POSH Act Practitioner: Advanced Certification

What the Act treats as sexual harassment, and what it adds on top under Section 3. The five descriptive limbs, the five circumstances that promote a workplace claim, and how this reads against real-world facts.

1. 1. The five limbs of Section 2(n) 10 min
2. 2. What "unwelcome" means, and why intent is not a defence 9 min
3. 3. Section 3: quid pro quo and hostile environment, layered onto Section 2(n) 10 min
4. 4. Who the Act protects and who it does not 8 min
5. 5. The 2025 Kerala HC line: where POSH ends and labour law begins 11 min

Section 2(f), 2(g), 2(a) and 2(o) decide the spine of every case. After Dr. Sohail Malik (December 2025), the workplace is wider than the four walls of an office.

This module makes you reliable on who has standing, who is the employer, and where the Act follows you.

1. 1. Identifying the employer under Section 2(g) 9 min
2. 2. Who counts as an "employee", the widest definition in Indian employment law 8 min
3. 3. The expanded workplace under Section 2(o), after Saurabh Kumar Mallick and Dr. Sohail Malik 11 min
4. 4. Jurisdiction across organisations, after Sohail Malik 9 min
5. 5. Third-party harassment: vendors, clients, contractors, customers 10 min

Composition, gender ratio, the external member, tenure, replacement, and what makes a committee defective. The Aureliano Fernandes (2023) directions translated into a checklist your employer can act on this week.

1. 1. Section 4 composition checklist: who sits on the IC, and why each seat is non-negotiable 10 min
2. 2. Sourcing and vetting the external member 9 min
3. 3. Translating Aureliano Fernandes 2023 into a working IC implementation checklist 10 min
4. 4. Tenure, removal, and keeping the IC functional through inevitable churn 8 min
5. 5. What a defective IC costs you: Global Health Indore 2019 and the Section 26 + civil liability stack 9 min

For workplaces with fewer than ten workers, or where the complaint is against the employer, the path runs through the District Officer's Local Committee. This module covers when LC jurisdiction is triggered, how to interface with it, and what employers under ten employees still have to do.

1. 1. When the Local Committee has jurisdiction 8 min
2. 2. LC composition under Section 7: who sits, who pays, how it differs from the IC 9 min
3. 3. Filing a complaint with the Local Committee: nodal officers, SHe-Box, and the practitioner's route 8 min
4. 4. The District Officer's seat: duties under Section 20 and the new enforcement layer 8 min
5. 5. Small-establishment compliance that actually works: under 10 workers, single-doctor clinics, household employers 9 min

From complaint receipt to the Section 13 report. Time limits after Vaneeta Patnaik (September 2025), the Direct Nexus Test, conciliation under Section 10, interim relief under Section 12, and how to run a fair, defensible inquiry under Rule 7.

1. 1. Receiving the complaint: the threshold stage that decides everything else 10 min
2. 2. Limitation and the Direct Nexus Test after Vaneeta Patnaik 2025 10 min
3. 3. Running the Rule 7 inquiry: natural justice, cross-examination, and evidence 12 min
4. 4. Evaluating evidence and the "balance of probabilities" standard 9 min
5. 5. The Section 13 inquiry report and the handover to the employer 9 min

The IC has submitted its report. What the employer must do under Section 13(3) within 60 days, how to compute monetary relief under Section 15, when Section 14 false-complaint findings are appropriate, confidentiality under Section 17, and the Section 18 appellate path.

1. 1. Section 13(3): translating the IC report into employer action without procedural slip 10 min
2. 2. Section 15: computing compensation defensibly 9 min
3. 3. Section 14: the narrow discipline of false-complaint findings 9 min
4. 4. Protection from retaliation: the X v. Akademi line and what employers must not do during a pending inquiry 9 min
5. 5. Section 17 confidentiality penalty and Section 18 appeals 9 min

The full employer-side compliance build: policy, awareness, training under Rule 13, Section 21 annual report, the Section 22 disclosure in the Board's Report, the Companies (Accounts) Second Amendment Rules 2025 expanded POSH disclosure, and the Section 26 penalty exposure.

1. 1. Section 19: the ten employer duties as a working operating checklist 9 min
2. 2. Section 21 annual report and the Rule 14 five elements 8 min
3. 3. Section 22 plus Companies (Accounts) 2025 plus BRSR, the disclosure stack 10 min
4. 4. Section 26 penalty framework and the total cost of non-compliance 8 min
5. 5. What comes next: amendments on the horizon and the discipline of keeping current 8 min