Anti-Sexual Harassment Services

In 2013, the Government of India promulgated the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) 2013, Act (PoSH Act).

This law applies to all workplaces in India and sets down specific obligations and responsibilities for employers.

The key obligations and responsibilities for employers under the PoSH Act are:

  • Constitution of Internal Committees at all locations.
  • Provide a safe working environment at the workplace which shall include safety from the persons coming into contact at the workplace.
  • Display at any conspicuous place in the workplace, the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the Internal Committee
  • Organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitising employees
  • Organise orientation programmes for members of the Internal Committee
  • Treat sexual harassment as a misconduct under service rules
  • Submit annual reports under the Act and to the district officer
  • Include disclosure of compliance in the annual report of private companies under the Companies Act and Companies Accounts Rules.

Risking Non-compliance could get ugly for Companies and their Board of Directors as failure to comply, exposes employers to several penalties, fines and even imprisonment. Click here to know more.

UNDER THE PoSH ACT

  • Up to Rs. 50,000 under the PoSH Act on first offence
  • Twice the amount on repeat offence and / or
  • Government or local authority can cancel license or withdraw registration required for carrying on business.

UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT SECTION 134

  • Fine not less than Rs. 50,000 but which may extend to Rs. 3,00,000; and
  • Every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years; or

COURT DECIDED EMPLOYER LIABILITY

In recent times, courts have imposed costs and penalties on employers and awarded compensation to victims which employers are liable to pay. Such compensation in recent case law has been as high as INR 25,00,000.

To understand more, schedule a one-hour webinar for your leadership on Leadership and Policy strengthening for ensuring PoSH in the extended workplace.

To help your organization achieve compliance and beyond, our highly qualified and experienced team of lawyers, gender experts, NGO founders and social workers partner with you to help make your endeavours match the best industry standards. We are the forerunners in this field for anti-sexual harassment services, with an unmatched record of redressing over 2000+ cases of workplace sexual harassment.

Our portfolio of services includes:

Our highly qualified and experienced team of lawyers, NGO founders and social workers act as external members (EMs) of internal committees in organizations. Our EMs stand out with Cohere’s neatly structured, legal-process driven approach in a traditionally discretion driven industry, bringing the best legal acumen to the table, peppered with our unique brand of empathy. Each of our EM’s have worked across industries and are highly cognizant of dynamic work cultures.

Our experienced and highly trained external members are each accomplished lawyers and counsellors in their individual right, and will ably guide your Internal Committees to deal with cases of workplace sexual harassment with utmost sensitivity, confidentiality, nuance and discretion, bearing in mind the goals and policies of your organization.

Our EM Services are highly customized and can be bundled with any of our other services. For your personalised quote on our EM services, contact us today!

In addition to our external members, who join your internal committees, we provide advisory services for PoSH Inquiries and Conciliations. Case Management covers not just the legal process, but also all aspects of –

  • Documentation
  • Record keeping
  • Statutory filing and
  • Report generation

We help your IC redress complaints in a speedy, effective, and timely manner.

Cohere lawyers are subject matter experts. You may access the profiles of Cohere’s team of highly experienced lawyers and POSH experts here

After successfully training over 16000 people across industries, and having advised the National Labour Institute and the Ministry of Women & Child Development on their training modules, Cohere Consultants has developed Keep it Right™, an app plus web based training platform and programme for organizations on prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace.

Keep it Right™ has been created and developed by Cohere Consultants to

  • support organisations in achieving 100% compliance of employee training objectives under the PoSH Act
  • be a cost effective and time saving training programme
  • guide managers and IC Members to recognize and respond to workplace sexual harassment

The videos are replete with diverse Indian characters and real-life case studies based on judgments of various High Courts and the Supreme Court of India and derived from Cohere's vast experience of handling 2000+ PoSH cases in the last decade. Case studies keep in mind the specific cultural and legal environment, as well as current trends in corporate India. We update content monthly. So, it is always fresh, always relevant.

The training programme is also compliant with training courses on the subject approved by Ministry of Women & Child Development and the V.V Giri National Labour Institute with certification for completions.

Click here to download more information or contact us to schedule you free demo today!

Cohere’s PoSH Training and certification workshops are one of the industry’s foremost and reliable offerings. Our trainers are subject matter experts who are practicing lawyers, and are guest faculty at the CBI Academy, Delhi Police Training Academy, and the V.V Giri National Labour Institute.

We specialize in conducting in person as well as virtual workshops for

  • Senior leadership and management
  • Employee Relation and Human Resource Teams
  • Internal Committee Members
  • Mid-Management
  • Employees on gender discrimination and workplace diversity

We also offer certified masterclasses and webinars for each category of trainees. Schedule a free consultation and get a customized quote for organizational trainings today.

Cohere’s team of lawyers and industry experts carefully train Internal Committees of organizations and prepare them to identify handle complaints of sexual harassment with the necessary sensitivity and expertise.

The success of an organization’s PoSH policy and process comes down squarely to the competence of the IC. Cohere’s IC Orientation programmes are specifically tailor-made to aid and assist IC Members of organizations or understand the gravity of their roles and equip them with the tools to perform their duties. Training with real life case studies we help IC’s identifying and adopting good practices that set industry standards.

It is mandatory to complete filing of annual reports under the Sexual Harassment of Women in the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (PoSH Act) within the prescribed deadlines. Cohere’s panel of lawyers and subject experts provide comprehensive advisory services and filing support on IC Annual returns/company report to help clients in timely submission of reports by the Internal Committee.

We work pan-India. Through our offices in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad – we have your organization covered.