Ask most HR teams about POSH duties of employer, and they will say: form a committee. That answer is not wrong, but it is incomplete. Section 19 lists a much longer set of duties, and most of them have nothing to do with the committee itself.
Moreover, in November 2024, an Orissa High Court bench had to give both central and state government authorities a final warning for failing one of these duties. Therefore, if government bodies can miss this, private employers should not assume they are automatically covered either.
Request a demo today to see how our POSH compliance solutions can help your organization stay compliant and build a safer workplace.
What You’ll Learn in This Guide
This article covers:
- The full list of duties Section 19 actually imposes
- The display requirement most organizations quietly skip
- What genuine support for the committee looks like in practice
- A recent court case showing even authorities get this wrong
- A practical checklist you can act on today
POSH Duties of Employer: More Than Just Forming a Committee
Under Section 19 of the POSH Act, 2013, every employer carries a specific list of duties. These run from providing a safe environment, to displaying key information, to actively supporting the Internal Committee once a complaint arrives.
POSH Duties of Employer: Providing a Safe Working Environment
This duty sounds general, but it covers safety from anyone who comes into contact with the workplace, not just fellow employees. Vendors, clients, and visitors all fall within its scope. Therefore, a genuinely safe environment means thinking beyond just internal staff relationships.
The Display Requirement Nearly Everyone Gets Wrong
Employers must display, at a conspicuous place, the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the Internal Committee. This applies to reception areas, HR cabins, and common spaces. Moreover, for hybrid teams, this same information belongs on internal digital platforms too, not only physical noticeboards.
Running Awareness Workshops, Not Just a One-Time Session
The Act requires regular workshops and awareness programs for employees, plus separate orientation sessions for Internal Committee members. Consequently, a single onboarding-day mention of POSH does not satisfy this duty on its own.
Supporting the Committee Once a Complaint Arrives
Once an inquiry begins, the employer must provide the committee with necessary facilities, help secure the attendance of the respondent and witnesses, and share any information the committee requests. Therefore, a functioning committee depends heavily on active employer cooperation, not just its own authority.
POSH Duties of Employer: Assisting Criminal Proceedings Too
If the woman wants to pursue criminal action, the employer must help initiate it under the applicable criminal law. This duty extends even further where the perpetrator is not an employee, such as a client or vendor present at the workplace. Moreover, this shows the Act’s protection is not limited to purely internal, employee-on-employee situations.
POSH Duties of Employer: Misconduct Under Service Rules
Beyond the POSH process itself, the employer must treat sexual harassment as misconduct under its own service rules and take disciplinary action accordingly. Consequently, a company’s HR policy and its POSH policy need to line up, not operate as two separate, disconnected documents.
Monitoring the Committee’s Own Reporting Deadlines
The employer must also monitor whether the committee submits its reports on time. This duty connects directly to the annual reporting obligation under Section 21, since a committee that quietly misses its own deadlines creates a compliance gap the employer is separately responsible for catching.
Even Courts Are Struggling With the Basics
In November 2024, a Public Interest Litigation before the Orissa High Court, filed by activist Biyat Pragya Tripathy, found that central and state government bodies were failing to comply with the basic display requirement under Section 19(b). The Court granted a final opportunity to comply, rather than let the matter slide indefinitely. As a result, this case is a useful reminder that even the simplest duty on this list gets overlooked far more often than anyone expects.
POSH Duties of Employer: A Practical Checklist
- Notice board or intranet page showing penal consequences and the IC’s constitution order
- A recurring, dated calendar of awareness workshops, not a single past event
- A documented process for supporting the committee during an active inquiry
- Service rules that explicitly reference sexual harassment as misconduct
- A named person responsible for tracking the committee’s own filing deadlines
Moreover, this exact list is what a POSH audit checks first, since these duties are easy to verify and easy to miss.
Common Mistakes Employers Make with These Duties
- Treating the display requirement as optional or purely cosmetic
- Running one workshop and calling it done for the whole year
- Leaving the committee to fend for itself during an inquiry
- Never updating service rules to actually reference POSH misconduct
Request a demo today to see how our POSH compliance solutions can help your organization stay compliant and build a safer workplace.
POSH Compliance Services for Full Section 19 Coverage
Many organizations bring in POSH compliance services specifically to check every duty on this list, not just committee formation. This matters because inspectors, and now courts, increasingly look at the full picture rather than the single most visible piece of it.
Conclusion: POSH Duties of Employer Don’t End at the Committee
In conclusion, POSH duties of employer under Section 19 go well beyond simply constituting an Internal Committee. Moreover, as the Orissa High Court’s 2024 directive shows, even large institutional employers still miss the basics. Therefore, treating this full list, not just the committee, as the actual compliance standard is the safer and more accurate approach.
Request a demo today and discover how our expert-led POSH compliance services can help your organization stay compliant, reduce risk, and build a safer workplace.
