Internal Committee Presiding Officers to File Annual Report for Caledar Year 2018-Time Approaching

Internal Committee Presiding Officers to File Annual Report for Calendar Year 2018 - Time Approaching

In four (4) months' time, every Presiding Officer of each Internal Committee shall be liable to file the mandatory Annual Report before the District Officer designated under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act 2013, in respect of the calendar year 2018 (Section-21).

She shall also have to forward to the employer of her establishment a copy of the aforementioned Annual Report prepared in accordance with Rule-14 of the rules framed under the said Act of 2013, which, in turn, shall be incorporated into the Annual Report of the concerned company before the respective ROC.

For any inaccuracies whatsoever in respect of the information/data/contents furnished in the said Annual Report, the penalties are prohibitive and pinching.

Expedient Action Required

Therefore, it is expedient for every Presiding Officer, as well as the Company Board Directors and the Head of the Institutions, to start monitoring the timely making of the Annual Report (Section-21 of the said Act 2013) faithfully and properly.

Kritarth Team of Special Educators PoSH Programs, serving as Member (External) ICs PAN India, is ready and willing to render all assistance in the matter.

Kritarth Team, 14th August 2018

Every Internal Committee Presiding Officer to Prepare in Next 4 Months & File before District Officer Mandatory Annual Report for 2018

In the next four months, every Presiding Officer of each Internal Committee, constituted under Section-4, shall be called upon or law-bound to prepare the Mandatory Annual Report (under Section-21) and file the Annual Report in respect of the calendar year 2018. This should be prepared in accordance with Rule-14 of the Central Rules gazetted on 9.12.13, before the respective District Officer designated under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act 2013. Additionally, a copy of the said Annual Report must be forwarded to the employer of the establishment/institution for the employer/head of institutions to incorporate the data/information furnished in their company's Annual Report to be filed before the ROC or designated government authorities (Section-22).

For filing an "Accurate Annual Report," the Presiding Officer of each Internal Committee MUST ensure that the data/information furnished in her report is accurate, reliable, and verifiable by the monitoring authorities. The Annual Report that the Internal Committee shall prepare must include the following details:

a) Number of complaints of sexual harassment received in the year (2018);
b) Number of complaints of sexual harassment "Disposed Of" during the year (2018);
c) Number of cases pending for more than ninety days;
d) Number of workshops or awareness programs against sexual harassment carried out; and
e) Nature of action taken by the employer on the organization/institution.

Those employers who have not taken action or not discharged their duties prescribed/spelled out under Section 19 of the said Act 2013 MUST safeguard themselves from the stringent penalties provided under Section-26 of the Act 2013 and other applicable acts.

Kritarth Team of Special Educators requests/reminds employers/management to take quick action steps. Organizing the mandatory i) Orientation Programs for the IC Members to inform/apprise them of their nearly 25 duties/tasks; and organizing the ii) Capacity & Skills Building Programs for the IC Members to train them in how to discharge their duties faithfully and properly may be a time-taking process, even when started now.

Kritarth Team, 17th August 2017

Time for Decision Making by Employers/Management to Be Law-Compliant

On and from Monday, 9th December 2013, all the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act 2013 came into force, as per the Extraordinary Gazette of India No. 2733 published by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, in exercise of powers conferred under Section-1, sub-section (3) and the rules framed under Section (29) and gazetted. Every employer of every workplace is covered by the provisions of the aforesaid Act. There is no exemption or immunity whatsoever.

The ground reality, however, is alarming. As is known, not every employer of organizations/establishments in the country has obeyed the law faithfully and properly, in letter and spirit. As a result, the very purpose of a business organization of constantly creating wealth and well-being is self-defeated. Not everyone at the workplace is contributing 100%, especially those women who have been subjected to or may still be subjected to acts of sexual harassment, are unable to contribute 100% performance output, directly causing business loss of income. This is a cause of concern for employers and other stakeholders. Not that the employer or management is wholly unaware of gross "under-performance" on the part of a few, solely due to the occurrence of sexual harassment at workplaces. The root cause may be ignorance about the law in force, as it were.

Laws ask "none" whether they shall obey. That is not a choice. Every employer of every workplace has to obey. The choice is how? After penalties are imposed or before the penalties are invoked. Safeguards from penalties are easy and simple. Avoid penalties. Avoid damage to reputation. Come forward and comply with the said provisions. Help is at hand.

The duties of employers listed in Section-19 of the SHWW (P, P & R) Act 2013 are mandatory and reportable under Section-22 of the said Act and under the Companies Act. The action-taken report needs to be filed by every presiding officer of each internal committee in respect of calendar years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and in the next 4 months for the year 2018.

Helpful reminder from Kritarth Team of Special Educators.

Kritarth Team
18.8.2018

Duties of Employers & Internal Committee Presiding Officers under SHWW (P, P & R) Act 2013

Almost five years ago, the law made it mandatory for every employer of organizations (establishments or undertakings) in India to organize "Orientation" programs (Section-19, sub-section C) and "Capacity & Skills Building" programs for the members of the Internal Committees constituted under Section-4 of the "Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act 2013."

The moot point or point to ponder is whether every employer liable to obey the law has or has not obeyed the law, to date, faithfully and properly. Every employer, for each of the preceding five years beginning 2013-14, was made legally liable to include in the annual report of his/her organization: a) the number of cases of sexual harassment filed, if any, and b) their disposal under this Act; and where no such report was required to be prepared, c) intimate such number of sexual harassment cases, if any, to the District Officer.

Whether every employer has "discharged his/her legally-enforceable duty" in letter and spirit of the law, faithfully and properly? In addition, every presiding officer of each Internal Committee in India was, in each of the previous five years, law-bound to file the annual report under her signature as prescribed under Section-21 and Rule-14 (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) of the rules gazetted on 9.12.2013.

Has every presiding officer of each Internal Committee—an independent legal entity in itself—discharged her legally enforceable legal duty? We, of the human resource community, ought to realize our role of being the "aid and advisor" of or to the employer (management) effectively and co-create a safe and secure workplace in India where no woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment, which is also the prerequisite for any workplace where everyone contributes nothing less than 100% performance output.

Now that sexual harassment of women at the workplace is to be treated as a violation of the fundamental right of women to life with dignity, as reiterated in the preamble of the SHWW Act 2013, besides the aid act amounting to an act of misconduct as per the service rules or the certified standing orders, as the case may be, let us all support and honor our own Constitution as well as our own service rules or the standing orders.

Let us come together, stay together, and work together for the cause of obeying our own laws. The appropriate government is monitoring the implementation of the aforesaid law by maintaining data on the number of sexual harassment cases filed and disposed of in respect of all cases of sexual harassment at the workplace. Recently, the Honourable Supreme Court of India, by an order, asked all the state government functionaries to submit a status report within a given time limit on the implementation of the aforesaid SHWW (P, P & R) Act 2013.

For increasing awareness,

Kritarth Team

19.8.2018