POSH Act Compliance in 2026: The Corporate Obligations Most Companies Still Miss

The Prevention, Protection, and Redressal of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act, 2013 (POSH Act) has been mandatory for all employers with 10 or more employees for over a decade. Yet enforcement action, media scrutiny, and employee awareness have revealed significant compliance gaps that persist even in large, sophisticated organisations. **The Core Requirements** Every employer with 10 or more employees must: 1. **Constitute an Internal Committee (IC)** — chaired by a woman employee, with at least two other employees and one external member (an NGO or legal professional with relevant experience) 2. **Formulate a POSH Policy** — the policy must define sexual harassment, explain the complaint process, and commit the employer to confidentiality and non-retaliation 3. **Conduct annual awareness training** — for all employees, not just managers 4. **Maintain proper records** — complaints, enquiry reports, and action taken 5. **File an annual return** — with the District Officer before 31 January each year **What Most Companies Get Wrong** 1. **IC constitution on paper only** — many companies have IC members listed in a policy document but no actual training, no regular meetings, and no capacity to conduct a proper enquiry 2. **External member who is not independent** — the external member must be genuinely independent. A lawyer on retainer, a friend of the HR head, or a spouse of a director does not satisfy the requirement 3. **Annual awareness training that is actually a policy email** — distributing the POSH policy to employees by email is not "conducting an awareness programme" 4. **No enquiry procedure** — when a complaint is received, companies without a documented enquiry procedure create both legal risk and reputational risk 5. **Missing the annual return** — the return must be filed with the District Officer (typically the District Collector or designated authority) by 31 January each year. Most companies either don't know this or file late. **Multi-Location Employers** Companies with offices in multiple states must constitute separate ICs for each office with 10 or more employees. The IC must be geographically proximate to the complainant — a Delhi IC cannot handle a complaint from a Bengaluru office.