POSH Act·Chapter I·Preliminary

Definitions

Verbatim from the Act

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) "aggrieved woman" means— (i) in relation to a workplace, a woman, of any age whether employed or not, who alleges to have been subjected to any act of sexual harassment by the respondent; (ii) in relation to dwelling place or house, a woman of any age who is employed in such a dwelling place or house;
(b) "appropriate Government" means— (i) in relation to a workplace which is established, owned, controlled or wholly or substantially financed by funds provided directly or indirectly— (A) by the Central Government or the Union territory administration, the Central Government; (B) by the State Government, the State Government; (ii) in relation to any workplace not covered under sub-clause (i) and falling within its territory, the State Government;
(c) "Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the Local Committee nominated under sub-section (1) of section 7;
(d) "District Officer" means an officer notified under section 5;
(e) "domestic worker" means a woman who is employed to do the household work in any household for remuneration whether in cash or kind, either directly or through any agency on a temporary, permanent, part time or full time basis, but does not include any member of the family of the employer;
(f) "employee" means a person employed at a workplace for any work on regular, temporary, ad hoc or daily wage basis, either directly or through an agent, including a contractor, with or without the knowledge of the principal employer, whether for remuneration or not, or working on a voluntary basis or otherwise, whether the terms of employment are express or implied and includes a co-worker, a contract worker, probationer, trainee, apprentice or called by any other such name;
(g) "employer" means— (i) in relation to any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, office, branch or unit of the appropriate Government or a local authority, the head of that department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, office, branch or unit or such other officer as the appropriate Government or the local authority, as the case may be, may by an order specify in this behalf; (ii) in any workplace not covered under sub-clause (i), any person responsible for the management, supervision and control of the workplace. Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-clause "management" includes the person or board or committee responsible for formulation and administration of polices for such organisation; (iii) in relation to workplace covered under sub-clauses (i) and (ii), the person discharging contractual obligations with respect to his or her employees; (iv) in relation to a dwelling place or house, a person or a household who employs or benefits from the employment of domestic worker, irrespective of the number, time period or type of such worker employed, or the nature of the employment or activities performed by the domestic worker;
(h) "Internal Committee" means an Internal Complaints Committee constituted under section 4;
(i) "Local Committee" means the Local Complaints Committee constituted under section 6;
(j) "Member" means a Member of the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be;
(k) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(l) "Presiding Officer" means the Presiding Officer of the Internal Complaints Committee nominated under sub-section (2) of section 4;
(m) "respondent" means a person against whom the aggrieved woman has made a complaint under section 9;
(n) "sexual harassment" includes any one or more of the following unwelcome acts or behavior (whether directly or by implication) namely:— (i) physical contact and advances; or (ii) a demand or request for sexual favours; or (iii) making sexually coloured remarks; or (iv) showing pornography; or (v) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature;
(o) "workplace" includes— (i) any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, office, branch or unit which is established, owned, controlled or wholly or substantially financed by funds provided directly or indirectly by the appropriate Government or the local authority or a Government company or a corporation or a co-operative society; (ii) any private sector organisation or a private venture, undertaking, enterprise, institution, establishment, society, trust, non-governmental organisation, unit or service provider carrying on commercial, professional, vocational, educational, entertainmental, industrial, health services or financial activities including production, supply, sale, distribution or service; (iii) hospitals or nursing homes; (iv) any sports institute, stadium, sports complex or competition or games venue, whether residential or not used for training, sports or other activities relating thereto; (v) any place visited by the employee arising out of or during the course of employment including transportation by the employer for undertaking such journey; (vi) a dwelling place or a house;
(p) "unorganised sector" in relation to a workplace means an enterprise owned by individuals or self-employed workers and engaged in the production or sale of goods or providing service of any kind whatsoever, and where the enterprise employs workers, the number of such workers is less than ten.

— Section 2, POSH Act 2013

In plain English

What this section actually means

Section 2 is unusually long because Parliament wanted the Act to reach as far as possible. Three definitions do most of the work.

'Aggrieved woman' (clause (a)) is deliberately wide — any age, whether employed at the workplace or not. So a visitor, a vendor's representative, a job interviewee or a customer can file. For dwelling places, the protection extends to a woman 'employed' at the dwelling — domestic workers covered.

'Employee' (clause (f)) covers regular, temporary, ad-hoc, daily-wage, contracted, co-worker, probationer, trainee, apprentice, intern, volunteer — anyone working at the workplace, with or without remuneration. The 'with or without the knowledge of the principal employer' phrase reaches outsourced workers whose vendor has dispatched them to the employer's premises.

'Sexual harassment' (clause (n)) covers any one or more of five unwelcome acts: physical contact / advances, demand or request for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, or 'any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature' — a residual catch-all. The definition is illustrative, not exhaustive (the word 'includes').

'Workplace' (clause (o)) extends well beyond the office floor — it covers government and private organisations, NGOs, hospitals, sports institutes, any place visited 'arising out of or during the course of employment' including employer-provided transport, and dwellings. The 'arising out of or during the course of employment' phrase mirrors employees-compensation / industrial-disputes terminology and lets the Act reach off-site events, business trips, client meetings and conferences.

'Employer' (clause (g)) is also wide — for government workplaces, it is the head of the unit; for private workplaces, it is the person responsible for management, supervision and control; for contracted workforce, it is the person discharging the contractual obligations; for domestic workers, it is the household head. So the duties under Section 19 attach across every employment configuration the Act recognises.

'Domestic worker' (clause (e)) and 'unorganised sector' (clause (p)) together direct domestic-worker complaints and small-enterprise (under 10 workers) complaints to the Local Committee under Section 6.

Defined terms

How the Act defines the words it uses

Aggrieved woman§2(a): Any woman of any age, whether employed or not, alleging sexual harassment by the respondent at a workplace; for dwelling places, a woman employed there.
Appropriate Government§2(b): Centre or State, depending on whether the workplace is established / owned / controlled / financed by Central or State funds; otherwise the State within whose territory the workplace falls.
Domestic worker§2(e): A woman employed for household work for remuneration in cash or kind, directly or through an agency, on any basis; excludes family members of the employer.
Employee§2(f): Any person — regular, temporary, ad hoc, daily wage, contractor, co-worker, probationer, trainee, apprentice, volunteer, intern — at a workplace, with or without remuneration.
Employer§2(g): (i) Head of the government unit; (ii) person responsible for management, supervision and control of a private workplace; (iii) contracting party for outsourced workers; (iv) household head for domestic workers.
Sexual harassment§2(n): Any one or more unwelcome acts (direct or implied): physical contact / advances; demand or request for sexual favours; sexually coloured remarks; showing pornography; any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.
Workplace§2(o): Government and private offices, NGOs, hospitals, sports venues; any place visited by the employee arising out of or during the course of employment, including employer-provided transport; dwellings (for domestic workers).
Unorganised sector§2(p): Enterprise owned by individuals / self-employed workers, engaged in production, sale or service, employing fewer than ten workers.

Visual

See how it flows

Old vs new

What 'workplace' covers under Section 2(o)

The definition extends well beyond the office floor — six categories cover virtually every work setting in India.

What this looks like in real life

Real-life scenario

Job interviewee harassed by interviewer

Setup. A woman attends a job interview at a private company. The interviewer makes a sexually-coloured remark about her appearance during the interview.

What the law does. She is an 'aggrieved woman' under Section 2(a)(i) — 'a woman of any age whether employed or not'. The interview room is a 'workplace' under Section 2(o)(ii). The conduct is sexual harassment under Section 2(n)(iii). She can complain to the company's Internal Committee even though she was never on its payroll.

Applies under Section 2(a)(i), 2(n)(iii), 2(o)(ii)

Real-life scenario

Domestic worker harassed by household head

Setup. A live-in domestic worker is harassed by the male head of the household.

What the law does. She is an 'aggrieved woman' under Section 2(a)(ii). The dwelling is a 'workplace' under Section 2(o)(vi). The household head is the 'employer' under Section 2(g)(iv). Since this is a private dwelling without an Internal Committee, she complains to the Local Committee under Section 6 — and the LC, on a prima facie case, forwards the complaint to the police under Section 11(1) for registration under Section 79 BNS, 2023 (formerly Section 509 IPC).

Applies under Section 2(a)(ii), 2(g)(iv), 2(o)(vi)

Real-life scenario

Outsourced support staff at a private bank

Setup. A woman employed by a security agency is deployed at a private bank's branch and is harassed by a bank manager.

What the law does. She is an 'employee' under Section 2(f) — the definition expressly includes contract workers and 'with or without the knowledge of the principal employer'. The bank is the workplace; the manager is the respondent. She files with the bank's Internal Committee, which has jurisdiction even though she is not on the bank's payroll.

Applies under Section 2(f), 2(o)(ii)

Frequently asked

Questions about Section 2

Open this section in the source PDF

Sexual Harassment at Workplace (POSH) Act, 2013.pdf

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