POSH for a small office: the committee, the timeline and the annual return

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act applies well below the size at which firms usually start thinking about it. Ten employees is the line for constituting an Internal Committee, and an unconstituted committee is itself a contravention — before any complaint is ever made.

What the law requires

• An Internal Committee with a presiding officer who is a senior woman employee, the prescribed employee members, and an external member from an NGO or with relevant experience.
• A policy that is published and actually communicated, not merely filed.
• Awareness sessions for employees and orientation for committee members.
• An annual report to the district officer, and disclosure in the employer's annual report where applicable.

The timelines

1. A complaint may ordinarily be made within three months of the incident, extendable in appropriate circumstances.
2. The inquiry is to be completed within ninety days.
3. The report goes to the employer within ten days of completion.
4. Action on the recommendations follows within the prescribed period.

Where small employers slip

Naming a committee on paper and never training it. Appointing no external member. Handling a complaint informally because the office is small and everyone knows each other — which is precisely the circumstance the statutory process exists to displace.

The compliance itself is light. The exposure from ignoring it is not, and it attaches to the organisation rather than to the individual.