What is Sexual Harassment in workplace? - What Constitutes Sexual harassment? - Meaning and Definition

• • Sending undesirable sexually coloured written messages, text messages, e-mail messages, or any such messages by electronic or other means

  • Stalking or consistently following aggrieved woman in the office precincts & outside

  • Voyeurism including overt or tacit observation by the person by any means of the aggrieved woman in her private moments

  • Any conduct whereby the person takes advantage of his position and subjects the aggrieved woman to any form of sexual harassment and seeks sexual favours specially while holding out career advancements whether explicitly or implicitly as an incentive or a natural result of submitting to the insinuations / demands of the male person

  • Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature

  • Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her career

  • Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her  career

  • Implied or explicit threat about her present or future career

  • Interferes with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment for her; or

  • Any treatment having a sexual colour or content likely to affect her emotional and / or physical health or safety

Nisha Priya Bhatia v. Union of India & Anr. CA No. 2365/2020  (Supreme Court of India)

" The approach of law as regards the cases of sexual harassment at workplace is not confined to cases of actual commission of acts of harassment, but also covers situations wherein the woman employee is subjected to prejudice, hostility, discriminatory attitude and humiliation in day to day functioning at the workplace."

Facts [+]

According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are sixty-three million working women in America. Though women make up nearly half the workforce, those with families perform more than 90 percent of the household and childhood duties.

Sexual harassment has developed into one of the most controversial, complex and perhaps widespread HR problems in the world. One of the first attempts to measure the extent of sexual harassment internationally was undertaken by Redbook magazine in the USA. Of the 9000 women workers who responded to the survey, 80% reported that they had experienced some form of unwanted attention on the job." A national study also undertaken in the USA of over 14 000 workers found that 42% of the women and 14% of the men had experienced some form of sexual harass­ment in a three-years period. The study also found that only 5% of the men and women who had experienced harassment chose to report it.

The primary reasons why the other 95% did not report their harassment include the following:

• • Absence of any complaint mechanism at the workplace

  • Fear of loss of reputation

  • Not aware of redressal mechanism of sexual harassment at the workplace.

  • The fear of losing one's job; if she's sole earning member of their family.

  • The need for a future job reference;

  • The possibility of being considered a troublemaker;

  • The assumption that nothing would change if harassment was reported;

  • Concern about being accused of inviting the harassment;

  • A reluctance to draw public attention to private lives;

  • The prospect of emotional stress for filing a lawsuit and undergoing long, costly legal procedures.

Supreme Court issues directions to Union of India, States and UTs for implementing the provisions of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 

Read Judgement Below

AURELIANO FERNANDES versus STATE OF GOA AND OTHERS

SC issued direction that all the concerned Ministries, Departments, Government organizations, authorities, Public Sector Undertakings, institutions, bodies, etc.and by all the Statutory bodies of professionals at the Apex level and the State level (including those regulating doctors, lawyers, architects, chartered accountants, cost accountants, engineers, bankers and other professionals), by Universities, colleges, Training Centres and educational institutions and by government  and private hospitals/nursing home  to constitute ICCs/LCs/ICs, as the case may be and that the composition of the said Committees are strictly in terms of the provisions of the PoSH Act.

(The following abbreviations have been used in the writ petition, as well as in this judgment hereafter: “LCC” or “LC” mean ‘Local Committee’ (as per Act 23/2016 which amended ‘local complaints committee’ to ‘local

committee’); and “ICC” or “IC” to mean ‘Internal Complaints Committee’.)

A similar exercise shall be undertaken by all the Statutory bodies of professionals at the Apex level and the State level (including those regulating doctors, lawyers, architects, chartered accountants, cost accountants, engineers, bankers and other professionals), by Universities, colleges, Training Centres and educational institutions and by government and private hospitals/nursing homes.

Immediate and effective steps shall be taken by the authorities/ managements/employers to familiarize members of the ICCs/LCs/ICs with their duties and the manner in which an inquiry ought to be conducted on receiving a complaint of sexual harassment at the workplace, from the point when the complaint is received, till the inquiry is finally concluded and the Report submitted.

The authorities/management/employers shall regularly conduct orientation programmes, workshops, seminars and awareness programmes to upskill members of the ICCs/LCs/ICs and to educate women employees and women’s groups about the provisions of the Act, the Rules and relevant regulations. 

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) shall develop modules to conduct workshops and organize awareness programmes to sensitize authorities/managements/employers, employees and adolescent groups with the provisions of the Act, which shall be included in their annual calendar. 

The National Judicial Academy and the State Judicial Academies shall include in their annual calendars, orientation programmes, seminars and workshops for capacity building of members of the ICCs/LCs/ICs established in the High Courts and District Courts and for drafting Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to conduct an inquiry under the Act and Rules.