Theme: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Generally, you must file a complaint within three months of the incident of sexual harassment that you have faced. The exact date of the deadline depends on the number of sexual harassment incidents you have faced. Also, if there has been a delay in filing a complaint, in some cases, your complaint might be accepted anyway.

3 Month Period¹

1. One Incident of Sexual Harassment
   You must file your complaint within 3 months of the incident of sexual harassment.
2. Multiple Incidents of Sexual Harassment
   If you have been subjected/been a victim of multiple instances of sexual harassment then you must file the complaint within 3 months of the last incident of sexual harassment.

Delay in Filing a Complaint

If you cannot file a complaint within 3 months:

1. You can approach the Internal Committee anyway and try and explain to them why you couldn’t file the complaint.
2. If the Internal Committee is satisfied that there were adequate circumstances that prevented you from filing a complaint then they will accept your complaint¹. This is at their discretion.

Please do act, with the help of adequate support groups, to file a complaint as soon as you are comfortable enough to do the same.

1. Section 9(1), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]

Victims of sexual harassment are entitled to specific kinds of remedies that can safeguard their work environment, and make it more comfortable for them to continue working. If you are a victim of sexual harassment you can write to the Complaints Committee to ask them to make your place of work safer by¹:

• Stopping the person who has been accused from reporting on your work performance and writing confidential reports about your performance and choosing someone else to do it.
• Stopping the person who has been accused from supervising you if the sexual harassment incident happened in an academic setting.

1. Section 8, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013.[↩]

The law does not have a single punishment for all cases of Sexual Harassment at the workplace. Instead, the Committee investigating will recommend that the victim‘s employer act according to the service rules of their workplace, if it has them¹. If you have an employee handbook, please refer to that to see how your employer punishes sexual harassment. If the workplace does not have service rules, then the Committee will recommend that the District Officer take action. As punishment, an offender may²:

• Have to give a written apology
• Be denied a raise/promotion/increment
• Have to do community service
• Be given a warning or censure
• Lose their job
• Have to get counselling

Whether or not the workplace has service rules, the Committee can also recommend that the employer take a certain amount from the offender’s salary/wages so that compensation can be paid to the woman who was harassed. If the employer cannot take money from the offender’s salary because they are not working or have left work, the Committee can order the offender to pay the victim directly. If the offender does not pay the compensation, then the Committee can ask the District Officer to get the money from the offender³.

1. Section 13(3)(i), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]
2. Section 9, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013.[↩]
3. Section 13(3)(ii), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]

As a victim, you have a right to keep your complaint and the things that happen after it private. The law guarantees that the following information is private¹:

• Your identity and address
• The identity and address of the person you accused, as well as the witnesses
• Information about the conciliation (see what this means in the Glossary) or inquiry being made by the committee
• Recommendations of the Internal Committee or the Local Committee
• Action taken by the employer or District Officer

All of the above information cannot be published, communicated, or made known to the public, press, or media in any way¹ . If any person who is entrusted to handle the complaint, inquiry or recommendations, makes the aforementioned information public, he will be punished in accordance with the service rules of the organization. ²

1. Section 16, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]
2. Section 17, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]

Under the law, an employer has to take certain steps to create a safe work environment for women.

Women in the workplace should feel safe from sexual harassment from co-workers as well as others who might just be visiting the workplace. It’s important for employers to display the sexual harassment policy of the company where it can be seen. They also must display the order that sets up the Internal Committee so employees, as well as visitors to the workplace, can see it.

Employers must¹

• Create and put forward a detailed sexual harassment policy
•  Make sure employees are aware of the issue of sexual harassment
•  Set up committees in the workplace that women workers can turn to if they have been sexually harassed
•  Make sure committees are well-trained and well-staffed
•  Prepare a yearly report and turn it over to the state government
• The District Officer will also appoint a Nodal Officer who can receive complaints at a local level².

1. Section 13, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013.[↩]
2. Section 6(2), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]

Workplaces with more than 10 employees are required to set up a committee that specifically handles cases of Sexual Harassment. This is known as the Internal Committee. It must have¹

The Internal Committee has to follow the regulations for taking complaints and making inquiries in a reasonable amount of time. The company or institution has to give the Internal Complaints Committee the things they need to make inquiries.

1. Section 4(2), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.)):
   •  A presiding officer, who is a woman employed at a senior level
   •  Three students, if the matter involves students
   •  One member from a non-government organisation or association committed to the cause of women, or a person familiar with sexual harassment issues. This member will be paid.
   •  Women as at least half of its members
   •  No person in senior administrative positions as a member such as Vice-chancellor, Registrar, Dean, or head of department
   •  A three-year term for members. Higher education institutions may also employ a system where one-third of the members change every year.

   If the presiding officer acts in violation of their powers, they will be removed and a new nomination will take place((Section 4(5), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]

False complaints made on purpose or fake documents given to the committee are taken very seriously. If a victim or someone acting for them does either of these things, they could be punished based on the service rules of the workplace. If there are no service rules, the action taken against them can be decided by the Committee¹. As punishment they may²:

• Have to give a written apology
• Be given a warning or censure
• Not be given a promotion
• Not be given an increment
• Lose their job
• Have to have a counselling session
• Have to do community service

Just because a victim is unable to provide enough proof to the Committee, it does not always make her complaint false³. The Committee will have to find out if she made a wrong complaint on purpose.

For example, if Isha makes a complaint against Rohit but there are no witnesses, documents, or anything at all that shows there was sexual harassment, her complaint will not be seen as false. But, if Isha wrote an email to a friend telling them she was lying about the harassment happening, her complaint could be seen as malicious or false.

1. Section 14(1), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013[↩]
2. Section 9, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013.[↩]
3. Section 14(1), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]

Any woman (student, teaching, non-teaching staff) of any age at a University campus can file a complaint of sexual harassment. Apart from workplaces, Universities also must work to prevent sexual harassment.

Colleges are required by law to have ¹:

• Align their sexual harassment rules to the Indian law on sexual harassment
• Treat claims of sexual harassment seriously, punishing offenders harshly and making sure they face the proceedings required by law
• Make sure staff and students know what to do and who to turn to if they are a victim of sexual harassment
• Make sure that the campus is well-lit, secure, and safe
• Set up, train, and maintain an Internal Committee
• Prepare yearly status reports with case details and half-yearly reviews of how well sexual harassment policies are working.

1. University Grants Commission (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015[↩]

You also have an option to file a criminal complaint if you are being sexually harassed at work. A Criminal Complaint, if proved, will put your harasser in jail. Criminal law in India makes the following acts illegal, allowing you to approach the police by filing an FIR or making a private complaint to the Magistrate:

Sexual Harassment

The following actions amount to the crime of sexual harassment under criminal law¹:

• Physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual gestures; or
• A demand or request for sexual favours; or
• Forcibly showing pornography to the woman; or
• Making sexually coloured remarks.

Outraging a woman’s modesty, either by actions or by words

Using force against a woman, or even threatening to use force, knowing that doing so would ‘outrage her modesty’² . The law does not specifically define what outraging of modesty is. Courts usually determine it by looking at facts and circumstances surrounding the incident.

Forcing a woman to disrobe

Using force, or threatening to use force against a woman to undress her³ .

Voyeurism

Voyeurism is when you gain sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity. However, as per Indian law, this crime is said to be committed if a person either watches or captures the image of a woman engaging in an act that she would usually perform only under the expectation that she would not be observed by anyone (the perpetrator included) private act⁴ .

Stalking

Stalking is continuously following a woman or contacting her where she has clearly shown she doesn’t want the attention. This can be both online or in person. Stalking can take different forms such as⁵:

• harassing telephone calls,
• computer communications,
• letter writing, etc. or
• any other mode of unwanted and intimidating surveillance.

1. Section 2(n), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]
2. Section 354, The Indian Penal Code, 1860.[↩]
3. Section 354B, The Indian Penal Code, 1860.[↩]
4. Section 354C, The Indian Penal Code, 1860[↩]
5. Section 354D, The Indian Penal Code, 1860[↩]

If you belong to an unorganised sector or a small establishment that does not have an Internal Complaints Committee, you can approach the Local Complaints Committee that has been set up by the District Officer.

The Local Committee accepts complaints from¹:

• Women working in an organisation having less than 10 employees
• Domestic workers
• When the complaint is against the employer himself

1. Section 6(1), Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]

The amount of money that victims will receive as compensation is based on the following things¹:

• Mental trauma and distress caused to the victim
• Lost job opportunities because of the sexual harassment
• Medical treatment (physical or psychiatric) that the victim needs
• The victim’s income and general financial status.

The Committee can decide whether this money should be paid over time in instalments or all at once.

1. Section 15, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.[↩]