Harassment at the workplace: how to complain under the POSH Act
For sexual harassment of a woman at work, by a colleague, manager, client or anyone else connected to your workplace. The law, the POSH Act, protects women. Every employer with 10 or more workers must have a committee to deal with your complaint.
Do this first
- 1
Write down what happened, as soon as you can
Note the date, time, place, what was said or done, and who else was there. You have 3 months from the incident, or the last incident if it happened more than once, to complain.
- 2
Find out who handles complaints where you work
Every employer with 10 or more workers must have an Internal Committee, and must display the order constituting it. No Internal Committee, or the complaint is against your employer? The district's Local Committee handles it instead.
- 3
You can use SHe-Box too
You can file your complaint online on SHe-Box, the government's portal for this. It goes to the Internal or Local Committee that handles your workplace. The National Commission for Women helpline is also there if you need to talk to someone first.
Step by step
- 1
Make your complaint in writing
Give it, in writing, to the Internal Committee where you work, or the district's Local Committee if there's no Internal Committee, or if the complaint is against your employer.
Don't know where your district's Local Committee sits? You don't have to travel to find it. Every block, tehsil and ward has a nodal officer whose job is to take your complaint and pass it to the Local Committee within 7 days. SHe-Box also lists the Local Committee and the nodal officers for your district.
You have 3 months from the incident, or the last incident if there were several. The Committee can extend this by up to another 3 months, for reasons it records in writing, if it's satisfied something stopped you complaining sooner.
Can't write it yourself? The Committee has to help you put it in writing.
- 2
Ask for interim relief, if you need it
While the inquiry is on, you can ask, in writing, for the Committee to recommend a transfer for you or the person you complained about, or leave for you of up to 3 months, on top of your normal leave.
- 3
You don't have to go through an inquiry if you'd rather settle it
Before an inquiry starts, and only if you ask, the Committee can help you and the other person settle the matter. A money payment can't be the basis of the settlement.
If you settle, there's no inquiry. If the other person doesn't keep to it, you can still ask for the inquiry.
- 4
The inquiry, and what happens after
The Committee must finish the inquiry within 90 days. Both sides get a hearing, and both get a copy of the findings.
It then has 10 days to send its report and recommendation to your employer or the District Officer, who must act on it within 60 days of getting it.
If the complaint is found true, the Committee can recommend action against the person under your workplace's rules, and a sum of money paid to you, which can be deducted from that person's salary.
- 5
Disagree with the recommendation, or your employer isn't acting on it?
You can appeal. You have 90 days from the recommendation. Where you appeal depends on your workplace's service rules; an advocate can tell you which forum applies to you.
- 6
Your identity stays confidential
The complaint, your identity, the other side's identity, and anything said during conciliation or the inquiry can't be published or made known, even under the Right to Information Act. Anyone who breaks this can be penalised under their own service rules.
- 7
You can also go to the police
Filing with the Committee doesn't stop you also reporting the act itself to the police, if it's a crime. If you choose to, your employer has to help you do it.
If you're a domestic worker, the Local Committee must forward your complaint to the police within 7 days, if it finds a prima facie case.
Watch out
- Making a complaint knowing it to be false, or lying in the inquiry, can lead to action against you. But simply failing to prove your complaint is not, on its own, treated as false.
- A Local Committee exists in every district, even if you've never heard of it. Your workplace having no Internal Committee doesn't mean you have nowhere to complain.
When an advocate can help
You can do every step above yourself. An advocate helps when:
- Your employer has no Internal Committee and the Local Committee isn't responding
- You want to report the act itself to the police, separately from the Committee complaint
- Your employer doesn't act on the Committee's recommendation within 60 days
Sources
- SHe-Box · Ministry of Women and Child Development
- Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, sections 4, 6, 9-13, 16, 17, 18 and 19 · Ministry of Women and Child Development
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This guide explains how to report a problem through official channels. It is not legal advice.