An extremely upsetting problem, sexual harassment at work reduces an organization's quality, makes it unsafe, weakens employee motivation, and openly violates the fundamental rights of the workforce. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, was enacted by the government in order to address and prevent the problem of sexual harassment at the workplace.
A few statutory requirements must be followed by an employer. Every organization that employs more than 10 persons is required under the Act to establish an internal complaints committee. According to its name, the ICC was established to receive complaints about sexual harassment at work from victimized women. On the basis of the inquiries made regarding the complaints, it makes recommendations to the employer regarding the next steps to be taken.
Every workplace for a particular organization must have an ICC.
When sexual harassment claims are made at work, the ICC has a huge impact. For this reason, the POSH Act stipulates that the ICC must be established for any organization with more than 10 employees. It offers a method of recourse for sexual harassment victims. The ICC investigates thoroughly after receiving a complaint about sexual harassment before determining whether the complainant or the person claiming to be a victim has actually been harassed. Following its investigation, it renders a verdict and determines whether the accused should be punished and, if so, how severely.
As the Role and investigating procedure is new for IC members and Laws are ever evolving It is important to train the IC members on the following:
- The responsibilities of an IC
- The members of IC and their qualification
- The criteria to disqualify an IC member if the need occurs
- The steps of filing a complaint and the procedures that follow
- The process of conciliation and inquiry
- Differentiating sexual harassment from gender-based discrimination
- The jurisdiction of Internal Committee
- The procedure of conducting interviews required for the investigation
- The deadline to complete the inquiry and report submission
- The recommendations to be made after the inquiry
- Preparing the inquiry report and the details to be included in the report
- Preparing and submitting the POSH Annual Report
As the Internal Committee plays a significant role in the organization’s mission of preventing sexual harassment at workplace, proper enablement of the Internal Committee is necessary.
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