POSH Policy Generator (India)

About the POSH Policy Generator (India)

Every employer in India must formulate and widely disseminate an internal policy for the prohibition, prevention and redressal of sexual harassment at the workplace (rule 13(a) of the Rules under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013), constitute an Internal Committee at every office, and display the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the Committee (section 19(b)).

This generator writes that policy from your details: what sexual harassment is, who the policy covers, the Internal Committee, how and when to complain, conciliation, the inquiry and its time limits, relief during the inquiry, action and compensation, false complaints, confidentiality, protection against retaliation, appeal, the criminal law and your duties as the employer, every statement with its section or rule. Annexure A lists each office’s Committee with its members and contact, and a one-page notice for every office is ready to put up. An employer with fewer than ten workers can send complaints to the district’s Local Committee instead.

Choose English, हिन्दी or both in one file: the Hindi version uses the terms of the Act’s official Hindi text. Nothing is uploaded. Without a pass the policy shows as a free preview; a Premium pass unlocks the Word and PDF files, the text and printing.

Common uses

• A startup writing its first POSH policy as it grows past ten employees.
• An HR team putting the policy, the Committees and the notices in Hindi for a factory or a branch.
• A company with several offices that needs one policy naming every office’s Internal Committee.
• Consultants who prepare POSH compliance documents for client companies.

What the law asks for

• Rule 13(a) of the Rules: every employer formulates and widely disseminates an internal policy, charter, resolution or declaration for the prohibition, prevention and redressal of sexual harassment at the workplace.
• Section 4(1) of the Act: an Internal Committee, constituted by an order in writing, at every office or administrative unit at a different place; section 4(2) sets its members (a senior woman employee as Presiding Officer, at least two employee members and one external member, at least half of them women) and section 4(3) their term of not more than three years.
• Section 19: the employer provides a safe working environment, displays the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the Internal Committee, holds workshops and awareness programmes, and treats sexual harassment as misconduct; rule 13(e) adds declaring the names and contact details of the members.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development publishes the Act in English and Hindi, the Rules and its guidance on SHe-Box.

What the policy contains

• Definitions from section 2: aggrieved woman, respondent, employee, employer, workplace, and sexual harassment with the circumstances of section 3(2), followed by examples from the Ministry’s Handbook.
• Complaints: in writing within three months of the incident or the last of a series, extendable by three months; help to write it; who may complain for her (rule 6); six copies with documents and witnesses (rule 7(1)); SHe-Box.
• Conciliation at her request only, never for money (s.10); the inquiry under rule 7 — the copy to the respondent within seven working days, the reply within ten, natural justice, no lawyers, a quorum of three, completed within ninety days (s.11(4)).
• Relief during the inquiry (s.12, rule 8), the report within ten days and action within sixty days (s.13), the actions of rule 9 and compensation under section 15, false or malicious complaints (s.14), confidentiality (s.16, rule 12), appeal within ninety days (s.18, rule 11), the criminal law and your duties as the employer (s.19).
• Annexure A with every office’s Internal Committee, and a display notice per office.

In Hindi

The Hindi policy follows the official Hindi text of the Act: व्यथित महिला, प्रत्यर्थी, नियोजक, आंतरिक समिति, स्थानीय समिति, पीठासीन अधिकारी, सुलह, जांच. Clauses are lettered (क), (ख), and the verbs agree with what the policy calls you (कंपनी करती है, संगठन करता है). English + हिन्दी puts the Hindi version first and the English one after it in one file, each with a clause saying the English version prevails. It is our own Hindi version of the English template: have it read by a lawyer or a qualified translator before you adopt it.

Internal Committee or Local Committee

Every office or administrative unit at a different place has its own Internal Committee (proviso to s.4(1)). The district’s Local Committee, constituted by the District Officer, receives complaints from workplaces that have not constituted an Internal Committee because they have fewer than ten workers, and complaints against the employer itself (s.6(1)); it covers its own district (s.6(3)), so the notice of an office in another district names that district’s Local Committee. Choose “Local Committee” only if you have fewer than ten workers: the checks warn otherwise.

Beyond the Act

Three clauses are your own commitments rather than the Act’s words, and the policy says so: protection against retaliation for anyone who complains, gives evidence or serves on the Committee; what employees and managers do; and, if you tick it, cover for every gender — the Act protects women, so complaints by men and people of other genders are handled under this policy and your service rules.

Limitations

• A template prepared from the Central Act and Rules, not legal advice. Have it reviewed, and adopted by whoever approves your policies, before you use it.
• It writes the policy; it does not constitute the Committee. Issue the written order constituting each Internal Committee yourself, and put the notices up at every office.
• Only English and Hindi. Names and addresses print as you type them, so type them in Hindi for the Hindi version.
• The first PDF or Word file needs a connection once, to load the document engine and the Hindi font.

Privacy

On this device; its files download once

Everything happens in your browser: the names and details you type are never uploaded. A draft is kept in this browser only if you tick “Keep a draft in this browser”; leave it off on a shared computer.