The labour remuneration of individuals employed in public institutions is governed by the Law of Georgia on Remuneration in Public Institutions.

According to this Law, a bonus or a monetary reward can be given to a public servant for excellent and exemplary performance assigned to him/her and/or for the performance of a task of special complexity and importance on the basis of a recommendation from a superior official, by a decision of the head of a relevant public institution, within the limits established by this Law and within the funds envisaged by the respective budget (Article 24).

In regard to the upper limit of bonus pay-outs, the Law states that the total amount of monetary rewards received during the year by a person employed in a public institution shall not exceed 10% of the annual amount of the official salary for a post/position held by the person (Article 28).

According to the Budget Monitor’s data, the total labour remuneration in government bodies in 2021 was GEL 1.7 billion. Of that amount, the share of bonus pay-outs was GEL 37.6 million (2% of the total labour remuneration). In 2020, GEL 1.6 billion was spent from the budget for labour remuneration and the portion for bonus pay-outs was GEL 15.4 million (1%). The same figures for 2019 were GEL 1.5 billion and GEL 35.9 million (2%), respectively. In the last few years, the largest amount of money for bonus pay-outs – GEL 107 million – was spent in 2014 which equalled 8% of the total labour remuneration.

In more details, the labour remuneration of the Parliament of Georgia and affiliated organisations was GEL 31.7 million and bonus payments amounted to GEL 1.5 million (5% of the total labour remuneration). The Presidential Administration spent GEL 2.5 million on salaries and GEL 136,840 on bonuses which constitutes 5% of the labour remuneration. The Administration of the Government of Georgia’s labour remuneration expenses were GEL 7.1 million whilst GEL 53,316 was spent on bonuses (1%).

The bonus expenses for certain ministries in the past three years are as follows:

Table 1: Bonus Expenses of the Ministries (GEL)

Source: Budget Monitor

As illustrated by these data, the greatest amount of bonuses in 2021 was paid in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education. In regard to a three-year period, bonuses were not paid in most of the ministries in 2020 except for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education.