A.
Dear Client,
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013, also known as the ‘PoSH Act,’ is an Indian law passed to make offices safer for women by halting, restricting, and resolving sexual misconduct against them in the organization. The Ministry of Women and Child Development made the law effective throughout India on December 9, 2013, characterizing sexual harassment and establishing the processes for lodging a lawsuit and conducting an investigation, as well as the measures to be taken. As per Section 9(1) of the Act, any aggrieved woman may make, in writing, a complaint of sexual harassment at the workplace to the Internal Committee if constituted, or the Local Committee, in case it is not so constituted, within a period of three months from the date of incident and in case of a series of incidents, within a period of three months from the date of last incident: Until and unless a final report u/s,13 of The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace(P P &R) Act, 2013 on a complaint over sexual harassment made by the victim is submitted by the Internal Inquiry Committee (IIC) proving or disproving her allegation or providing a copy of the complaint to the accused to defend the allegation if any action taken by the management imposing capital punishment of termination on the accused is highly arbitrary and illegal being contrary to the provision of the Act and violation of natural justice. In the given situation, you may bring the matter to the notice of the District Magistrate or ADM who is designated as the District Officer of the Local Complaints Committee u/s.5 of the Act for redressal of your grievance. Termination without notice or dismissal other than a disciplinary action for proven misconduct amounts to illegal termination/retrenchment and is defined as an industrial dispute under Section 2A of the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 which also violated the mandatory provision of Sec.25F and 25N of the Act that prescribed certain conditions to comply with by the employer before termination/retrenchment of a workman/employee from the employment. In that scenario, the terminated employee/workman can raise an industrial dispute directly before the Industrial Tribunal/Labor Court concerned for adjudication within three years from the date of termination/retrenchment. So, in the prevailing situation, if you are not holding the position of Manager/Supervisor but a workman as defined u/s.2(s) of the Industrial Dispute Act then after serving a legal notice to the Company, you should raise an Industrial dispute directly before the State Govt. Industrial Tribunal under Sec.2A of the I D Act. Otherwise, in case you are holding the position of Manager/Administrative Officer in the Company, you have to file a civil suit before the Civil Court seeking appropriate relief in the matter. In case you need our expert service, feel free to contact our legal team or avail of our paid consultation service to navigate the issue in the right way.
Posted On 20-Mar-2024
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