Who is an aggrieved party under the PoSH 2013 Act?
Under the The Sexual Harassment of women in the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 (commonly known as the PoSH Act), a woman doesn’t have to be an employee to claim protection under the Act. An aggrieved person can be a woman who can be a visitor, customer, client who feels she has been sexually harassed at any workplace.
Therefore it also means that a client or a customer simply visiting a workplace could also seek protection under the act. The act here tries to go a step further and give protection to women in the workplace, even if they were merely visiting. Hence protecting women who were not just customers, but women visiting the office premises for interviews, presentations or simply to pitch an idea. The legislation is thus provided for creating workplaces safer for women no matter whether they are employed or not.
Who is an employee under the Act?
The PoSH Act further also defines the term employee covering temporary, ad hoc employees, individuals engaged on a daily wage basis, either directly or through an agent, contract labourers, co-workers, probationers, trainees, and apprentices, with or without the knowledge of the principal employer, whether for remuneration or not, working on a voluntary basis or otherwise, whether the terms of employment are express or implied.
Thus to get a better understanding of the act, an employee gets a wider definition thus allowing protection to women who work in wider sectors. This was done with an aim to provide protection to both unorganized and organized sector.
