POSH Annual Report — What Employers Must Submit and When

Under the POSH Act, every employer must submit an annual report to the district officer by January 31 each year. The report must include the number of complaints received during the year, the number disposed of, the number of cases pending, and the number of workshops or awareness programmes conducted.

The POSH annual report must be submitted to the District Officer appointed under the POSH Act. In most states this is the District Collector or an officer designated by the state government. Some states have online portals for submission.

Failure to submit the annual POSH report is a violation of the Act and can attract penalties including fines and cancellation of business registration or licence. During labour inspections, non-submission of the annual report is treated as evidence of non-compliance with the POSH Act.

The annual POSH report must include: number of complaints received of sexual harassment, number of complaints disposed of, number of cases pending for more than 90 days, number of workshops and awareness programmes conducted, and nature of action taken by the employer.

Yes. The POSH Act covers the workplace which includes any place visited by an employee during the course of employment including remote work locations, client sites, and virtual workspaces. With the rise of remote work, courts have interpreted the definition of workplace broadly to include home offices for the purposes of POSH compliance.