POSH Act, 2013 in remote working or working from home

                   POSH Act, 2013 in remote working or working from home

 The current era of social distancing has unwittingly sparked off a giant global experiment of mass remote working. This restructured working policy might have changed the working pattern of the employees but the challenges have still been the same. One of the major challenges is Sexual harassment at the workplace, which continues to be a problem for working women.

According to a survey, it was found that 86 of 315 respondents claimed they were sexually harassed while working from home. These figures indicate the relevance of protecting women from such abuses even during virtual working. At present, the sexual harassment at the workplace is primarily governed by The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH Act”).

Forms of non-physical/virtual sexual harassment can be unwelcome acts or behaviour that can occur while working in remote such as “(1) demand or request sexual favours (2) making sexually coloured remarks (3) showing pornography (4) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.



Sexual Harassment created not only an insecure and hostile environment but also affected the woman’s performance at work. It also affected their social and economic growth and put them through a lot of physical, emotional and psychological stress.

The act made it mandatory for all organizations with 10 or more employees to set up an Internal Complaints Committee to deal with the cases of sexual harassment. The main aim of this legislation is to protect women at workplaces. It ensures that sexual harassment of working women in the workplace is prevented and the person guilty of such an act is dealt with sternly.

Counsel Quest is fully focused in the arena of POSH related training, compliances, claims and investigation and advice major companies (domestic and international) and assist them for the implementation of The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. Our mission is to build a robust and a transparent work place for corporates, which can offer a ‘zero prejudicial’ office environment, comparable with international standards when it comes to administering justice to the Victim as well as to the Perpetrator of Sexual Harassment.

Providing safe workspace to employees is a legal right, while sexual harassment constitutes a gross violation of the same. So, employers and organizations have the key responsibility of eradicating sexual harassment in all forms within their workplace. The POSH Act is successful in providing a safe and secure environment to women in physical as well as virtual workplace. Provided that the recommendations mentioned above if implemented then it may result in better implementation of this Act which can go a long way in protecting the rights of women at the workplace(s). 

 

 

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