A POSH compliance checklist is a practical way to organise employer duties, Internal Committee readiness, awareness, reporting, and periodic review. Statutory requirements must be checked against the POSH Act and applicable Rules; organisation-specific controls and state-level processes require separate verification.
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Policy
Statutory baseline: comply with the employer duties in Section 19, including the required workplace displays. Rule 13 requires the employer to formulate an internal policy or charter, declaration, or resolution and to widely disseminate it. Senior-management approval, employee acknowledgements, and accessible-language versions are recommended governance controls rather than universal statutory wording.
Internal Committee
Statutory baseline: Section 4 requires an employer to constitute an Internal Committee by written order. Section 6 provides the Local Committee route where an Internal Committee has not been constituted because the establishment has fewer than ten workers, or where the complaint is against the employer. The Presiding Officer is ordinarily a senior-level woman employee; if one is unavailable, Section 4 specifies nomination from other offices or administrative units, and then from another workplace of the same employer or another department or organisation. The remaining composition includes at least two employee members meeting the stated criteria and one external member from the specified NGO/association or with relevant familiarity; at least half of the total members must be women. Nominated members may hold office for up to three years. A documented succession or rotation plan is recommended practice, not a separate statutory requirement.
Training
Conduct awareness programmes at regular intervals and orient Internal Committee members in line with Section 19(c) and the applicable Rules. Annual refreshers may be a practical governance benchmark where appropriate, but should not be presented as a universal statutory annual cadence. Train managers on response protocols and provide specialised committee enablement covering inquiry procedure, evidence handling, and natural justice.
Reporting
Separate the statutory reporting layers: Section 21 requires the Internal Committee or Local Committee to prepare an annual report for each calendar year in the prescribed form and time and submit it to the employer and District Officer; Section 22 concerns the employer's report of cases filed and their disposal. Rule 14 prescribes the committee report fields. Confirm any applicable state-level deadline, format, and filing route before filing. A central complaint register is a recommended control and must be designed with the Act's confidentiality requirements in mind.
Review
Recommended practice: conduct a periodic, commonly annual, compliance review covering policy currency, committee validity, awareness/orientation evidence, reporting readiness, and remediation. This review cadence is a governance control, not a universal statutory annual-review requirement.
Employer Operational Duties
Statutory baseline: Section 19 requires a safe working environment, including safety from persons coming into contact at the workplace; necessary facilities for the Internal Committee or Local Committee; assistance in securing respondent and witness attendance; and information required by the committee for a complaint.
Statutory text: Section 19 refers to assistance if the aggrieved woman chooses to make a complaint in relation to an offence under the Indian Penal Code, and to action under the Indian Penal Code or other law against the perpetrator in the circumstances stated in the Act. Current-law guidance: for conduct governed from 1 July 2024, consider the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and other applicable law. Section 19 also requires treatment of sexual harassment as misconduct under applicable service rules and monitoring of timely Internal Committee reports. These obligations should be operationalised with confidentiality and organisation-specific legal advice.
Legal Review Note
This checklist is a readiness aid, not a final compliance certificate. Organisation size, location, sector, workforce structure, and state-level practice can affect what needs to be documented and filed.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Treating compliance as a one-time setup rather than an annual operating cycle.
- Constituting an Internal Committee without training its members on inquiry procedure.
- Missing the applicable annual-report or employer-reporting deadline, or submitting incomplete prescribed information.
- Using a complaint register without confidentiality controls or treating it as a substitute for the statutory reporting process.
- Assuming a policy document alone constitutes compliance.
Checklist
Policy and Documentation
- Statutory/Rules check: an internal policy, charter, declaration, or resolution is formulated and widely disseminated under Rule 13(a)
- Statutory check: Section 19(b) workplace displays cover the constituting order and penal consequences
- Recommended control: policy approval and acknowledgement records retained
- Recommended control: policy is accessible in languages your workforce understands
Internal Committee
- Statutory check: Internal Committee is constituted by written order where Section 4 applies
- Statutory check: composition includes the Section 4 member categories, including at least two eligible employee members and one eligible external member
- Statutory check: at least half the total members are women and the Presiding Officer meets Section 4(2)(a)
- Statutory check: nominated members' terms do not exceed three years
- Recommended control: succession and rotation plan documented
Training and Awareness
- Statutory/Rules check: workshops, awareness programmes, and Internal Committee orientation are organised at regular intervals under Section 19(c) and Rule 13
- Recommended control: managers trained on response protocols
- Recommended control: IC members receive inquiry-procedure and evidence-handling enablement
- Recommended control: new joiner awareness included in onboarding
- Recommended control: training attendance and completion records maintained
Employer Operational Duties
- Statutory check: safe working environment includes safety from persons coming into contact at the workplace under Section 19(a)
- Statutory check: necessary facilities, attendance support, and complaint-relevant information are available to the IC or LC under Section 19(d)–(f)
- Statutory check: criminal-law assistance, action involving a non-employee perpetrator where the Act applies, and service-rule misconduct processes are operationally available under Section 19(g)–(i)
- Statutory check: timely submission of Internal Committee reports is monitored under Section 19(j)
- Rules check: IC member names and contact details are declared, and available State Government modules are used for awareness programmes, as Rule 13 requires
Reporting and Records
- Recommended control: complaint records are managed with confidentiality safeguards
- Statutory/Rules check: Section 21 and Section 22 reporting routes and Rule 14 requirements are verified before filing
- Statutory check: committee annual-report information includes the prescribed Rule 14 fields
- State-specific filing requirements confirmed before filing
Legal review completed
This resource discusses statutory or process-sensitive POSH topics. It is provided for general educational and compliance-support purposes only. Final policy, reporting, complaint-process, inquiry, and organisation-specific use should be reviewed by qualified POSH/legal professionals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should a POSH compliance checklist be reviewed?
A periodic review is recommended, commonly annually and sooner after significant legal changes, organisational restructuring, or identified process gaps. This cadence is a governance recommendation, not a universal statutory annual-review requirement; tailor it to the organisation's size, sector, and risk profile.
Does the POSH Act apply to organisations with fewer than ten employees?
The Act applies broadly to workplaces. Section 6 describes the Local Committee route where an Internal Committee has not been constituted due to fewer than ten workers, or where the complaint is against the employer. Confirm the correct route for the establishment and complaint before acting. Smaller organisations should still maintain prevention, awareness, and safe-routing discipline.
What is the deadline for filing the POSH annual return?
Confirm the applicable annual reporting deadline, format, and filing authority for the relevant state or establishment before filing. Do not rely on a generic deadline without source verification.
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