.
She said that the amount of sanctions has been significantly increased and certain provisions of the draft law have been improved.
“However, it should be criticized that a number of principled remarks of the Public Defender, concerning the expansion of the scope of the law and authorizing the supervisory body to unconditionally inspect an employer, have not been considered in the law,” Lomjaria said.
Another subject of the Public Defender's criticism was the financial side of the draft law, as it “did not consider budget resources for strengthening the supervisory body, including for increasing the staff resources”.
The sanctions envisaged by the Law on Safety at Work will take effect on 1 August, 2018.
The Georgian Government, in agreement with its social partners, shall define a list of potentially high-risk, hard, hazardous and harmful workplaces.
The Public Defender hoped that the Government will timely adopt the mentioned legal act, while the safety requirements will be effectively fulfilled in practice, which will improve the situation of the employees.
Former Official Says Justice Minister must Resign
Former Deputy Minister of Justice Davit Jandieri stated on Wednesday that Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani must resign in the wake of the sexual harassment scandal involving the former head of the National Agency of Public Registry Papuna Ugrekhelidze.
Jandieri claims that the minister knew about the “misbehavior” of her employee and did nothing to prevent illegalities.
“Moreover, she was protecting Ugrekhelidze,” Jandieri said.
Ugrekhelidze resigned on Tuesday after his former employee openly accused him of sexual harassment.
Ugrekhelidze says the woman is lying.
(By Messenger Staff)