May 1 is International LabourDay. The Public Defender once again calls on the authorities to take appropriate measures to address problems in the field of labour rights.

The growing statistics of those killed and injured in the workplace are particularly concerning. 59 people were killed and 199 were injured in the workplace in 2018. Unfortunately, timely and effective investigation of similar facts remains a challenge; most of the cases in city and district courts are settled through plea bargain.

As a result of inspecting labour conditions last year, systemic violations were revealed in the direction of safety at work. Specifically, no risks are evaluated in a number of facilities, no individual or collective protection tools are applied and no safety specialists are employed, while working devices are hazardous, makeshift or damaged. Fire and electric safety rules are seldom observed and there is no action plan for emergency situations.

In addition, no appropriate measures are taken for the employees’ healthcare or for raising their qualifications or teaching of primary medical care. No sanitary-hygienic norms are observed.

The monitoring of the fulfilment of requirements of the labour legislation showed that the duration of working hours is incompatible with contract terms in most cases; the rules of granting a leave and issuing remuneration are violated as well.

In her parliamentary report, the Public Defender indicated systemic violations of labour rights and deficiencies in the Labour Code. According to her, no maximum number of daily working hours, number of working days per week, maximum number of extra working hours, or full list of grounds for canceling labour relations are determined. The practice of enforcement of labour legislation is also problematic and despite a number of legislative guarantees, they are often not realized in practice.

Labour rights of vulnerable groups - women and persons with disabilities, in the direction of protection of equality principles, are especially violated. The practice of the Public Defender as an equality body reveals that most of the cases of alleged discrimination occur in labour relations. Among them are cases of sexual harassment, discrimination on gender grounds and discrimination on the grounds of different and political views.

Due to the lack of appropriate legal guarantees, practical promotion and effective enforcement mechanisms, the rights of workers with disabilities are not properly realized. The statistical data also indicate the inefficiency of employee support mechanisms, according to which, 6073 job seekers with disabilities were registered in the job management information system - worknet.gov.ge in 2018, but only 99 were employed within the framework of employment support programmes.

No substantial improvement has been observed in the direction of women's labour rights. In Gender Inequality Global Index 2018, Georgia moved from 45^th to 69^th place according to equal pay for equal work in Europe and Central Asia. As for the women's participation in unpaid family care work, the women’s contribution is almost twice as high as of men in this direction (female - 33.3, male - 14.7). In addition, the average incomes of men and women are also different and the estimated annual income of men is twice as high as of women (female - 7.2, male - 14.5).

The Public Defender continues to study the situation of labour rights in the country under her mandate and will use all available means to improve the situation.