Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, India 2013

Introduce the prevention of sexual harassment act 2013 and its civil and criminal redress pathways. Learn how to create safe workplaces, report harassment, and navigate internal and local complaints committees.

Learn what sexual harassment is and why it matters in every workplace. Recognize that preventing, prohibiting, and addressing harassment is a legal duty for all employees.

Examine the Vishakha guidelines that define workplace sexual harassment and their role in the 1997 Supreme Court judgment, later guiding the 2013 act for prevention, prohibition and redressal.

Explore the 2013 act's preamble, its three elements—prevention, prohibition, redressal—and the civil and criminal remedies that safeguard women at the workplace from harassment.

Explain who qualifies as an aggrieved woman under the act, including co-workers, contract workers, agency workers, visitors, and those in dwelling places, with a right to safe, secure workplaces.

Identify the legal definition of a workplace under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, India 2013, covering all places visited during employment, including transport and offsite trainings.

Defines sexual harassment as unwelcome physical, verbal, or nonverbal conduct and the implied or explicit coercion in employment, under sections two and three, creating an unlawful, hostile work environment.

Identify the two main forms of workplace sexual harassment—quid pro quo and hostile work environment—and recognize common examples like unwanted advances, humiliating remarks, and abusive behavior.

Explore real-life scenarios illustrating quid pro quo and hostile environment harassment under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, India 2013. See how coercive demands and rumors harm workplace dignity.

Explore IPC provisions addressing sexual harassment, including sections 354, 354B, 354C, 294, and 354D, covering outrage of modesty, disrobing, voyeurism, obscene acts and songs, and stalking.

Identify who is responsible and accountable for preventing workplace sexual harassment under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, India 2013, outlining employer duties and the workplace's role in prohibiting harassment.

Identify the employer’s ten duties under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act 2013, including creating a safe workplace, displaying policies, organizing trainings, and supporting internal committees and investigations.

The act mandates employers to constitute internal complaints committees and establishes local complaints committees with 50 percent women representation for up to three years.

Learn how to communicate a workplace policy prohibiting sexual harassment, establish a redressal framework, and run awareness programs and dialogue forums that build capacity and publicize complaints committee contact details.

Explore the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, India 2013, including who can complain, what a complaint must contain, and the complaint committee's role in redress.

Women employees in workplaces with fewer than 10 workers can file to the nodal officer or local complaints committee, with district officers designating nodal officers and forwarding within seven days.

Submit a written complaint in six copies with all material details, including the harassment description, date/time, location, working relationship, and witnesses' names; a designated manager offers writing assistance.

Explore how the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, India 2013 ensures a trained complaints committee, confidentiality, and rights for complainants and respondents, including copies of statements and right to appeal.

Upon receiving a complaint, the internal complaints committee informs members and investigates with at least three members, including the chairperson, and submits findings or recommendations within seven to ten days.

Choose between informal and formal redress for workplace sexual harassment under the act, with the internal complaints committee ensuring a neutral conciliator, independent third-party expertise, and no conflicts of interest.

The complaints committee conducts a structured inquiry by documenting the case, reviewing law and policy, listing dates and witnesses, gathering supporting documents, and acting quickly while upholding natural justice.

Impose interim measures pending inquiry: hold transfers up to three months and restrain the respondent from reporting on performance or supervising academic activities; train the respondent or place them on leave.

The complaint committee makes findings and recommendations. If it upholds the complaint, it may order a written apology, reprimands, or pay withholdings; if not, it may recommend no action.

Learn how the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act defines false or malicious complaints, including forged or misleading documents, the internal committee's findings, and potential employer action against complainants or witnesses.

Understand the timelines and confidentiality of the sexual harassment redress process under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, 2013, covering complaint timelines, inquiry duration, and confidentiality safeguards.

Monitor the act through inspections, annual reports, and information disclosure to ensure workplace compliance and protection of women, reporting cases, workshops, and employer actions.

explore the right to appeal against orders in cases of non-implementation, file an appeal with the appropriate authority, or seek justice through the regular court of justice.

Learn to implement sexual harassment policies and procedures, train all employees, and understand disciplinary actions, including termination, to create a safe workplace.