To what extent does the Labor Inspection Service provide and actively publish public information? The latest study analyzes what information the Labor Inspection Service processes/does not process, how much the published information is user-oriented, and how complete the public information is. The document which also includes recommendations, was prepared by the Law and Public Policy Center with the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation.
According to the study, in some individual cases, the public information provided by the Labor Inspection Service is not complete and fails to fully respond to the request of the person concerned. For example, the Service did not submit the list of the organizations inspected in the period of January-July 2023 and the protocols of administrative violations drawn up against them for the reason that the results of the inspections carried out in this period and the materials of the proceedings drawn up were at the stage of processing. It should be underlined that the Service does not provide timely information concerning industrial accidents.
In addition, the Labor Inspection Service does not fully fulfill the obligations defined by the resolution of the Government of Georgia “On the request and proactive publication of public information in electronic form”. The obligation to proactively publish public information has been violated, both in terms of content and periodicity, which is a substantial challenge. Information related to the budget of the service, state procurement, and expenditures is not presented on the website of the Service at all.
At the presentation of the study, Ketevan Kukava, the head of the Law and Public Policy Center, and Anano Tsintsabadze, the manager of the social justice program of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, addressed the participants of the event with a welcome speech.
“Transparency and openness considerably determine public trust in public institutions. The labor inspection system constitutes an important mechanism for the protection of labor rights. Given the important role and functions of the Labor Inspection Service, there is a high public interest in the information related to its activities. Our study shows that there are challenges in both public disclosure and proactive transparency. It is important for the Labor Inspection Service to eliminate existing shortcomings and improve the quality of transparency and openness,” said Ketevan Kukava.
Timely elimination of the deficiencies identified as a result of the study carried out is important for improving the transparency and openness of the Labor Inspection Service.
