The Short Answer

Common Misunderstandings About the PoSH Act

An interesting aspect about the Prevention of Sexual Harassment, or also known as Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, is the understanding that organizations have, since we do not employ women, we are not covered by the Act, or since we have less than 10 employees, we are not covered by the PoSH Act.

the understanding that organizations have, since we do not employ women, we are not covered by the Act

The Nature of the Law

While the law is simple, and clear in terms of understanding.

The law is also fairly written for common understanding, what we mean by fairly written is, that it doesn’t have too many complexities that one has to infer whether this is right or wrong.

It’s a fairly black and white kind of a law, which states “this is wrong”, “this is right”.

Employee Count and Applicability

So the understanding, that if an organisation has less than 10 employees, the law doesn’t apply to them is not the correct understanding.

. . . . if an organisation has less than 10 employees, the law doesn’t apply to them is not the correct understanding

Any organization, even if they have one or two people, the law is applicable on them.

The Role of the Internal Committee (IC)

The only thing being, there is a committee called as IC (Internal committee), the formation of a committee to deal with PoSH cases within the organization.

This committee is necessary for any organisation which has 10 or more than 10 employees.

this committee is necessary for any organisation which has 10 or more than 10 employees

If an organisation has less than 10 employees, then they don’t need an IC in that organisation.

But the law is still applicable on that organization.

The Gender Myth

The second aspect that organisations feel, that they employing only men, and this is one of the drawbacks that the sexual harassment or women at work place law brought in, that employers started hiring less and less women.

But the fact that the matter is, the law doesn’t say that only if an organisation has a particular number of women, then the law is applicable.

The law means even an organisation has all men, then also this law is applicable on an organisation.

The law doesn’t distinguish between the employee’s gender when it comes to applicability.

It just says number of employees.

What This Means for Organisations

So if as an organization, they have all 10 male employees, the law will still be applicable and the organisation will still need an IC, the organisation will still need a training to be provided to all employees, and as an organisation, they will still need to file the returns with the government.

They have all 10 male employees, the law will still be applicable and the organisation will still need an IC