Key Points at a Glance

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 — popularly called the POSH Act — was enacted to give statutory force to the Vishaka Guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997), which had governed workplace sexual harassment for 16 years as a stopgap.

"Sexual harassment" (Section 2(n)) means any one or more of: (a) physical contact and advances; (b) demand or request for sexual favours; (c) making sexually coloured remarks; (d) showing pornography; (e) any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.

"Workplace" (Section 2(o)) has a broad definition — it covers the employer's office, branches, subsidiary, government offices, organisations, unorganised sector enterprises, hospitals, educational institutions, sports institutions, and any place visited by the employee during the course of employment.

"Aggrieved woman" (Section 2(a)) means any woman of any age — employed or not — who alleges sexual harassment at the workplace; a domestic worker is explicitly included as an aggrieved woman vis-à-vis the employer household under Section 2(a).

Every employer with 10 or more employees must constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at each office/branch — presided by a woman, with at least half members being women; an external member from an NGO dealing with women's issues is mandatory (Section 4).

Where the employer has fewer than 10 workers or where the complaint is against the employer himself, the complaint goes to the Local Complaints Committee (LCC) — constituted by the District Officer under Section 6 — ensuring even unorganised sector workers get redress.

The complaint must be filed within 3 months of the incident (extendable to 6 months by ICC/LCC if sufficient cause shown). The complaint is filed in writing — but the committee is empowered to render assistance for written complaints in case of physical/mental incapacity (Section 9).

The ICC/LCC must complete inquiry within 60 days; it has powers of a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 for summoning witnesses, examining documents, and receiving evidence — ensuring substantive investigation (Section 11).

Conciliation (Section 10): Before initiating inquiry, the ICC/LCC may at the request of the aggrieved woman take steps to settle the matter through conciliation — but monetary settlement cannot be the sole basis for settlement; this protects against coercive buyouts by powerful employers.

Employer obligations (Section 19) include: displaying the penal consequences of sexual harassment, organising workshops/awareness programmes, providing safe working conditions, providing assistance to the aggrieved woman to file complaint, treating sexual harassment as a misconduct in service rules.

On the ICC/LCC recommendation, the employer/District Officer may order: (a) action against the respondent per service rules; (b) deduction of salary for victim compensation; (c) cancellation of registration/licence of employer who fails to constitute ICC — up to ₹50,000 penalty and doubling for repeat violations (Section 26).

The Vishaka Guidelines (1997) established three key duties on employers before statutory law existed: define sexual harassment, establish complaints mechanisms, and educate employees — the POSH Act codified and expanded these into a detailed statutory regime with enforceable penalties.