The Parliament discussed and approved the Bill on Public Service with 84 votes.
As Givi Mikanadze, First Deputy Chairman of the faction Georgian Dream notes, the draft law regulates issues related to an internship in a public institution and the basic requirements for an intern.
The draft law stipulates that as of July 1, 2022, the work experience of staffers of the Office of the Faction of the Parliament of Georgia, the Office of the Factions of the Higher Representative Bodies of the Autonomous Republics of Abkhazia and Adjara, the Office of the Faction of the Municipality Assembly shall be considered as public service.
As the author of the document notes, public service internships are left beyond the legal regulations and thus, the relevant law fails to acknowledge the terms internship and intern.
An intern can now be a BA Senior, MA or Ph.D. student, or a Senior of Vocational Education, or a graduate of one of the higher or vocational education levels as long as they graduated within the last 5 years.
The term of an internship in the same public entity is established in the proposed law as not less than 6 months and not more than 12 months. As Mikanadze notes, the bill establishes a capping system, stating that the number of interns engaged by each public agency should not exceed 3% of the total employees for each period defined by the agencies.
Only two internships with the same employer are permitted for an intern. After the law is passed, the internship term will be considered work experience, and internships in public institutions will not be compensated.
The proposed document, as Mikanadze explains, adds the retroactive force of the law, which means that everyone who has ever worked in the Parliament, the Supreme Council, or the Assembly faction will be regarded to have work experience.
