The POSH Act, 2013 mandates every Indian workplace with 10+ employees to prevent and redress sexual harassment of women through an Internal Complaints Committee, written policy, training, and annual reporting.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 — universally referred to as the POSH Act — is the central law that mandates every Indian workplace to prevent and redress sexual harassment of women. It received Presidential assent on 23 April 2013 and came into force on 9 December 2013, accompanied by the POSH Rules, 2013. Compliance is non-optional, applies regardless of organisation size or sector, and carries financial as well as licence-cancellation consequences for breach. See the POSH Act compliance India guide for the full implementation playbook.
In Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (AIR 1997 SC 3011) the Supreme Court laid down the Vishaka Guidelines as binding law, drawing on India’s CEDAW obligations. The 2013 Act codifies and expands those guidelines with statutory committees, time limits, penalties, and an annual reporting obligation.
The Act applies to every “workplace” with 10 or more employees, formal and informal sectors alike. “Workplace” is defined expansively in Section 2(o) and includes Government departments and undertakings, hospitals, educational institutions, private companies, NGOs, partnerships, sole proprietorships, dwelling places where domestic workers are employed, and any place visited by an employee in the course of employment, including employer-provided transportation. The Act protects all women irrespective of age or employment status — regular, ad-hoc, daily wager, contractual, probationer, trainee, apprentice, intern, and even visitors and clients.
Section 2(n) defines sexual harassment to include any one or more of the following unwelcome acts or behaviour:
Section 3(2) lists circumstances that may amount to sexual harassment, including implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment, threat of detrimental treatment, threat about employment status, interference with work, or creation of a hostile/offensive work environment.
Earlier termed Internal Complaints Committee, now simply Internal Committee under Section 4. Mandatory in every workplace with 10+ employees. Composition: a Presiding Officer (senior woman; if none, nominate from another unit), at least two member-employees (preferably with legal or social-work experience), and one external member from an NGO or with sexual-harassment expertise. At least half of the members must be women. Tenure: 3 years (Section 4(3)).
For workplaces with fewer than 10 employees, or where the complaint is against the employer, a Local Committee is constituted by the District Officer (Section 5). Domestic workers and women in unorganised sectors approach the LC.
Section 16 imposes strict confidentiality — the complaint, identities of the aggrieved woman, respondent and witnesses, proceedings, and recommendations cannot be published, communicated, or made known to public, press, or media. Section 17 imposes a ₹5,000 fine on any person disclosing. This intersects with the DPDP Act, 2023 — IC records must apply purpose-limitation, minimisation, and retention controls, and victim data cannot be transferred to data processors without lawful basis.
Section 21 requires the IC (or LC) to file an Annual Report in Form L containing complaints received, disposed, pending beyond 90 days, awareness sessions conducted, and action taken. The report is submitted to the District Officer. Companies under the Companies Act, 2013 must additionally include POSH case statistics in the Board’s Report (Rule 8(5)(x) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014).
Section 19 imposes positive obligations on the employer: provide a safe working environment; display penal consequences and IC composition prominently; conduct regular employee awareness and IC capacity-building sessions; provide IC infrastructure and witness-attendance support; treat sexual harassment as misconduct under service rules; and assist the woman if she chooses to file a criminal complaint under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Section 26 prescribes a fine of up to ₹50,000 for the first offence; on repeat the fine is enhanced and licence / registration may be cancelled along with disqualification from government schemes. Non-constitution of IC, failure to act on recommendations, or breach of confidentiality each independently attract penalties. The aggrieved woman retains the right to file a criminal complaint under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The Supreme Court in Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa (2023) directed Centre, States, and UTs to undertake time-bound surveys of IC compliance. Under the DPDP Act, 2023, IC records contain sensitive personal data — employers must minimise collection, encrypt at rest, document retention, and process erasure requests subject to legal-hold exceptions. SEBI Listing Regulations require listed companies to disclose POSH statistics in the annual BRSR. POSH compliance also intersects with Industrial Relations Code Standing Orders, which must include sexual-harassment misconduct as a recognised disciplinary ground.
Post-pandemic, “workplace” extends to virtual platforms — Slack, Teams, Zoom, and any digital channel used for work. Employers must apply the POSH policy to virtual misconduct, train employees on digital-channel hygiene, equip IC members for secure virtual hearings, and ensure remote employees know who their IC contact is and how to file a complaint.
Omnivoo’s EOR onboarding bundle includes a POSH-compliant employee handbook, an Internal Committee constitution kit (template appointment letters, charter, and external-member panel), an annual training schedule, and Form L annual-report generation. For client establishments without an internal HR function, Omnivoo coordinates IC member training, virtual-hearing logistics, DPDP-aligned confidential record storage, and the Board’s-Report disclosure for Companies Act-covered employers — so a 10-person India team can stand up POSH compliance from day one.
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