On January 30, 2024, the Public Defender made a recommendation to Impexfarm LLC relating to the identification of discrimination on multiple grounds (gender and marital status).

According to the factual circumstances of the case, the manager of one of pharmacies located in the city of Poti was on maternity leave twice in a row. After the end of the leave, the employer refused to reinstate her in her job, because, due to the long leave, another person had already been employed. Instead, the employer offered the applicant a job in Kutaisi, in the pharmacy that has not yet opened. It should be noted that after the expiration of the second leave, the employer gave the applicant a leave without pay, and from March 5, 2022 until now, the applicant has, in fact, been without work and income.

According to the Public Defender's explanation, an employee has the right to return to the same job and enjoy the same working conditions after the end of maternity or adoption leave, and also to benefit from any improved working conditions that she would have been entitled to if she had not taken leave.

In addition, the Public Defender believes that the company's offer to send the resident of Poti to work in Kutaisi significantly worsens the employee's situation, as it takes more than 3 hours (limit set by law) to get to the workplace.

Accordingly, the Public Defender made a recommendation to Impexfarm LLC:

• to immediately stop the discriminatory treatment of the applicant and reinstate her in the same workplace and same position;
• to provide appropriate compensation for the involuntarily missed hours;
• not to allow discriminatory treatment on the basis of gender, pregnancy, marital status or other grounds in labour relations in the future and to ensure the implementation of equality policy in the company.