Curious About POSH Certification? Understanding Trainers, Authorities, and Legalities

Dear Seniors, I am seeing a number of profiles with Certified POSH Trainer or Certified POSH Professional. I would be highly obliged if someone could reply to my following questions:

What is a POSH certified trainer or POSH certified professional?

1. What is (or who are) the POSH certified trainer or POSH certified professional?

Authority for POSH Certification

2. Who is the assigned authority to issue such kind of certification and to whom?

Criteria for POSH Certification

3. What are the criteria for such certification?

Legal Basis for POSH Certification

4. Under what law and what section is this certification granted?

Thank you.

Certification and Competency in POSH Compliance

No certification is required by or under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013, and the rules framed thereunder, gazetted on 9.12.2013. The Ministry of Women & Child Development has some names and particulars of a few agencies claiming they possess competencies to provide services in the domain of sexual harassment of women at the workplace.

The judgments of High Courts and our Honorable Supreme Court relating to the improper functioning of a few Internal Committees paint a very different, far from befitting picture. Less said, the better.

The aforesaid is my perspective.

Regards, Harsh K Sharan, Kritarth Consulting Team

Thank you, Harsh K Sharan, for your prompt response. I asked those questions because I was once rejected by a company on the grounds that I am not a certified professional. Even after explaining to the HR representative that there is no such thing as certified professionals or certified trainers under the POSH Act or any guideline from the Government, I was still not accepted. I have the requisite qualifications for an External Member under POSH and have conducted numerous awareness workshops for various companies. However, some companies still insist on certified professionals or certified trainers.

Can you please let me know the procedure to obtain this certification? I would be highly obliged.

Role of the Third Party in Sexual Harassment Redressal

I am serving as a "Third Party" as mandated by the Honorable Supreme Court's 1997 Vishaka Judgment, which ordered all employers to constitute a committee for the redressal of sexual harassment complaints submitted by aggrieved women. As we know, the Supreme Court judgment is to be treated as law passed by Parliament per Article 141 of our Constitution.

The creation of such committees was later incorporated into the SHWW (P, P & R) Act 2013, which came into force on 9th December 2013 and is applicable to all workplaces. Under Section 4, the fourth member of every Internal Committee must be a non-employee outsider (formerly known as the Third Party), who is, among other things, "a person fully familiar with the issues of sexual harassment at the workplace, including 'quid pro quo'."

Qualities of an External IC Member

This external IC member, as I prefer to refer to them for IC records, should be of strong character, capable of remaining unbiased, unprejudiced, and impervious to influence from any internal or external individual. They should never succumb to pressure, be ethical, and above all, refrain from jumping to conclusions until all evidence has been presented and recorded by the IC during proceedings in the presence of both the aggrieved woman complainant and the respondent. They must be far from arbitrary.

While not casting aspersions on anyone serving as an external IC member, it is essential that this person earns the complete trust of all three parties involved in any SH complaint redressal: the employer, the aggrieved woman complainant, and the employee respondent.

Training and Competency of IC Members

I believe the mandated position is clarified, and I do not recommend any certification courses since the mandatory twin programs for IC members are sufficient to educate them to discharge their legal duties properly and faithfully. These programs, prescribed under Section 19, include: 1. Orientation Program and 2. Capacity and Skill-building Programs, which must be organized by every employer at regular intervals. Every IC is legally required to include data regarding these programs in its Annual Report for each calendar year.

Experience remains the best proof of competency acquired over time.

Regards, Harsh Kumar Sharan, XLRI Alumnus

Special Educator & Serving Member (External)

Kritarth Team, 14 July 2020

To put it shortly, no law yet mandates certification in India for POSH implementation. However, anyone imparting well-integrated and comprehensive training for the POSH Act may be of great help. The insistence on certification is incorrect and stems from sheer ignorance.

Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR and Employee Relations Consultant

Certification for POSH Practice

We, at Ungender, have been running the Certification for POSH Practice for six years now. However, the certification ensures a larger industry standard over time. It is designed to recognize a specific area of practice and the acquisition of necessary theoretical knowledge on a subject one claims to have expertise in. In the eyes of companies, a professional qualification allows them to distinguish this.

There are various practitioners out there who are advising companies without having undertaken any or even five investigations. These individuals are providing training to IC members without any practical hands-on experience and structured knowledge consumption. The industry of POSH Practitioners is fluid and is receiving a very frail reputation. Just like any other field of business advisory, it becomes necessary to establish a standard by which we can evaluate practitioners and segment them. Certification is just one of the aspects.

Regards, Pallavi Pareek
www.ungender.in

Dear colleagues, regardless of the legal backing for certification for POSH training providers, it will serve the purpose if such training is built on theory and a vast amount of real-life case studies in a comprehensive manner. Such training providers are certainly welcome and must be appreciated.

Regards, Vinayak Nagarkar HR and Employee Relations Consultant