The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 applies to every workplace, and the Internal Committee requirement is triggered at ten or more employees — counted across all workers at the workplace, not just those on the payroll of one entity.
Committee constitution is the most common defect. The Presiding Officer must be a woman employed at a senior level, at least half the members must be women, and there must be an external member from an NGO or association familiar with issues relating to sexual harassment. A committee of internal HR staff alone is not validly constituted, and an invalidly constituted committee taints the inquiry it conducts.
The second defect is the annual return. The Act requires the employer to file an annual report with the District Officer, and to include in the board's report the number of complaints filed and disposed of. Companies filing the board disclosure while skipping the District Officer report are exposed on the visible half of the obligation.
Training and awareness obligations are ongoing, not one-off. Keep an attendance-linked record of employee orientation sessions and separate skill-building for committee members; when a complaint arises, the quality of the record affects both the inquiry and any subsequent challenge to it.
A workable minimum set for a growing company: a policy that names the committee members and the complaint route, a validly constituted committee with a documented external member appointment, dated training records, a complaint register, the District Officer annual report, and the board's report disclosure.
Key takeaways
- Ten or more employees at the workplace triggers an Internal Committee.
- An external member is mandatory — internal-only committees are invalid.
- File the District Officer annual report, not just the board disclosure.