Workforce
Not a policy you write once and file away. A constituted committee, a real annual report, and a headcount nobody is tracking.
Check your DPDP readiness — free More on the blogThe Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 — POSH, for short — has a threshold that most small businesses cross without noticing: 10 employees. Below that, an employer still owes basic protections; at 10 and above, s.4 makes an Internal Committee mandatory, and "we'll get to it" stops being a defensible position.
The threshold counts every employee at that workplace — full-time, part-time, contract, intern, probationer — not just permanent staff on the rolls. A business with 7 permanent employees and 4 contract staff at one location has crossed it, even if nobody thought of the contract staff as "headcount" when checking.
A policy document with no constituted committee behind it satisfies none of this — it is the single most common gap on a first review, because it looks complete from the outside and is not.
s.21 requires the Internal Committee to file an annual report with the District Officer, disclosing the number of complaints received, disposed of, and pending beyond 90 days. This is not optional paperwork for companies with zero complaints — a nil report is still a report, and the filing obligation exists precisely so a District Officer can tell the difference between "no complaints" and "no committee filing anything at all". Zero complaints and zero filings look identical from outside the business. To the law, they are not the same thing.
s.26 sets a fine of up to ₹50,000 for an employer who fails to constitute an Internal Committee, file the annual report, or otherwise contravenes the Act — and a repeat contravention can mean cancellation or non-renewal of the business's registration or licence, which is a different order of consequence than the fine itself. This site's employee threshold checker computes the threshold live off your actual employee roster — POSH, ESI, EPF and gratuity each apply at a different headcount, and it tells you the day you cross one rather than the day an inspector does.
Ten. Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 requires every employer with ten or more workers at a workplace to constitute an Internal Committee by written order. The count includes employees of every kind, whether full-time, part-time, contractual, probationary or on an ad-hoc basis.
A Presiding Officer who is a woman employed at a senior level, at least two members from among employees committed to the cause of women or with relevant legal or social work experience, and one external member from an NGO or association familiar with sexual harassment issues. At least half of the total members must be women. The external member is mandatory and is where most small-company committees fail.
Section 26 provides a fine of up to Rs 50,000 for an employer who fails to constitute an Internal Committee, fails to file the annual report, or otherwise contravenes the Act. A repeat contravention can attract twice the punishment and, more seriously, cancellation or non-renewal of the licence or registration required to conduct the business.
Yes. Section 21 requires the Internal Committee to file an annual report with the District Officer, and a nil report is still a report. The obligation exists so a District Officer can tell the difference between an employer with no complaints and an employer with no functioning committee.
Published 14 August 2026. Founder & CEO at VidhiSar. I have watched four companies pay for the same mistake, and it was never the mistake anyone expected. VidhiSar is software, not a law firm: every answer names the section it relies on so you can check it, and anything turning on your specific facts is worth putting to a professional. More about who builds this
Maintains the law explainers, calculators, templates and blog posts on vidhisar.in: checks them against the statute text and updates them when the law changes. Errors and changes in the law can be reported to legal@vidhisar.in.