Ways to Deal with Sexual Harassment at Workplace

Dealing with sexual harassment might be considered important but focus should be on making workplace environment healthy enough that no one should be in a situation to handle it in the first place. This is because instances of sexual harassment affects women’s psychological state.

There are laws aimed at securing women against workplace sexual harassment. However, in any case, most of the women who face sexual harassment choose not to report it. The essential motivation behind why cases of sexual harassment go unreported is that women dread it. This is often due to the fear of judgement from management and coworkers at work. Social conditioning makes women frequently accept that revealing an incident of harassment will hurt their profession and that they may lose their employment. In this way, they keep getting exploited but remain quiet since they have been made to simply accept that this thing is normal. The exploitation continues as the women at work do not have the faintest of ideas regarding their rights to fight such activities. Also, they do not know how to differentiate between predatory behaviour and common courtesy. For example- In the event that a male colleague cordially approaches you out for lunch, it might not be harassment but if he demands you to go with him even after your refusal then this conduct adds up to sexual harassment.

What You Can Do If Faced with Sexual Harassment?

Understanding the PoSH law could be a significant advancement towards eradicating workplace provocation. If a female employee does a simple Google search for what comes under sexual harassment she will find a no. of articles explaining inappropiate behaviour at work. It's essential for women to grasp what adds up to inappropriate behavior and what doesn’t to understand what kind of action they can take. For instance, even unseemly or steady gazing that simply cannot be ignored can add up to harassment as per the PoSH Act.

If a female employee is irritated or uncomfortable with such actions of a fellow employee or senior then she can lodge a complaint to the Internal Complaints Committee of the organization. This committee has been mandated to be formed under the PoSH Act for all organisations with employee strength of more than 10 people. If the employee doesn't want to lodge a written complaint then she can approach the HR to understand what actions she can take on the matter or get a resolution from their end.

How Organizations Can Offer Assistance?

As mentioned before, the POSH law has made it necessary for firms to constitute an Internal Committee to address complaints of female employees on inappropriate behaviour. Any female worker who has or is encountering inappropriate behavior can record a grievance to the ICC (Internal Complaints Committee). The PoSH law expects this to be done within a time frame of three months from the date of the last incident.

The ICC also holds the right to extend the period to lodge complaints up to six months on its discretion. The complainant also gets the liberty of filing the complaint through a coworker or their relative if they are not comfortable in facing the ICC. The complaint committee gets a period of three months to dispose of a complaint from the day of recording.

Compensation to Offered to Aggrieved Women

As a measure of immediate relief, the ICC can offer the following things to a complainant:

Move: The ICC intently explores the recorded objection. It can move the respondent to a different department of the office if considered fit by the advisory panel. This is done as an immediate measure of relief for the complainant. Likewise, the council can move the distressed employee to a different office on her solicitation. The advisory group can additionally inhibit the respondent from practicing any managerial work or supervision or scholastic assessment concerning the bothered woman.

Pay: In instances of mental harassment, torment, physical wounds, or any misfortune in professional life, the ICC can offer help as a restorative measure. The ICC can also grant the abused woman remuneration that must be paid by the respondent and can be deducted from his compensation.

Leave: Sexual provocation can intellectually and physically influence the oppressed woman. As a measure of relief, the ICC can offer leave up to 1/4 time of the year. If the respondent is found guilty by the committee, he will be punished by deducting a certain amount from his remuneration, transfer to a different office, cancellation of job promotion, or termination of job.

Precautions to Control Sexual Harassment at the Workplace

There are certain steps that can be taken to control the cases of sexual harassment at the workplace.

Skillful Members of Internal Complaints Committee: Hiring skillful members to the ICC who are proficient at handling the investigative and psychological aspect of the complaint redressal. Skillful members can offer counselling to the victim and easily understand their point of view. Also, if the external member hired to the committee has experience then he can train other members of the committee.

Mindfulness Programs: Organising Awareness programs to train the representatives and the administration about workplace inappropriate behavior will lower the instances of harassment. PoSH training sessions can also be organised by companies to impart training on the rights under the PoSH Act. Ifvthe female employees are aware of their rights under the act, they won't be afraid to speak out against any inappropriate behaviour. This will also help them clearly understand what constitutes right behaviour for workplace and what comes under harassment.

Taking Help from a Legal Entity: Assistance from a legal entity in organising the training programs for employees or members of the ICC can also help the companies in tackling sexual harassment at work. These companies have legal representatives who have clear knowledge of the act. The representatives can therefore train the ICC members on appropriate actions to take while acting on a sexual harassment complaint. One of the members of the legal team can also act as the external member in the ICC of the company.