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Business Standard takes stock of India Incs track record when it comes to living up to the letter and spirit of regulations governing sexual harassment at the workplace
THINKSTOCK
he Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, has been in the works since 2005. After going through various revisions over the years, it got Presidential assent in April this year after Parliaments seal of approval. However, seven months later, the Act is yet to get notified by the Centre or get enforced. Till the time the Act comes into force, the Vishakha Guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in 1997 is mandatory on all companies, including those in private, public and non-government space, in matters relating to compliance of workplace related sexual harassment issues. The Delhi rape-murder incident brought stricter provisions in Indian Penal Code, recognising sexual harassment as a criminal offence. Meeting the guidelines Social sector workers, lawyers and many HR experts agree that India Inc in general needs to do a lot of catch up when it comes to sensitising the workplace on gender harassment related issues. India Inc is yet to start a conversation within its workplace on issues related to sexual harassment, notes human rights lawyer Vrinda Grover. Multinational companies and many large Indian corporate houses are ahead in this curve, with many of them following global best practices. Almost all of them claim to have put in place processes to deal with workplace related harassment complaints, along with a redressal mechanism. However the vast majority of small and medium-sized businesses largely pay lip service to any institutional mechanism to deal with workplace related sexual harassment issues. India Inc is not taking the issue of sexual harassment seriously enough, says T V Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education, and former Board member of Infosys Limited. Only when sexual harassment victims start claiming monetary damages from companies for not putting in adequate checks and balances, and for the mental and physical turmoil, will Indian companies sit up and take notice, says Pai. Just having an institutional mechanism to deal with sexual harassment related complaints is not enough. After the infamous Phaneesh Murthy incident in 2001, Infosys had to undertake
The Sexual Harassment of Women at work place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
The Act has been passed by Parliament and received the Presidents assent in April 2013, however it has not yet been notified by the central government. So, it has not been enforced.
Infosys Nalco Idea Cellular Penguin Int. MDLR Airlines Foreign bank
2010 Pradeep Shrivastava Chief marketing officer 2010 David Davidar 2012 Gopal Kanda 2013 (Name withheld) CEO Promoter India retail head
Does the Sustainability Report or Annual Report mandate any company to give a status-check relating to such complaints
| It may be desirable to give details of the mechanisms to deal with sexual harassment at work place and the number of complaints filed in the sustainability report.
harassment related issues crop up on account of failed office romance or due to a relationship gone sour. This leads to many companies taking to moral policing on what constitutes good or unhealthy relationships between employees. Most of the time companies have a tendency to ask both the victim and the alleged perpetrator to resign and move on. This could be a major deterrent for any prospective victim to come forward and file a complaint, say Grover. In most cases the perpetrators are let off after a reprimand, say many HR practitioners. Another deterrent in this regard is that it is not mandatory on any company to report in its annual report or to the board how many sexual harassment related complaints have come up in a year and how they have been
resolved. However, some large corporates and business houses do that as part of their business ethic practice. Action taken so far When Business Standard approached around a dozenodd large corporate houses on their sexual harassment policy and redressal mechanism, most of them said that they have well laid out policies as part of their business ethics. ICICI Bank, for instance, has a two-tier system in place. There is a committee, which comprises members from within the bank, that enquire once a complaint is made. It submits the findings to a supervisory committee, which comprises external members. The supervisory committee, based on the findings, decides the final action. Of the 20-25 such complaints that the bank typically receives in a year,
generally five or six are of serious nature, says K Ramkumar, executive director, ICICI Bank. In cases of conclusive evidence the person is asked to leave the organisation. In Tata Steel, sexual harassment policy falls under the Tata Code of Conduct and has a redressal committee in place. According to the Tata Steels Business Responsibility Report for 2012-13, eight cases of sexual harassment were received during the year. FMCG major HUL has a 24-hour helpline to deal with such complaints. It is not mandatory on the complainant to disclose her identity to encourage reporting of such cases, the company says. Infosys sensitises its employees about its zero tolerance philosophy on sexual harassment through various class room and e-learning programmes, poster campaigns and emailers. The company
also hosts all the information such as the policy, FAQs, in a prominent spot on the company intranet for easy reference, a company spokesperson says. At telecom major Bharti Airtel, such complaints are dealt with by Groups Ombudsperson Office to whom such complaints could be sent directly. The Ombudsperson reports directly to the group chairman. Construction and engineering behemoth L&T has had no such complaints in the past three years, says its spokesperson. The group claims to follow all the requirements of the Vishakha guidelines. However, almost all the HR experts and social sector activists Business Standard spoke to say India Inc is sitting on a minefield of its own making by not taking issues related to gender equality in workplace seriously enough.