Dear HR Professionals,
I Was Just Approached By A Consultant To Implement The Anti-Sexual Harassment Law In My Organization. I Went Through The Details To Understand That This Is A Mandatory Thing For All The Org.'S Irrespective Of Size & Nature Of The Co. But My Query Is That We Have A Very Conducive Environment For Females. So Is It Still Mandatory To Go For This? And If It Is Mandatory, From Which Date Has Been Made Mandatory Because I Never Knew Any Such Laws Being Implemented In Any Of My Previous Organizations Also. Is it necessary to hire a consultant for this or can we do it on our own? If yes, then how can we go ahead with this. I have already referred the bare act. But want to understand the basic & practical steps to start with this. Kindly Share Your Input.
Thanks
Jyoti
From India, Jalalpur
I Was Just Approached By A Consultant To Implement The Anti-Sexual Harassment Law In My Organization. I Went Through The Details To Understand That This Is A Mandatory Thing For All The Org.'S Irrespective Of Size & Nature Of The Co. But My Query Is That We Have A Very Conducive Environment For Females. So Is It Still Mandatory To Go For This? And If It Is Mandatory, From Which Date Has Been Made Mandatory Because I Never Knew Any Such Laws Being Implemented In Any Of My Previous Organizations Also. Is it necessary to hire a consultant for this or can we do it on our own? If yes, then how can we go ahead with this. I have already referred the bare act. But want to understand the basic & practical steps to start with this. Kindly Share Your Input.
Thanks
Jyoti
From India, Jalalpur
Dear Ms.Jyoti
There is no exemption for any establishment to not comply with the guidelines of the Sexual Harassment of Woman at Workplace (Prevention,Prohibition,Redressal) Act 2013 which is in place since 9 December 2013.
If your current organization has still not implemented the guidelines of the Act even after 19 months, you may face serious punitive damages. An employer found in violation of the Act during an inspection may be liable for a monetary penalty of up to INR 50,000 and repeated offenses could result in the fine being doubled, de-registration or revocation of business licenses. The violations which may trigger other offenses.
Under Section 19 of the Act, the duties of the employer includes all of the following:
-Drafting a policy on prevention of sexual harassment for your organization in alignment with the Act. (failing which the employer will be bound by the Rules prescribed by the government)
- Include sexual harassment as a misconduct in organization's service rules.
-Formation of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) Body at your corporate office as well as all regional offices, units, branches etc and nominate an NGO / A person familiar with sexual harassment at workplace issues as an External Member (the Act requires the employer to set up a Committee at each of those offices of a company)
-Mandatory Orientation Program for ICC Members including enquiry procedures,certified by a Special Educator.
-Mandatory Capacity & Skill Building Programs for the ICC Members
-Mandatory Awareness Program for your all your employees including the contractors,certified by a Special Educator
-File an annual return for Year 2013 and Year 2014 mentioning the Action Steps. (The Committee is obliged to prepare an annual report in the prescribed format with details of all the cases that have been filed and disposed off)
As mentioned above, there is no scope of non-compliance to guidelines of the Act.Thus, an employer may suffer financial consequences if he or she does not comply with the requirements outlined above.
If you need further clarity, please call us on +91-9880299349 or email us at
We help companies in setting up the required mechanisms to prevent sexual harassment at workplace in accordance with the Act.
Visit us at Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace | Kritarth Consulting Private Limited for details
From India, Delhi
200There is no exemption for any establishment to not comply with the guidelines of the Sexual Harassment of Woman at Workplace (Prevention,Prohibition,Redressal) Act 2013 which is in place since 9 December 2013.
If your current organization has still not implemented the guidelines of the Act even after 19 months, you may face serious punitive damages. An employer found in violation of the Act during an inspection may be liable for a monetary penalty of up to INR 50,000 and repeated offenses could result in the fine being doubled, de-registration or revocation of business licenses. The violations which may trigger other offenses.
Under Section 19 of the Act, the duties of the employer includes all of the following:
-Drafting a policy on prevention of sexual harassment for your organization in alignment with the Act. (failing which the employer will be bound by the Rules prescribed by the government)
- Include sexual harassment as a misconduct in organization's service rules.
-Formation of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) Body at your corporate office as well as all regional offices, units, branches etc and nominate an NGO / A person familiar with sexual harassment at workplace issues as an External Member (the Act requires the employer to set up a Committee at each of those offices of a company)
-Mandatory Orientation Program for ICC Members including enquiry procedures,certified by a Special Educator.
-Mandatory Capacity & Skill Building Programs for the ICC Members
-Mandatory Awareness Program for your all your employees including the contractors,certified by a Special Educator
-File an annual return for Year 2013 and Year 2014 mentioning the Action Steps. (The Committee is obliged to prepare an annual report in the prescribed format with details of all the cases that have been filed and disposed off)
As mentioned above, there is no scope of non-compliance to guidelines of the Act.Thus, an employer may suffer financial consequences if he or she does not comply with the requirements outlined above.
If you need further clarity, please call us on +91-9880299349 or email us at
We help companies in setting up the required mechanisms to prevent sexual harassment at workplace in accordance with the Act.
Visit us at Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace | Kritarth Consulting Private Limited for details
From India, Delhi
Jyoti,
The law was passed in 2013 and implemented immediately.
Huge publicity was provided to the act, so I am surprised you didn't know.
The mechanism is necessary irrespective of whether you have a conductive or adverse environment. In fact it is necessary to keep the environment conductive.
You don't need a consultant if you are willing to put in effort on your own.
Form the committee as required by law (read rules, not just the act)
One difficult thing is getting an NGO member, but still doable
There are lots of examples of "Process / SOP" for this that you can get on google. Download and modify do that the procedure fits your organisation better.
There are other threads in this forum that will give you complete details. Use the "research" button on the top
From India, Mumbai
The law was passed in 2013 and implemented immediately.
Huge publicity was provided to the act, so I am surprised you didn't know.
The mechanism is necessary irrespective of whether you have a conductive or adverse environment. In fact it is necessary to keep the environment conductive.
You don't need a consultant if you are willing to put in effort on your own.
Form the committee as required by law (read rules, not just the act)
One difficult thing is getting an NGO member, but still doable
There are lots of examples of "Process / SOP" for this that you can get on google. Download and modify do that the procedure fits your organisation better.
There are other threads in this forum that will give you complete details. Use the "research" button on the top
From India, Mumbai
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Anti Sexual Harassment Policy.doc
Sexual Harassment.pdf