Priya and Rohit worked together in the same company. Their closeness soon blossomed into a relationship. A year passed. Things changed. Priya opted out. Rohit wasn't willing to let go. He kept messaging her despite her repeated refusal. Priya filed a complaint of sexual harassment.
Do you think she will succeed?
The High Court levied a penalty of Rs 50,000 as fine for not having an Internal Committee in place and asked the Employer to pay Rs 25 lakhs to the victim of sexual harassment. This case was also reported in the news.
Can your organization afford to be in the limelight for such reasons?
Team Leader Ashish issues a warning letter to both Sangeeta who is a regular late comer and a poor performer. Sangeeta is annoyed and wants to teach him a lesson. She invites him to a meeting room, threatens him that if she loses her job, she will teach him a lesson. Soon thereafter she files a complaint of sexual harassment against Ashish.
What can Ashish do to protect himself?
If so, you need to be POSH Compliant.
POSH stands for Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at the workplace
First offence- Penalty upto Rs 50,000
Repetition for same offence – upto Rs 1,00,000/-
Can also lead to cancellation of Business License.
Face to face trainings have been very effective but the pandemic has helped evolve this e-learning module which is as effective as face to face training.
This training is a technical training wherein the members of the Internal Committee are trained on the principles and sections of the various Acts which they need to be aware of when handling a complaint.
The Act also casts responsibility on the Employer to provide information required by the Internal Committee. What happens if the information available is incorrect/unreliable or outdated? What steps can an organization take to create a safe workplace so that it prevents incidents of sexual harassment happening at the workplace? They also need to be aware of the best practices they can follow to prevent sexual harassment from happening at the workplace
Section 19 (a) casts a duty on the Employer to provide a safe working environment which shall include safety from the persons coming into contact at the workplace. The Employer relies on the various support services to ensure a safe work environment.