- Engaging animated explainers
- Concise, voice-narrated slide content
- Hands-on, scenario-based interactions
- Practical, real-world workplace examples
- Regular quizzes to reinforce learning
- A final evaluation with certificate issuance
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- Understand the structure and removal process of an Internal Committee.
- State who can file a complaint and against whom it can be filed.
- List the timelines and procedure to be followed for inquiry and conciliation.
- State the guidelines for preparing an inquiry and actions report that the IC can recommend (in case the complaint is found to be either genuine or malicious).
- List the roles and responsibilities of the Internal Committee.
Why Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Committee Training?
Legal Compliance Requirement - Mandatory under the POSH Act, 2013
Any organisation with 10 or more employees must constitute an Internal Committee (IC) and ensure sexual harassment matters are addressed internally. The training helps organisations fulfil this statutory requirement, avoid procedural lapses, and demonstrate due diligence. Non-compliance can lead to heavy fines, and even cancellation of business licence.
Prevents Legal, Financial & Reputational Damage
Without proper training, IC members or management may mishandle complaints, miss timelines, or breach confidentiality. Since the law mandates timelines for complaint handling, inquiry closure, reporting and confidentiality, training helps protect the organisation from penalties and reputational fallout and demonstrate compliance.
Builds a Skilled & Legally Knowledgeable Internal Committee (IC)
IC members learn roles, responsibilities, how to handle the issue sensitively while encouraging the victim to file a complaint, inquiry powers similar to a civil court, conciliation procedures, report drafting and enquiry timelines. This enables fair, unbiased investigations and proper documentation something that is crucial in court scrutiny.
Supports Prevention, Not Just Response
POSH compliance is more than receiving complaints. The Internal Committee must also conduct awareness initiatives and preventive programs such as brown-bag meetings, Diversity and Inclusion activities, posters, communication drives, reducing incident occurrence.
Training Designed for Real-world Workplace Scenarios
The course goes beyond textbook definitions by including situations involving office premises, work-from-home settings, business travel, conferences, offsites, parties, WhatsApp, email and social media interactions, preparing employees for modern work environments, thereby raising awareness on all the different ways where employees could be subjected to sexual harassment.
Interactive, Engaging and Application-Focused Learning
Learners connect deeply through drag and drop activities, case examples, role-based scenarios, knowledge checks and assessments thus ensuring retention, behaviour change and practical understanding rather than passive viewing.
Fully Customisable for Your Organisation
Tailor the training with your POSH policy, IC details, escalation contacts, industry examples and brand theme, ensuring relevance, ownership and adoption across your workforce.
Assessment and Completion Certificate Included
Demonstrates that employees have been trained thereby supporting compliance records, audit trails and defending the organisation’s preparedness in case of legal proceedings.
Optimised for Global and Distributed Teams
Accessible anywhere, anytime, being mobile-friendly, LMS-ready, SCORM-compliant, with flexible rollout for hybrid or multi-location organisations.
Laws & Regulations Addressed in POSH Internal Committee Training
| Legislation / Concept | Relevance in the Course |
|---|---|
| Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (Law) - POSH Act | The course aligns with the POSH Act by covering in depth the roles and responsibilities of the IC Members, how to handle complaints, raise awareness, and prevent legal consequences. |
Course's Screenshots
Course Structure
Learning elements
Format & accessibility
The platform offers fully responsive design across desktop, tablet, and mobile, along with a learner dashboard, progress tracking, employee reminders, and seamless integration with your existing systems.
Target Audience
The course is tailored for all Internal Committee (IC) members.
Law provides that an organisation with ten or more employees must constitute an Internal Committee (IC), which can inquire into Complaints of Sexual Harassment within the organisation. The constitution of an IC is a legal compliance requirement under the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (Law). This is mandatory and if not complied shall attract heavy fines including cancellation of licence to do business.
Following are a few cases where organisations faced severe penalties for non-compliance:
- Madhya Pradesh State Women Commission vs. Medanta Hospital, Indore (circa 2018): The court penalised the hospital for not having a mandated Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) as required under the POSH Act. The hospital was fined ₹50,000 for the lack of ICC. In addition, the court directed the hospital to pay compensation of ₹25 lakhs to the complainant for failing to address her harassment complaint.
- S. Anita vs. ISG Novasoft Technologies Ltd.: In a landmark decision, the Madras High Court ordered the company to pay ₹1.68 crore in damages to a woman who faced sexual harassment at workplace sending a strong signal of heavy financial liability when courts find that organisations have failed to prevent or redress harassment. The case thus underscores the importance of POSH training.
Course Outline
Structure of the IC and Removal of Members
Handling Complaints
- Who can file a complaint
- Against whom can a Complaint be filed?
- What kind of complaints do IC members conduct an inquiry into?
Redressal Mechanism and the Timelines to be followed by IC as per Law
- Complaint
- Response
- Inquiry
Procedures for Conciliation and Inquiry
Jurisdiction of IC
- The Four Criteria: People, Place, Purpose and Time
- Scenarios: Explaining the application of the four criteria to check if they fall under the IC’s jurisdiction
- Principles of Natural Justice
- Anonymous Complaint
- Undocumented Complaint and Suo Moto Inquiry
- Unidentified Respondent
- Personal Relationships
Sexual Connotation in Harassment and Discrimination
- Definition of Sexual Harassment
- What is Not Sexual Harassment?
- Why Shouldn’t IC Accept Discrimination Complaints?
- What should IC do?
Principles of Natural Justice
- What are Principles of Natural Justice?
- “No one should be a judge in his own case”
- Pecuniary Bias
- Personal Bias
- Subject Matter Bias
- “Let the other side be heard as well.”
- Case Study
Inquiry Process
Conducting Virtual Inquiries
Creating a Harassment-Free Workplace
- On receipt of a complaint
- While interviewing
- Post Inquiry
Annual Report Filing
Total Duration: 110 Mins
FAQs
Law provides that an organisation with ten or more employees must constitute an Internal Committee (IC), which can inquire into Complaints of Sexual Harassment within the organisation. Sexual Harassment at the workplace is a very sensitive issue and needs to be handled with care, patience and understanding. As an organisation, it is important to provide a harmonious and harassment-free workplace for all employees and also, the constitution of an IC is a legal compliance requirement under the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (Law). This is mandatory and if not complied shall attract heavy fines including cancellation of licence to do business.
This training, therefore, has been developed for the IC members to equip them with necessary skills so that they are able to handle a complaint of sexual harassment effectively and create a harassment-free workplace.
It is a complete training solution that equips Internal Committee members with the knowledge and skills required under the POSH Act. The program includes eLearning modules and resources to help organisations stay compliant.
IC members, HR and People Ops teams, External Members, and anyone involved in POSH compliance or inquiry processes within an organization.
The program also provides access to practical resources such as policy templates, drafting tools, posters, district officer contact lists, and additional compliance materials.
The eLearning module is approximately 110 minutes. New micro-modules and legal updates are periodically added.
Under the POSH Act, any organisation with 10 or more employees is legally required to constitute an IC.
An Internal Committee (IC) is constituted by the employer, and has the following people as the members:
- Presiding Officer, who heads the committee.
- At least two Members from amongst employees.
- At least One external member from amongst non-governmental organisations or associations.
The Presiding officer is a woman employee at a senior level at the workplace.
Members from amongst employees should preferably be committed to the cause of women or have experience in social work or possess legal knowledge.
The external member needs to be committed to the cause of women, or someone familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment and must be independent and unrelated to the organisation.
Yes, IC must accept complaints from employees, interns, contract workers, and others working in the organisation.
The respondent may submit evidence, present their case, and cross-examine witnesses during inquiry.
The IC submits a final report with recommendations to the employer. The employer must act within 60 days.
Disciplinary action against the respondent, compensation to the complainant, or preventive measures based on findings.
Yes, the IC is required to maintain complete confidentiality when it comes to the identity of the complainant, respondent, and witnesses.
If proven malicious after inquiry, IC may recommend action against the complainant. The good faith complaints are protected.
External IC member provides independent oversight, expertise, and ensure neutrality during cases.
An annual report is a compulsory report that summarises complaints received, resolved, pending cases and preventive efforts. It must be submitted to the District Officer annually to mainatain compliance.
The delivery is fully flexible. If you have an in-house LMS, we can provide the course as a SCORM-compliant package. If not, we offer a seamless SaaS-based hosting option for easy access and deployment.
SucceedLEARN is a product of Succeed Technologies®, a dynamic organization that aims to revolutionize how people learn online and simplify Compliance eLearning for organizations across the globe.