posh-faqs

Full form of POSH – Prevention of Sexual Harassment
Full name of the POSH Act – The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013

Yes. Applicable on all organizations irrespective of their size and stakeholder strength.

 Organize regular sensitization programs for all stakeholders including the Board and last line workers;
 Organize capacity and skill building workshops for Internal Committee members;
 Organize orientation programs for new joiners;
 Ensure that Internal Committee members meet at regular intervals to take preventive and proactive steps of creating a respectful environment for people;
 Encourage people to voice their concerns by focussing on nurturing an open culture;
 Encourage gender neutrality at workplace to foster an inclusive environment;
 Ensure background verifications before recruiting people;
 Ensure CCTV cameras are in a fully working condition;
 Ensure regular communication with stakeholders apart from conducting training programs;
 Use regional language in addition to English and Hindi to communicate the subject to stakeholders;
 Appoint a counsellor or psychologist on board to ensure mental well-being of stakeholders;
 Empathise with stakeholders and listen to them with patience;
 Encourage department heads and managers to keep a regular check on the working environment of their respective departments;
 Install complaint boxes and ensure the complaints are being reviewed on daily basis;
 Provide all the necessary support to the Internal Committee to ensure smooth implementation of POSH at workplace.

Foremost responsibility of every employer is to create a safe and respectable workplace environment for his employees.
Following compliances must be ensured by the employer pertaining to POSH Act:

 Establish an Internal Committee;
 Formulate and disseminate POSH policy;
 Display notices informing employees about POSH Act, its consequences and details of Internal Committee members;
 Conduct awareness workshops and capacity building programs for employees and IC members respectively;
 Take prompt action on complaints received and;
 Submit annual report to the district officer at the end of every calendar year.

Yes. Training and sensitization workshops for all the relevant stakeholders i.e. employees, internal committee, Board & senior management, factory workers, housekeeping staff, vendors and all other staff associated with the organization, must be done during the year at regular intervals.

Yes. POSH policy is document which communicates the culture and mindset of board / management that the organization is zero tolerant towards sexual harassment in any form.

Yes. Displaying of notices at visible places across organizations/units/branch offices/factory sites etc. is mandatory as it gives easy access of important details to the readers. Also, these notices must be displayed in English and regional languages so that the displayed message reaches to all the relevant stakeholders associated in any capacity with the organization.

No. In addition to physical sexual harassment, there are multiple other forms of sexual harassments that people may encounter at workplace such as digital, verbal, non-verbal and psychological.

POSH Act, 2013 follows calendar year starting from January 1 and ending on December 31.

Harassment is a broader term and sexual harassment forms a part of harassment. Harassment can be anything that makes you feel uncomfortable but not necessarily sexual in nature. It can be verbal, non-verbal, physical and psychological.

Harassment – Connect with HR
Sexual Harassment – Connect with Internal Committee

Physical sexual harassment – inappropriate touching, pinching, kissing (forceful), patting at the back, rape, molestation and more;
Verba sexual harassment – sexually coloured jokes / comments / remarks, body shaming, repeated date invitations, sexually coloured slangs / abuse, threatening to seek sexual favours, request / demand for sexual favours, commenting / talking about personal sexual lives and more;
Non-verbal sexual harassment – staring, whistling, showing inappropriate sexual gestures and more;
Digital sexual harassment – morphing, display of sexually explicit material, obscene / vulgar pictures, sexually coloured emails / SMS / WhatsApp messages, inappropriate sexually coloured remarks / comments on social media platforms, display of inappropriate sexually coloured emoticons and more.

Physical harassment – hitting, damaging property, violent acts and more;
Verbal harassment – using abusive language, passing demeaning comments, humiliating / insulting someone, yelling, blackmailing, threatening and more;
Non-verbal harassment – physical stalking, taking someone’s credit, staring and more;
Digital harassment – stalking on social media, taking pictures and screenshots without permission, sending unsolicited messages on social media / other electronic platforms and more.

No. However linking or cross referencing of policies strengthen governance mechanisms and display an open organizational culture.

Yes. It can deeply affect the mental health and well-being of people especially the victim and the accused at workplace.

Fine upto INR 50,000/- which may also extend to cancellation / withdrawal / non-renewal of business licence in case of repeated offence.