Sexual harassment at work: how a PoSH complaint works, and what employers must do

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, known as the PoSH Act, gives every working woman a way to complain about sexual harassment without going to court first, and places clear duties on employers. It applies to offices, factories, shops, hospitals, schools, colleges, NGOs and government departments alike.

Who is protected

The Act protects any woman, of any age, who is harassed at a workplace, whether or not she is employed there. That includes regular, temporary, contract and daily-wage workers, trainees, apprentices and interns, as well as visitors, clients and customers. A domestic worker in a home is also covered.

What counts as sexual harassment

Any one or more of these unwelcome acts or behaviour, directly or by implication:

• physical contact and advances
• a demand or request for sexual favours
• sexually coloured remarks
• showing pornography
• any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature

It also covers linked threats or promises about her job, such as an implied promise of preferential treatment or a threat to her present or future employment, interference with her work, and creating an intimidating, offensive or hostile work environment.

What counts as the workplace

The “workplace” is wider than the office itself. It includes any place visited by the employee in the course of her work, including travel and transport provided by the employer, as well as clients’ premises and work events.

Where to complain

• Internal Committee: every employer with ten or more employees must constitute one at each office or unit. The complaint goes to it.
• Local Committee: set up in each district for workplaces with fewer than ten employees, for domestic workers, and where the complaint is against the employer. In Tamil Nadu, the District Collector is the District Officer under the Act and constitutes the Local Committee.
• SHe-Box: the Government of India’s SHe-Box portal also accepts complaints, and forwards each one to the Internal or Local Committee the woman selects, where that committee is registered on the portal.

In Dr. Sohail Malik v. Union of India (December 2025), the Supreme Court held that a woman can complain to the Internal Committee of her own workplace even when the man she complains about works for a different employer. Her committee finds the facts, and his employer takes any disciplinary action.

How a complaint proceeds

Stage	Time limit
Written complaint to the committee	Within 3 months of the incident, or of the last incident in a series. The committee can extend this by another 3 months for good reason.
Copy of the complaint to the respondent	Within 7 working days
Respondent’s reply	Within 10 working days of receiving the copy
Inquiry completed	Within 90 days
Report to the employer and both parties	Within 10 days of completing the inquiry
Employer acts on the recommendations	Within 60 days of receiving the report
Appeal against the recommendations	Within 90 days

Six months is the outer limit. In Vaneeta Patnaik v. Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti (2025), the Supreme Court held a complaint filed after that period to be out of time, and held that a later administrative decision that was not itself harassment did not restart the clock.

If the woman cannot complain herself because of physical or mental incapacity, death or otherwise, a relative, friend, co-worker or other person can complain on her behalf, with her written consent, or her legal heir’s if she has died, as the rules provide.

Conciliation, only if she asks

Before the inquiry begins, the committee may try to settle the matter through conciliation, but only at the woman’s request. Money cannot be the basis of the settlement. If a settlement is reached, it is recorded and no inquiry follows, unless the respondent fails to honour it. The committee then holds the inquiry or forwards the complaint to the police.

Protection during the inquiry

On her written request, the committee can recommend interim relief while the inquiry is pending, such as transferring her or the respondent, or granting her leave of up to three months in addition to her regular leave.

What the committee can recommend

If the allegation is proved, the committee recommends action under the employer’s service rules or, where there are none, under the PoSH Rules, which range from a written apology or warning to termination. It may also recommend that compensation be paid to her, deducted from the respondent’s salary if needed. Compensation takes into account her mental trauma, loss of career opportunity, medical expenses and the respondent’s means.

A complaint that cannot be proved is not, by that fact alone, false. Action for a false or malicious complaint is possible only where it is shown to have been made knowingly.

Confidentiality

The identity of the woman, the respondent and the witnesses, the details of the inquiry and the recommendations must not be made public or disclosed to the press. A committee member or anyone else handling the complaint who breaches this can be penalised under the service rules, and the employer must recover ₹5,000 from them.

What every employer must do

• Constitute an Internal Committee with a senior woman employee as Presiding Officer, at least two employee members, and one external member from an NGO or with experience of these issues. At least half the members must be women.
• Adopt a written policy and display the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the committee’s details at a conspicuous place.
• Hold awareness programmes for employees and orientation for committee members.
• Give the committee the facilities it needs, and help the woman file a police complaint if she chooses to.
• Make sure the committee files its annual report, and include the number of cases in the organisation’s own annual report. Since July 2025, companies must state in the Board’s report the number of complaints received, disposed of, and pending for more than 90 days.

An employer who fails to constitute the committee or comply with the Act can, on conviction by a court, be fined up to ₹50,000. A second conviction can attract double the penalty and the cancellation of its business licence or registration. See the PoSH compliance checklist for employers.

Recent Supreme Court directions

In the Aureliano Fernandes case, the Supreme Court has been monitoring how the Act is implemented. In December 2024 it directed every State to notify District Officers, constitute Local Committees, and set up Internal Committees in government departments within set deadlines, and asked legal services authorities to help women file complaints. In August 2025 it asked State Labour Departments to survey whether workplaces have Internal Committees, with the data to be uploaded to SHe-Box.

A complaint to the police is separate

A complaint under the PoSH Act does not stop a woman from also going to the police where the conduct is an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The two processes can run side by side.

Common questions