What is the POSH Act?

The POSH Act is the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Indian law that defines workplace sexual harassment, mandates a preventive and redressal framework, and obliges employers to protect women employees and visitors at the workplace. Compliance is not optional and applies to every workplace, regardless of size or sector, including offices, factories, hospitals, NGOs, domestic settings, and remote work locations. The law was passed following the Supreme Court's Vishaka Guidelines, 1997, and is now the primary statute governing workplace sexual harassment in India.

What does the POSH Act cover?

The Act defines sexual harassment broadly to capture both direct and indirect behaviour, whether verbal, non-verbal, physical, or digital.

• Physical contact and advances: any unwelcome physical conduct of a sexual nature.
• Demand for sexual favours: explicit or implied requests, particularly when tied to employment benefits or threats.
• Sexually coloured remarks: comments, jokes, or innuendo of a sexual nature directed at or about a woman.
• Display of pornography: sharing or displaying pornographic content at the workplace, including via messaging or email.
• Other unwelcome conduct: any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.

Quid pro quo situations, such as promising promotions in return for sexual favours, and hostile-work-environment situations that interfere with a woman's work or create an intimidating environment, are both covered.

Employer obligations under POSH

The Act places specific, time-bound obligations on every employer with ten or more employees, and most of these apply to smaller employers as well through the Local Committee mechanism.

• Internal Committee (IC): constitute an Internal Committee at every office or unit with ten or more employees, chaired by a senior woman employee, with at least one external member from a relevant NGO or legal background.
• POSH policy: publish a written POSH policy, displayed prominently and communicated to all employees, contractors, and visitors.
• Awareness and training: conduct regular awareness sessions for all employees and capacity-building programmes for IC members.
• Complaint mechanism: maintain a confidential, accessible complaint mechanism, with the IC handling investigations within ninety days of receiving a complaint.
• Annual report: file an annual report with the District Officer summarising the number of complaints received, resolved, and pending.
• Disclosure in board reports: companies covered by the Companies Act, 2013, must disclose POSH compliance in their annual Board's Report.

How the complaint process works

The Act lays down a structured process to ensure complaints are handled fairly and within strict time limits.

Penalties for non-compliance

• Fines: an employer failing to constitute the IC, file the annual report, or follow the procedure can be fined up to INR 50,000, and the amount doubles on repeat offences.
• Cancellation of licences: repeated non-compliance can lead to cancellation of business licences and registrations.
• Reputational and contractual impact: enterprise customers, regulators, and investors now treat POSH compliance as a baseline diligence item; gaps can stall deals and damage reputation.

POSH compliance is not a one-time setup. The IC must be re-constituted regularly, awareness sessions must repeat each year, and annual reports must be filed even in years with no complaints. For global employers hiring in India, this is one of the first compliance items to put in place along with payroll and statutory benefits.