POSH Act, POSH Act 2013, Posh Act full form, Posh Policy, Posh Committee, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 (POSH Act)

 

POSH Act – Complete Guide

POSH Act 2013, Posh Act full form, Posh Policy, Posh Committee

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal)

Rules, 2013 (POSH Act)

POSH Act

Full form of POSH Act is Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act. This act basically prevents and prohibit harassment of workforce at workplace.

The legislation regarding this is the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,

Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act). As a result of the Act, women are protected at work from sexual harassment. Furthermore, it provides for preventing and redressing complaints of sexual harassment.

Applicability of POSH Act, 2013

POSH Act is applicable on every Company, workspace, establishment or organization employing 10 or more employees whether full time, part time, interns or on contract, irrespective of its nature of industry of location.

The Act on “Prevention of Sexual Harassment” (POSH Policy) covers every "employee" of the organization. Sexual Harassment shall be irrespective of sex, between same sex or opposite sex. Sexual Harassment is judged by the impact on the complainant and not the intent of the Respondent.

Duties of Employer according to POSH Act

According to this Act employer is responsible for ensuring the safety of all employees working at workplace. To ensure the safety of women and other employees at workplace following task is necessary to perform by the employer.

1.    Provide safe environment to work to employees

2.    Make a sexual harassment policy at workplace under this Act.

3.   Form an Internal Committee to ensure applicability of harassment policy and positive redressal of disputes arises at workplace.

4.    Organize seminars and webinars to educate women and other employees about the complaint process and their rights under this Act.

5.  Submit Annual report to the management and to the District Officer or the Designated department.

6.    POSH compliance should be disclosing in Directors’ report of the company.

Penalty in Case of Non-Compliance

In case of any violation of Act or any non-compliance penalty should be levied on employer.

Employer shall be punishable with fine of fifty thousand rupees (INR 50,000) in case of any non- compliance such as no formation of POSH Policy, POSH Committee or any other.

If the employer is convicted for a repeated offence of non-compliance to POSH Act, the penalty will be:

1.    Twice the punishment that was awarded the first time and/or

2.    Cancellation or non-renewal of the business license.

 

Formulation of POSH Policy

The first step of implementation of POSH Act is to formulate POSH Policy. Policy is a framework or the guidelines to implement the Act. Formulation of policy is mandatory step not having policy is considered a non-compliance of POSH Act. Policy should be in simple language and should be approved by POSH expert or legal professional. It should be easy to access for employees.

Following Points Should be included in Policy

1.    Definition of Sexual Harassment Act

2.    Scope and applicability

3.    Details of Internal Committee members

4.    Complaining Process

5.    Redressal process and other important points.

Constitution of Internal Committee

The next step is to constitute the internal committee (IC). This committee not only redress complaints but also prevent the sexual harassment at workplace.

In Internal Committee of organization there should be 4 members. At least half of the Internal Committee members should be woman.

1.    Presiding Officer:

Any senior woman employee of the organization can become the Presiding officer of the committee.

2.    Internal Members:

There should be minimum 2 internal members of the committee who had experience of social work or have legal knowledge.

3.    External Member:

One external member from an NGO or any association who had knowledge of the harassment issues should be appointed. This is important for unbiased decision in complaints and cases.

In Telangana and Maharashtra External member should be registered with government by the organization. External member can work up to 3 years from the appointment. Remuneration should be paid as per the discussion between employer and External member.

Awareness and Education of employees under POSH Act

Employer should create awareness among employees about the POSH Act. Seminar, Webinar or training program should be organized to give complete knowledge of POSH Act to employees. Organizing Workshops, Awareness and Orientation Programs is must becausethe most effectiveweapon against Sexual Harassment is awareness.

Employees must be aware about following points:

1.    What is POSH Act and where it applicable?

2.    Where to complaint in case of harassment?

3.    How to complaint and what is the process?

4.    What is organization POSH Committee?

5.    Who are the committee members and how to contact them in case of complaint?

6.    Punishment in case of found guilty against complaint.

7.    Punishment in case of false complaint.

8.    Duties and responsibility of both employer and employee under POSH Act.

9.    POSH Policy should be display at notice board

Submitting Annual Report under POSH Act:

The internal Committee shall prepare and submit an annual report to the management and District Officer before 31^st January of the year for previous calendar year.

The report should include following points.

1.    Number of Complaints filed during the year.

2.    Number of complaints disposed or resolved.

3.    Number of complaints pending for more than 90 days

4.    Actions taken by employer or district officer against complaint.

5.    Number of seminar, webinar, workshop, training and awareness program organized during the year.

Disclosure in Directors’ Report:

According to Section 22 of Posh Act Director statement should be given in annual report submitted to ROC. A disclosure about the POSH Policy, POSH Committee, Number of cases and their disposal should be included in Directors’ Report of the organization.

Conclusion:

Every company should consider having a POSH Act applicability because it provides a safe environment to work. This is very helpful to redress cases and complaint of sexual harassment at workplace. This Act is very helpful for women to get justice in case of harassment. Women feel safe and comfortable to work if organization have POSH policy and committee. This act also helps to protect from external people such as clients, visitors, interns etc. In Nutshell, organization should comply this act to give save and secure environment and to provide better workplace to the employees.