The Act dates from 2013 and follows the Supreme Court Vishaka guidelines of 1997. POSH compliance is not a policy document. It is a panel, a process, a set of records and an annual return. Most firms have the policy and miss the rest.
The Press Information Bureau says "The Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, 2013 was enacted in line with the Supreme Court's landmark Vishaka judgment to ensure a safe, secure and dignified workplace for women."
When does the Act apply to you?
At 10 employees, a line most firms cross well before they reach 100 staff. PIB says "It mandates the establishment of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) in organisations with ten or more employees and emphasises not only a structured redressal mechanism but also proactive measures such as awareness, sensitisation and capacity-building."
In a firm of 1,200 staff that threshold is long past, but it also catches a 12-person office. Headcount includes every worker at the workplace, not only those on your payroll. Contract staff, interns and trainees count. Firms that read the threshold as "10 permanent staff" get this wrong, and the gap shows up only when a complaint arrives.
What must the Internal Panel look like?
| Role | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Presiding Officer | A woman employed at a senior level at the workplace |
| Employee members | At least 2, committed to the cause of women or with legal knowledge |
| External member | 1, from an NGO or association familiar with the issues |
| Composition | At least 50% of members must be women |
| Term | Up to 3 years |
The external member is the one most often skipped, and a panel without one is not correctly set up. That single gap can invalidate an review you have already run.
What does the Act actually require of an employer?
PIB says "The Act provides a comprehensive legal framework to prevent, prohibit and redress incidents of sexual harassment, clearly defining the offence and outlining the responsibilities of employers to ensure compliance."
In practice that is five things. Constitute the panel. Publish the policy and the penal penalties where staff can see them. Run awareness and training. Provide the panel with facilities to conduct an review. File the annual return.
What records should you keep?
- The panel order, with names, roles and dates of appointment
- Policy sign-offs from every employee, dated
- Training attendance, by session and by person
- Complaint register, with dates at each stage
- Inquiry reports and the action taken
- The annual return filed with the District Officer
These are the records an inspector asks for. Reconstructing them after a complaint is the worst possible time to find out the training register was never kept.
How fast must a complaint move?
The timelines are short and they are legal, not advisory. A complaint is to be made within 3 months of the incident, extendable by a further 3 months. The review is to be completed within 90 days. The panel report goes to the employer within 10 days of completion, and action is to be taken within 60 days.
Miss these and the process itself becomes the liability, regardless of the facts of the case. Put the dates on a calendar the day a complaint is filed.
Who handles a complaint against the employer?
Not your own panel. Where the complaint is against the employer, or where the workplace has fewer than 10 employees, it goes to the Local Panel set up by the District Officer.
Firms routinely get this wrong and run an internal review they had no standing to run. Decide the route before the review starts, not after.
Does privacy have teeth?
Yes. The identity of the complainant, the respondent, witnesses and the contents of the review are not to be published or circulated. Breaching it carries a penalty.
That has a practical consequence for HR systems. Complaint records cannot sit in a shared folder or a group mailbox. Role-based access is the minimum, and the panel should be the only group that can open an review file.
How does this connect to the rest of HR?
Across a 1,200-person firm that is 1,200 sign-offs to hold and refresh. Induction is where the policy sign-off is captured, so the record belongs on the employee file from day 1. Training attendance belongs there too, not in a separate spreadsheet that leaves with whoever maintained it.
ESI cover runs alongside, at 3.25% employer and 0.75% employee contributions under the 1948 Act. The wider compliance framework sits with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the same employee record carries PF and ESI obligations held by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation and the Employees State Insurance Corporation. Keeping all of it on one record is how 247HRM legal compliance is built, with sign-offs and training captured against the person rather than filed separately.