POSH: preventing sexual harassment at NGOs

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, known as the POSH Act, requires every employer to prevent sexual harassment of women at work and to deal with complaints fairly and quickly. It applies to NGOs exactly as it does to companies: an organisation with 10 or more employees must set up an Internal Committee, and smaller ones rely on the Local Committee in their district.

NGOs face particular risks: field visits and travel, shared accommodation at camps and trainings, small teams where one founder holds most of the power, and many people who aren’t on the payroll, such as volunteers, interns and fellows. This guide explains who the Act covers, how to set up the committee, how a complaint is handled, what you must report and what happens if you don’t comply. It summarises the law; it isn’t legal advice.

What the POSH Act covers

The Act came into force on 9 December 2013. It put into law the guidelines the Supreme Court laid down in the Vishaka case in 1997.

Sexual harassment includes any unwelcome act or behaviour of a sexual nature, direct or implied: physical contact and advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, or any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature. Section 3 adds that it can include an implied or explicit promise of better treatment at work, a threat of worse treatment or about her job, interference with her work, an intimidating or hostile working environment, or humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.

So a village where your team runs a survey, a hotel during a training and a vehicle taking staff to a project site are all part of the workplace. Many organisations’ policies also say plainly that messages, calls and online meetings are covered, which removes any doubt.

Who is covered at an NGO

The Act protects any aggrieved woman: a woman of any age, employed or not, who says she has been sexually harassed at the workplace. That includes your staff and volunteers, but also a woman from the community at a meeting you run, or a visitor to your office.

Its definition of an employee is deliberately wide:

The respondent, the person complained against, can be anyone: a colleague, a manager, a board member, a donor or a visiting company volunteer. The employer is whoever is responsible for managing and controlling the workplace, and the Act says that includes the board or committee that sets the organisation’s policies. For an NGO, that means its trustees, governing body or board of directors.

The Internal Committee

Every employer must set up an Internal Committee by a written order. In practice it is compulsory for every workplace with 10 or more employees, and if your offices or administrative units are in different places, the Act asks for a committee at each of them.

At least half the members must be women, and members serve for up to three years. A member must be removed if they breach confidentiality, abuse their position, or have been convicted of an offence or found guilty in disciplinary proceedings, or face such proceedings that are still pending.

How a complaint is handled

Committee members must help a woman put her complaint in writing if she can’t do it herself, and if she can’t complain because of physical or mental incapacity or death, her legal heir or another person allowed by the rules can. Interim relief can mean transferring her or the respondent, or up to three months’ leave for her, on top of the leave she is already entitled to.

During the inquiry, both sides are heard and see the findings, and the committee has the powers of a civil court to summon people and require documents. If the complaint is proved, the committee can recommend action for misconduct under the service rules, and a deduction from the respondent’s pay to compensate her, taking account of her distress, lost career opportunities and medical costs, and the respondent’s means. If it isn’t proved, it recommends no action.

Two safeguards matter. First, a complaint that can’t be proved isn’t a false complaint: action against a complainant is possible only if malice is established after an inquiry. Second, the contents of a complaint, the identities of everyone involved, the proceedings and the outcome must not be published or made known to the public, the press or the media. The woman can also go to the police, and the employer must help her if she chooses to.

The Local Committee

The District Officer, a District Magistrate, Collector or similar officer notified by the state, sets up a Local Committee in every district. It hears complaints from workplaces with fewer than 10 workers, and complaints against the employer, such as a founder who runs the organisation. Nodal officers in every block, taluka, tehsil or ward accept complaints and forward them to it within seven days.

If you are a small NGO, find out who your district’s Local Committee and nodal officer are, and display their details. The government’s SHe-Box portal, relaunched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on 29 August 2024, also takes complaints and keeps a central record of Internal and Local Committees.

The employer’s duties

Section 19 sets out what every employer must do:

• provide a safe working environment, including safety from people who come into contact with the workplace, such as visitors, donors and community members;
• display the penalties for sexual harassment, and the order setting up the Internal Committee, where everyone can see them;
• hold workshops and awareness sessions at regular intervals, and train committee members;
• give the committee the facilities and information it needs, and help secure the attendance of the respondent and witnesses;
• help the woman if she chooses to file a criminal complaint, and start action under the law against a perpetrator who isn’t an employee, if she wants that;
• treat sexual harassment as misconduct under the service rules, and make sure the committee reports on time.

Write all of this into a POSH policy, alongside your other HR policies: see policies every NGO should have. For field work, add practical rules, such as who travels with whom, separate rooms at trainings and how a staff member can leave a site that feels unsafe.

Annual reports and disclosure

The Internal Committee prepares an annual report every calendar year and sends it to the employer and the District Officer, even in a year with no complaints. The employer must give the number of cases filed, and how they were dealt with, in its own annual report or, if it isn’t required to prepare one, tell the District Officer.

A Section 8 company also discloses POSH figures in its board’s report. Since 14 July 2025, Rule 8(5)(x) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 asks for the number of complaints received, the number disposed of and the number pending for more than 90 days during the year.

Penalties

Under Section 26, an employer that fails to set up an Internal Committee, fails to act on the committee’s recommendations or report as the Act requires, or otherwise breaks the Act or its rules can be fined up to ₹50,000. A repeat offence can bring twice the penalty, and cancellation, withdrawal or non-renewal of any licence or registration the organisation needs for its work. For an NGO, the damage to trust, among staff, communities and funders, is often greater than the fine.

What CSR funders look for

CSR teams usually ask a partner NGO for its POSH policy, the order setting up its Internal Committee and its latest annual report as part of due diligence: see the documents CSR teams ask for. Where a company’s employees will volunteer or visit a project, agree in advance how a complaint involving them would be handled, and make sure both organisations’ committees will cooperate. Our guide to labour law for NGOs covers your other duties as an employer.

Common mistakes

• Thinking POSH applies only when there are ten women. The threshold is ten employees of any gender.
• Leaving volunteers and interns out of the count, and out of training.
• Appointing an “external” member who is a friend or relative of the founder.
• A committee that exists on paper but has never met or been trained.
• Settling a complaint informally, or with money.
• Gossip and WhatsApp forwards about a case, which can breach the Act’s confidentiality rule.
• Forgetting the annual report to the District Officer.