TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) claims that there is no legal act that regulates the procedures for awarding bonuses within state agencies.

GYLA has studied data from Georgian ministries, the government chancellery, the presidential administration and the parliament and prepared a survey called Practice of Providing Bonuses in Public Service.

On the basis of this survey GYLA concludes that there are no clear rules that apply to provision of bonuses to public servants.

Giorgi Narmania, the author of the survey, says it is not specified anywhere what concrete achievements and contributions may serve as grounds for providing individual public servants with a bonus, and he recommends that the government regulates this.

Narmania noted that from January 2012 to April 2013, bonuses were an essential part of public service employees’ total monthly income.

About GEL 2.7 million in bonuses were allocated for members of parliament during the period from January 1, 2012 to April, 2013. Sometimes the bonuses were equal to the amount of salaries.

GYLA recommends that the government determines a legal framework that would regulate the provision of bonuses to public servants, and that every time bonuses are allocated to employees, the reasons for this must be stated.