Pradipta Nath (Advocate) 30 September 2025

In your experience, what is the most common posh compliance gap in indian organizations?

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, 2013 places a statutory responsibility on organizations to ensure safe workplaces, form Internal Committees, and conduct training programs.

In practice, many employers and even legal advisors struggle with identifying gaps in compliance.

To address this, I have prepared a POSH Compliance Checklist (PDF) that legal and HR professionals can use as a quick-reference tool for advising clients or assessing workplaces.

👉 The checklist can be downloaded here after filling this short form: https://lnkd.in/gMXpJvN8.

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Quick Summary

This discussion explores common gaps in POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) compliance within Indian organisations. Key areas of struggle include drafting effective POSH policies, correctly constituting the Internal Committee (IC), and adhering to all required guidelines. A downloadable checklist is provided to help legal and HR professionals assess and ensure compliance, covering aspects from policy dissemination and IC composition to inquiry procedures and record-keeping.

5 Replies

kavksatyanarayana (subregistrar/supdt.(retired)) 30 September 2025

What is your opinion?

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 01 October 2025

Thanks for the information, you may supply them to the needy person

Dr. J C Vashista (Advocate ) 01 October 2025

If you have done so much research work on the subject, which is very informative and appreciating, post it in article section for the benefit of needy litigant(s) /lawyer(s).

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Advocate) 01 October 2025

Ageed with Dr Vashistha

Sristi Nimodia (Legal Consultancy) 07 October 2025

- There are 3 most common struggles for Legal & HR professionals; first is the framing of POSH
Policy, second, constituting/forming an Internal Committe & thrid, which guidelines to comply
with.

Checklist:

- Draft and publish a POSH policy covering definitions, scope, reporting and inquiry methods, penalties (Section 19, Rule 11).
- Policy and complaints mechanism displayed and widely disseminated to all employees (Section 19)
- Policy extends coverage to all genders for inclusivity (beyond minimum statutory compliance)
- Constitute IC with:
Woman Presiding Officer (preferably senior)
At least 4 members, minimum 50% women
One external member (Section 4, Rule 3)
Document appointment letters and external member credentials
If fewer than 10 employees, establish linkage with Local Committee (Section 6)
IC conducts fair inquiries within statutory timelines (Section 11, Rule 7–8)
Ensure Presiding Officer's seniority, equal or higher than the respondent
Train IC members on legal and procedural aspects
Regularly/Quartely review IC composition for conflicts, independence, and gender balance.
- Maintain records of complaints, inquiry proceedings, findings, and actions (Sections 11, 17)
- File reports with employer and District Officer (Sections 13, 14)
- Secure records and conduct regular audits
- Annual reporting: Submit status of POSH cases to the District Officer (Section 21, Rule 14) and disclose in - Annual Return (Companies Act Section 134, if applicable)
- Submit IC statistics and findings as required
- Conduct periodic compliance audits and solicit feedback from employees
- Organise regular workshops and awareness programs for all employees (Section 19)
- Train all IC members (at induction and annually)
- Keep records of all training sessions (details and attendance)
- Engage external trainers for objectivity when possible
- Ensure actions after IC inquiry (discipline, termination, suspension) comply with relevant service and labour laws.
- Case study of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997) Supreme Court Cases 241.