Two significant Bills were introduced in the Rajya Sabha on December 5, 2025, proposing fundamental changes to the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act). The intent is clear: to make the law more inclusive, accessible, and stringent in its enforcement.

Key Changes Proposed Across Both Bills

1. Broader Scope and Gender Neutrality – One Bill proposes replacing the term “women” with “persons” throughout the Act.

• Gender-neutral protection:
  The Act’s coverage would be expanded to protect persons of all genders from sexual harassment at the workplace. This aligns with constitutional principles and the NALSA judgment.
• Inclusion of gig and platform workers:
  The definitions of “employee” and “employer” would explicitly include gig and platform workers.
• Internal Committee representation:
  Where the complainant is of a gender other than female, an additional representative of that gender must be nominated to the Internal Committee or Local Committee.

2. Strengthening Complainant Rights and Enforcement – The second Bill focuses on improving procedures, timelines, and accessibility.

• Extended complaint filing period:
  The time limit for filing a complaint would be extended from 3 months to 1 year.
• Faster implementation of IC recommendations:
  Employers or District Officers must act on Internal Committee recommendations within 30 days, reduced from the earlier 60-day timeline.
• Right to replace IC/LC members:
  A complainant may request the replacement of any committee member if trust or confidence is lost during the inquiry.
• Stricter confidentiality provisions:
  Confidentiality obligations are strengthened, with penalties for disclosure of the complainant’s identity or inquiry details, including removal of the IC/LC member responsible for the breach.
• Higher penalties for employers:
  The penalty for non-compliance would increase from ₹50,000 to ₹2 lakh.
• More inclusive Local Committees:
  Local Committees must include representation from the informal sector (including domestic work, construction, gig work, etc.) to improve access to justice.

Why This Matters

These proposed amendments represent a significant step toward creating a truly inclusive and equitable legal framework for Indian workplaces. They also reinforce the importance of robust, accessible, and time-bound mechanisms for addressing workplace sexual harassment.

The post Proposed amendments to the POSH Act. 2013 first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

But this case opened the door to something much bigger.

While hearing the case, the Court also turned its attention to how the POSH Act has been implemented across the country.

Why Did the Supreme Court Take Action?

Reports submitted by learned lawyers revealed a concerning pattern: even after a decade, many states and union territories had not fully complied with the POSH Act.

There were no committees in some districts, no data on implementation, and no clear process for redressal. What began as one case turned into a nationwide compliance check.

Here’s What the Supreme Court Ordered

To fix the gaps, the Court issued a set of directives that all States and UTs must now act upon:

• Every district must have a fully functional Local Complaint Committee
• Government departments and PSUs must set up Internal Committees
• States and UTs must appoint District Officers and make their details public
• POSH implementation data must be published for transparency
• Ensure proper training for all members of LCCs and ICs

What This Means for Workplaces Across India

This judgment has sent ripples across organisations and administrations nationwide. With POSH compliance now under judicial scrutiny, what was once seen as a requirement on paper is being taken far more seriously. Regulatory pressure is rising, and for many institutions, the shift from policy to action has already begun.

At Metis, we’re seeing a growing number of organisations reach out to assess their compliance status, set up or reconstitute Internal Committees, and strengthen their redressal mechanisms in line with the latest directives.

The post The Supreme Court’s directives on nationwide POSH implementation first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

While handling a sexual harassment compliant, what should the Internal Complaints Committee keep in mind while conducting Inquiries?

Download the document here: Essential tips for the ICC while conducting a POSH Inquiry (4062 downloads )

The post Essential tips for the ICC while conducting a POSH Inquiry first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

We have collated a list of important duties of the Internal Complaints Committee. Download the document here Duties of IC (3602 downloads )

Please download the checklist (.pdf) here:
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The post Duties of the Internal Complaints Committee first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

We have designed a format to assist the aggrieved individual / victim / complainant in making a formal complaint to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).

Please download the Complaints form (.pdf) here: Template for registering sexual harassment complaint (8815 downloads )

The post Template for registering a sexual harassment complaint first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

Download the inquiry report format (.pdf) here: Inquiry report format (11041 downloads )

The post Inquiry report format on completion of Inquiry first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

The document contains details on Quid-Pro-Quo and a case study.

Please download the Quid-Pro-Quo document (.pdf) here: Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment at workplace (3330 downloads )

The post Quid-Pro-Quo sexual harassment first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

It is important to understand conciliation and its procedure. The document aims at guiding you through a conciliation procedure.

Download the document (.pdf) here: Conciliation procedure under POSH Act (4806 downloads )

The post Conciliation procedure for dispute resolution first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

Here is a third party harassment case that we handled in one of the companies which encountered this dilemma and the ICC handled the case humanely learning a great deal along the way.

Case Study:

The victim was a job seeker (woman) living close to an industrial area around Bangalore.  The respondent was a contracted security guard of a small manufacturing company. It so happened that the victim had come to the company premises to submit her resume for a job. The security guard received her resume and promised to call her back in case she is shortlisted by the HR. The HR after going through the resume found her to be unsuitable and specifically told the security guard not to entertain such resumes since it is totally unrelated to the kind of work they do.

However the security guard called her number (mentioned in the resume) and informed her that she has been shortlisted and asked her to come for an interview the following Sunday .The victim, without realizing that most companies are closed on Sundays, chose to come for the interview at 9 A.M.

On the day, when she came to the company for the interview, the respondent was waiting for her. He led her to a room stating that the HR would come there for the interview. He went out, checked the surrounding and found no one outside. He went back to the room, locked it from the inside and tried molesting her. The victim quickly realized his intentions starting crying for help, banging on the door and shouting loudly.

Apparently a gardener tending the plants heard her cries and quickly rushed to the spot and started shouting from outside. The respondent (security guard) realized that he is in trouble, opened the door and ran outside. He escaped through the main gate and before the gardener could call for help, he was gone.

The victim was shocked. The gardener offered her water to drink and escorted her to an autorickshaw outside that drove her home.

The victim returned to the company the next day with her husband to complain to the management. As soon as the management heard her story, they called the ICC to take up the matter immediately.

Will this be the responsibility of the company’s POSH committee?

No it does not since the victim (the woman) and the respondent (security guard) both are not the employees of the company. It would have directly come under the scope of the ICC, if at least one of them, either the victim or the alleged harasser were employees of the company.

Ideally, what is the responsibility of the ICC in such a case?

ICC met the victim, took her complaint in detail and offered to help her in whatever way possible. It is important to note that the right thing to do would be to assist the victim even if it does not come under the scope. At the time of need, when the victim is scared, it is important that the ICC of the company offers help.

What actions did the ICC of the company take?

1. The gardener was interrogated as witness to get complete details of her account which was documented.
2. The vendor was called for a hearing as the respondent had committed the act and fled the scene.
3. The vendor was asked to submit all the personal details of the respondent (security guard).
4. As the vendor company did not have an ICC, the ICC of the company helped her lodge a written complaint in the local police station.The ICC also furnished all the relevant documentation that they had collected post their initial investigation about the incident along with all the details ofthe alleged harasser.
5. The ICC having gone through the existing Background Verification Process, recommended to the management to restructure the Background Verification process with additional checks, applicable to all the existing and new vendors with immediate effect
6. The vendor was given our company policy on POSH and an agreement was put in place to ensure no one from the vendor company, be it office boys, security guard or housekeeping staff would enter premises without having gone through the company POSH policy.
7. An awareness session in Kannada was arranged on POSH to all the third party contractors working in the company.

It is important to note that ICC needs to focus on the value they want to create which is of a larger significance to the organisation, rather than scope of work.

Hence the role of ICC cannot be completely defined and boundaries drawn. There are times when they need to go beyond the call of duties to ensure they do the “right thing”.

The post Going beyond boundaries – Internal Complaints Committee first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.

If an employer tolerates or is perceived to be tolerant towards any kind of harassment at workplace, it could adversely affect employee morale and engagement.  It could directly impact organisations productivity, innovation and growth.

Download the document (.pdf) here: Checklist for employers to ensure a harassment free workspace (2430 downloads )

The post Checklist for employers to ensure a sexual harassment free workspace first appeared on Metis POSH Consulting Service LLP.