Sexual harassment policy

“Company Name “is an equal employment opportunity company and is committed to

creating a healthy working environment that enables employees to work without fear of
prejudice, gender bias and sexual harassment. The Company also believes that all
employees of the Company have the right to be treated with dignity.
Sexual harassment at the work place or other than work place if involving employees is
a grave offence and is, therefore, punishable. We further commit to abide by all rules
and regulations as laid from time to time in accordance with “The Sexual Harassment
of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 (Copy
Attached), hereinafter referred to as the Act.

Definition:

The term Sexual Harassment is defined in the Section 2 (n) of the ‘Sexual Harassment
of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013’ as any one
or more of the following unwelcome acts or behavior (whether directly or by
implication) namely:-
a. Physical contact or advances; or
b. A demand or request for sexual favors; or
c. Making sexually colored remarks; or
d. Showing pornography; or
e. Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non verbal conduct of sexual nature;

Section 3 (2) states hat the following circumstances among other circumstances, if it
occurs or is present in relation to any act or behavior of sexual harassment may
amount to sexual harassment:
a. Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment; or
b. Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her employment; or
c. Implied or explicit threat about present or future employment; or
d. Interference with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work
environment for her; or
e. Humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.

A simpler understanding of the term sexual harassment consists of any physical or

verbal behavior and any form of communication that has unnecessary, improper or
unwelcome sexual connotations. Sexual harassment may vary in form depending on
circumstances. It may consist of, but not be limited to, any of the following:
 Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, display of sexual visuals,
sexual audios, pornographic or obscene material and any other verbal or physical conduct of
a sexual nature
 Transmitting any message, by mail, telephone, e-mail etc. which is obscene, lewd,
suggestive or blatantly sexual in nature
 Any explicit or implicit communication wherein a sexual favor or demand, whether by
words or actions, is made a condition for an individual’s employment, career progress,
promotion etc. thereby creating a hostile environment.
 Sexually charged jokes or remarks and behavior which have sexually oriented
innuendoes
 Consistent pattern of unnecessary physical contact, staring or targeting unreasonable
attention at an individual in day to day dealings
 Any pervasive pattern of behavior which makes employees uncomfortable, insecure or
feel humiliated or disadvantaged on the basis of gender differentiation
 Actual sexual assault.
 As mentioned above, this is an indicative but not an exhaustive list of possible forms of
sexual harassment.

This policy is to prohibit and deter any employee/ staff employed with the Company
any form advancing any form of sexual harassment in the way employees behave with
each other. This applies equally to relations between superior and subordinates as
well as between peers. Any incident of sexual harassment will be viewed with extreme
seriousness. A complaint or report of sexual harassment will be immediately
investigated and appropriate action will be taken against the offending employee or
employees. For every incident of Sexual Harassment, the accused/ respondent shall
be prosecuted under the provisions of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace
(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’)
and such other laws enforced in India at the time of the commission of the offense.

Internal Committee

The Company hereby constitutes an Internal Complaints Committee (hereinafter

referred to as ‘Committee’) as required under the section 4 of the Act. The Committee
has been established to ensure that any incidence of sexual harassment is dealt with
appropriately, sensitively and expeditiously ;
 Internal Complaints Committee for Sexual Harassment comprises of
 Presiding Officer: A woman employed at a senior level in the organization or workplace
 At least 2 members from amongst employees, committed to the cause of women and
or having legal knowledge
 One external member, familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment
 At least one half of the total members is women

The committee is responsible for:

• Receiving complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace
• Initiating and conducting inquiry as per the established procedure
• Submitting findings and recommendations of inquiries
• Coordinating with the employer in implementing appropriate action
• Maintaining strict confidentiality throughout the process as per established guidelines
• Submitting annual reports in the prescribed format

Process for dealing with incidents of sexual harassment – A flowchart here will
make this look easy.

 Any employee who experiences sexual harassment may make a complaint reporting
the incidence of Sexual Harassment in writing to the Committee. In case the employee is
unable to report the said incident in writing, the committee member shall render all the
necessary resources & support to the aggrieved employee to make the complaint in writing.
The Contents of the said complaint should narrate the incident of Sexual Harassment and
should also contain the name and details of the accused employee.
 The aggrieved employee shall report the said incident within a period of three months
from the date of the last incident.
 The Committee may before initiating an enquiry and at the request of the aggrieved
person take steps to settle the matter between her and the accused, provided that the
settlement shall be in form of a conciliation and not monetary settlement. On arriving at a
settlement, the settlement shall be formally recoded and shall be forwarded to the employer,
the parties to the conciliation and the Committee.
 On failing conciliation, the Committee will immediately arrange to fully investigate all
relevant details of the matter. It will do so with all possible care, sensitivity and discretion in
protecting the sensibilities of the effected employee. The employee or employees, who have
allegedly committed the offence, would be given all reasonable opportunity to be heard by the
Committee.
 The result of this investigation will be formally recorded and communicated to the
Director, along with a recommendation for appropriate action.
 The Committee will normally complete this process and make its first formal
recommendation within 15 days after receiving the complaint unless there are exceptional
circumstances.
 In the case of a multi location context, one of the committee members may travel to the
location in question as is required to ascertain the facts based on which the committee would
discuss and assess the complaint in question.
 Necessary action will then be taken with regard to the offending employee or
employees based on the circumstances and seriousness of the offence.
 Where the company is legally advised that any such incident constitutes a criminal
offence, the company will inform the relevant authority, provide full details and request
appropriate action. If the aggrieved employee directly takes any action, against the offending
employee, either civil or criminal, the Committee, on becoming aware of such action by the
aggrieved employee, shall be entitled to, suo moto, start the internal enquiry / investigation
and recommend appropriate action.
 The company will ensure that the career interests of the complainant are not adversely
affected by virtue of the individual having drawn attention to such an offence. In order to
ensure that this important matter is not trivialized, any complaint, which, in the opinion of the
Committee, is blatantly false or frivolous or has been motivated by, reasons that are clearly
unconnected with gender issues, would be viewed very seriously by the company and an
appropriate action shall be taken against such complainants.
 If the Committee receives an anonymous reference related to sexual harassment, it will
draw the attention of the senior executives concerned with the relevant business or location.
The matter will be fully examined by the concerned senior management and its conclusions
and plans for necessary action will be communicated to the Committee.
 Heads of departments and Senior Managers at all company locations will also be
expected to be sensitive to any circumstances or behavior among their colleagues which
appear to go against the company policy on this matter. In case they become aware of any
such incidence, they will immediately inform the head of the Committee and take appropriate
action as advised.

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