POSH Compliance - Internal Committee, Policy & Annual Filing

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 requires employers to prevent and address sexual harassment at the workplace, primarily through a mandatory Internal Committee, a written policy, employee training, and annual reporting.

Any employer with 10 or more employees at a workplace is required to constitute an Internal Committee (IC). This is checked per location - if a specific branch office individually has 10 or more employees, that location needs its own IC.

Generally, all employees at that workplace - including full-time, part-time, and in many interpretations, contractual staff - are considered. It's worth getting your specific headcount assessed rather than assuming borderline cases don't count.

At least four members: a presiding officer who must be a senior woman employee, at least two employee members committed to the cause of women or with relevant experience, and one external member from an NGO or with legal knowledge of sexual harassment issues. At least one-half of the total members must be women (section 4(2), proviso), so a four-member committee needs at least two women and a five-member committee at least three.

The external member brings independence and expertise to the committee and is a mandatory part of a valid IC under the Act. A committee constituted without a genuine, available external member can be considered improperly constituted if a complaint is raised and the process is challenged.

Yes. Employers are required to conduct regular awareness programmes and training - both general employee awareness and more focused training for IC members on handling complaints - typically at least once a year.

There's no single nationwide statutory date - each District Officer notifies their own submission window for the preceding calendar year. 31 January is the most widely followed convention, but some districts differ (Gurugram uses 28 February, and some Tamil Nadu districts allow up to 31 March), so always confirm the date your specific District Officer has set.

The POSH Act prescribes a fine for non-compliance, and on a repeat default, the consequences can extend to cancellation of the business's licence or registration, depending on the nature of the establishment.

You are not required to constitute an Internal Committee. Complaints from employees at such organisations are instead handled through the Local Committee constituted by the District Officer for that district.

The Act's protections are specifically for women as complainants, covering employees, contract workers, interns, and visitors at the workplace. The person against whom a complaint is made (the respondent) can be of any gender.

The Act's definition of 'workplace' has been interpreted broadly to include any place visited by the employee arising out of or during employment, which can extend to remote work contexts depending on the facts - it's worth having your policy explicitly address remote/hybrid scenarios.

Yes. The Act's definition of 'aggrieved woman' and 'employee' is broad and includes contract workers, trainees, interns, and daily wage workers, not just permanent employees.

Once member nominations and the external member are finalised, the IC can typically be constituted and notified to employees within a couple of weeks - the main variable is how quickly a suitable external member is identified and confirmed.

An Internal Committee is set up by an individual employer with 10 or more employees at a workplace. A Local Committee is constituted by the District Officer to receive complaints from workplaces with fewer than 10 employees, or where the complaint is against the employer themselves.

The presiding officer must be a senior-level woman employee. Employee members should be committed to the cause of women or have relevant experience in social work or legal knowledge. The external member must be from an NGO or have knowledge relating to sexual harassment issues - qualifications aren't rigidly prescribed but should be genuine and defensible. Whatever the mix, at least one-half of the members must be women.