Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal ) Act/ Posh Act was enacted by the Government of India in 2013. It is a major step by the GOI for preventing any form of misconduct on the women at workplace.
Applicability of POSH:-
POSH Act is applicable on each and every Company, workspace, establishment or organisation employing 10 or more employees whether full time, part time, interns or on contract, irrespective of its nature of industry of location.
This Act states various steps to be followed by the organisations in order to create a healthy workspace for women employees. These Steps are:-
A. Drafting Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy
B. Constitution of Internal Committee (IC) to handle complaints regarding sexual harassment.
C. Create awareness among employees regarding their rights and responsibilities for creating a safe workplace.
D. Annual Return on POSH compliance.
Now these steps are explained in detail:
A. POSH Policy:
POSH Policy of an organisation shall cover the Following:
1. The Objective and the purpose
2. Scope: The coverage of the policy should be clearly stated i.e. to whom should the Policy apply? And where should the policy apply? For example- Employees, contractors, interns, office premises, parking lot, team outings, etc. It is pertinent to note that the POSH Act only provides the protection to female employees but the organisation can also formulate a Policy which is gender neutral.
3. Definition: The definition of what constitutes sexual harassment must be stated clearly in the Policy.
4. Responsibilities: Responsibilities of each and every person i.e. person aggrieved, offending person, witness, etc. must be clearly stated.
5. Internal Committee: The fact of Constituting the Internal Committee and the detail of all members of IC must be clearly stated in the Policy.
6. Procedures: Procedure for filing complaints must be explained in the Policy in clear manner. The procedure followed by the organisation after receiving complaint and investigation process must be clearly stated along with the timelines. The procedure to communicate the findings shall also be stated.
7. The disciplinary actions along with the penalties/fines shall also be stated in the policy.
8. Appeal Process shall be stated.
9. Compensation programme: The Policy shall also include the Compensation programme for the complainant.
10. Privacy Clause: The Policy shall also include the Privacy clause to ensure the confidentiality of the case.
B. Internal Committee:
The Internal Committee shall comprise of three types of members:
1. Presiding Officer- The presiding officer should be the senior Women employee of the organisation.
2. Employee Members- The IC should also include two or more other employees who have good legal knowledge.
3. External Members- IC should have at least one member who is not connected with the Organisation in any way except as External Member of the Committee. He will ensure that the activities of the IC are unbiased and uninfluential.
Important Points w.r.t. Internal Committee:
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- Atleast half of the Members of the IC should be women.
- The members can hold their office for upto 3 years.
C. Creating Employee Awareness:
POSH law mandates that an organization should take all necessary steps to create awareness among its employees about prevention of sexual harassment and the POSH law. Organizations can create awareness among employees in different ways. Awareness sessions are very important to sensitize the employees about POSH. The common methods employed to create employee awareness on POSH are classroom sessions and online training (eLearning courses).
D. Annual Report:
The organisations covered under POSH needs to file an Annual Report to the District Officer, each Calendar year. This report shall contain the following:-
- Total number of sexual harassment complaints received.
- Total number of sexual harassment complaints actioned and completed.
- Total number of sexual harassment complaints under investigation for more than 90 days.
- Total number of employees in the organization and the number of employees trained on POSH awareness.
- Nature of the action taken by the Organization or District Officer.
The last date of submission of such annual report to the District Officer is 31st January of every year for the preceding calendar year.
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