Prevention Of Sexual Harassment
in the Workplace
Indian Law on
Sexual Harassment
Indian Constitution
The Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace
(Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013.
1997:
Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan
The Indian Penal Code, 1860
The objective of these laws is Prevention
+ Protection + Redressal
Workplace
Sexual Harassment
Workplace Sexual Harassment is
behaviour that is :
•UNWELCOME
•SEXUAL in nature
•A SUBJECTIVE experience
IMPACT not INTENT is what matters
Often occurs in a matrix of power.
What Constitutes
Sexual Harassment?
Physical Contact Demanding or
& Advances Requesting
Sexual Favours
Showing Sexually Coloured
Pornography Remarks
What is
the Workplace?
Any place visited by the employee in
the course of employment including
transportation is construed as the
workplace.
This includes:
•Company guest houses
•Hotel stay during official travel
•Client place, etc.
Who are Covered?
● Full time employees ● Contractual workers
● Temporary workers ● Housekeeping
● Contract workers ● Security
● Daily wage employees ● Client
representatives
● Trainees
● Vendor
● Interns representatives
● Volunteers
with/without
remuneration
Examples of
Sexual Harassment
● Staring, leering, obscene gestures, howling,
making kissing sounds, smacking lips
● Showing sexually obscene/suggestive signs,
objects or pictures
● Indecent comments, dirty jokes, comments on a
woman’s dress/body
● Using power positions to request for favours or
threats on loss of privileges/loss of job
● Touching, petting, caressing, kissing, brushing
against another’s body
● Blocking, following and cornering
Examples of
Sexual Harassment continued
●Referring as honey, sweety etc., or making
innuendos
●Making work discussions sound sexual
●Telling sexual jokes or stories
●Asking about sexual fantasies, spreading lies of
sexual nature
●Winking, licking lips, biting lips.
●Touching a person’s clothing, stalking
PHYSICAL ASSAULT AND RAPE
What is meantby
“Unwelcome” ?
● Any conduct or behaviour is unwelcome
if:
- the recipient does not consent to it.
- regards it as offensive.
● Even if the victim does not complain, it
doesn’t necessarily imply that the
conduct is welcome.
● Some comments and/or advances are
blatant and crude and are inherently
offensive: these will almost always be
deemed as unwelcome.
Behaviour
Unwelcome Welcome
Feels bad Feels good
One sided Reciprocal
Feels powerless In-control
Power based Equality
Unwanted Wanted
Illegal Legal
Invading Open
Demeaning Appreciative
Causes anger/sadness Happy
Causes negative self-esteem Positive self esteem
Sexual Harassment in the
Workplace can be categorized
into 2 groups:
Hostile
Quid Pro Quo Environment
Quid Pro Quo
‘Quid pro quo’ means ‘this for that’,
an exchange of one thing for
another. Quid pro quo sexual
harassment takes place if :
•Sexual favours are asked in exchange
for any kind of special treatment on the
job.
•An employee threatens an associate if
he/she does not consent to such sexual
advances or favours.
The act of ‘asking’ may either be verbal or implied & ‘sexual
conduct’ may be verbal or physical. In either case, it must be
unwelcome.
Hostile Environment
Hostile environment sexual
harassment occurs when :
●Speech or conduct of a sexual nature
takes place & is seen as offensive
(affects performance of recipient or
associates)
●Intimidating /harassing conduct that is
directed at an individual, or a group of
individuals takes place.
Is this Sexual Harassment or Not?
1
Aravind and Suguna are part of a team at an organisation.
Suguna reports to Aravind.
Aravind constantly tells Suguna that they should go out
somewhere after work hours, perhaps for a late night movie or
dinner.
Suguna is uncomfortable but smiles and says she is busy most
often!
One day, Aravind tells Suguna that if she turns down his request
again, her ratings will go down in her monthly review.
IS THIS SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR NOT?
2
Neha is part of team that reports to Neeraj who is her college
Senior.
Neha is very good at her work and is assigned the most
prestigious project in the company instead of Nirav who is the
senior in the team and has a lot more work experience than
Neha.
Nirav is very upset and believes that Neha has been assigned
the coveted project because they must be having a relationship.
He jokes about this with other team members and slowly this
spreads around in the company.
IS THIS SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR NOT?
3
Reshma just joined as a fresher and has been undergoing
training. One of the trainers was Rashid, who was handling the
New Product development.
Reshma wanted to be part of his team and approached him. On
seeing her enthusiasm and performance Rashid ensured that she
would be joining Rashid team post the training..
Reshma joined Rashid’s team. Rashid asked Reshma out for
dinner a few times and she agreed willingly. Slowly the workload
increased and once when Rashid asked Reshma out to Dinner,
she refused. Rashid continued to keep calling her and sent
multitude of emails.
IS THIS SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR NOT?
4
Suman sent across pictures of some scantily clad women to Joe.
Joe requested Suman not to send him such obscene pictures in the future
as he was not comfortable with the same. But Suman continued.
IS THIS AN EXAMPLE OF HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
5
Asha was entering the elevator and Ashutosh came up from behind
tapped on her shoulders and told her She looked hot in the red dress.
Asha felt uncomfortable and stared at Ashutosh and told him to keep his
hands off and use discretion in his language. Ashutosh apologized and it
never happened again.
IS ASHA BEING SEXUALLY HARASSED BY ASHUTOSH?
Internal Complaint Committee
Presiding Officer – Senior woman
employee from the workplace/other
admin units/office/organisations.
2 Members – Committed to the cause
ICC
of women/experience in social work/
legal knowledge
1 Member – from an NGO/other
women’s organisation/familiar with
issues relating to sexual harassment.
14
BVC Internal Complaint Committee
Sr. No. Name Role
1. Mrs. Manisha Chinai Presiding Officer
2. Mr. Bobby Joseph Member
3. Mr. Bhavik Chinai Member
4. Mr. Rupendra Singh Member
5. Ms. Charu Taneja Member
6. Mrs. Ruchita Rane Member
7. Mrs. Khushboo Pradhan Member
8. Mrs. Natasha Gohil Member
Consequences of SexualHarassment
Once a complaint is received & the
investigation has been carried out,
validity of the harassment allegations will
be determined.
If harassment has occurred, prompt,
remedial action will be taken.
What is NOT Workplace Sexual
Harassment?
● Following-up on work absences.
● Requiring performance tojob standards.
● Reprimands in relation to work/meeting targets or deadlines.
● Work-related stress e.g. meeting deadlines or quality standards.
● Touching/brushing against/pushing without a sexual connotation.
● Constructive feedback about work.
Steps to Deter
Sexual Harassment
● DO NOT IGNORE IT. Don’t pretend it didn’t
happen. Inform the harasser that the behaviour is
unwelcome.
● REPORT THE INCIDENT. Tell the ICC exactly
what happened as soon as possible.
● DO NOT ACCEPT THE BEHAVIOUR. Do not
tolerate the harassment even if it seems that
others around you are tolerating it.
Steps to Deter
Sexual Harassment
● BE SUPPORTIVE. If someone wishes to talk to you
about their personal experience, listen with empathy
and then direct them to ICC.
● ANY ASSOCIATE MAY FILE
● COMPLAINTS.
● If you see someone else getting harassed,
you may also file a complaint.
Protection Against
Retaliation
Retaliation includes:
•Marginalizing someone in the workplace
with regard to their roles and
responsibilities.
•Socially shunning.
•Intimidating someone close or related to
the victim; (physically, psychologically, or
emotionally)
Protection Against Retaliation
● Retaliation is a serious violation of the POSH policy.
Any form of retaliation against a victim or their supporters is forbidden.
● Persons who retaliate in the form of
- Intimidation (to frighten someone)
- Pressure to withdraw the case
- Threats (for reporting, testifying or participating in the proceedings)
should be reported to the Committee immediately.
● Retaliation will be treated as a major misconduct and the
Committee will take action to prevent/rectify the retaliation.
● Any person found to have retaliated against an individual for
reporting harassment will be subject to disciplinary procedures.
Consensual Relationships
● Consensual relationships are not harassment if they are
welcomed by the person involved.
● However, if such behaviour is unwelcome, such behaviour is
considered creating a hostile environment.
If a consensual relationship ceases to exist
➔ Conduct once considered welcome may later be seen as
unwelcome.
➔ Either person may end the relationship, at any point in time,
without fear of retaliation at the job.
➔ Behaviour that was welcome within a consensual relationship
becomes unwelcome and it will be treated as sexual
harassment.
Thank You!
Questions?
