Vishal Kedia, Founder & Director, ComplyKaro throws light on the problem of sexual harassment in healthcare and emphasises that it is essential to comply with the The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 to address this issue
Healthcare has emerged as one of the largest service sectors in India that employs approximately 1.25 million women or about 1.1 per cent of all working women. At the same time, the problem of sexual harassment of women at the workplace has assumed serious proportions, with a meteoric rise in the number of cases. Surprisingly, however, in most cases women do not report the matter to the concerned authorities.
The government enacted The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 on December 9, 2013, but unfortunately most organisations do not seem to be aware of it. This unawareness and ignorance can no longer continue as all organisations are now required to comply with this Act whether they have women employees or not.
In a study “Sexual Harassment at Work Place: Experiences of Women in the Health Sector”, conducted by a researcher, Paramita Chaudhuri, sexual harassment in hospitals, of women doctors and nurses, seem to have become a common practice in India. What’s worse, most of the employees have not heard of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) for redressing their grievances. Further, they can be sexually harassed by not only their co-workers but also by patients and their relatives and even employees of service providers like technicians of medical equipment etc.
There have also been instances wherein ward boys and doctors have sexually harassed patients, their relatives or visitors to hospitals and medical facilities. In all such instances, the sexually harassed woman has a right to make a sexual harassment complaint to the ICC for redressal since the accused is one of its employees. In case of organisations dealing with medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine and health insurance, their employees interact with a lot of women during their sales and/or operation outcalls. If there is occurrence of any untoward incident during such interactions even outside the organisation’s premises, such organisations are responsible for providing redressal mechanism in the form of ICC to such victims.
Failure to comply with the law could lead to hefty penalties, imprisonment and even closure of business. The law is crystal clear and non-compliance of this law can invite trouble for the management to the extent of facing charges of abatement of the crime and facing criminal prosecution.
Further compliance with the said act needs to be mentioned in the Annual Report to be filed by organisations. Instances when no such annual report needs to be prepared, organisations have to file a report with the District Officer each year. The law provides for penalty up to Rs 50,000 for such non disclosure and double the penalty and closure of business on successive defaults. In the report to be submitted to the organisation and the District Officer each year, the ICC has to disclose the training sensitisation programmes arranged by organisation(s) during the year amongst other facts.
Organisations with ten employees or more need to have a written sexual harassment policy in place. The policy should be made known to all personnel and affirm that the organisation will not tolerate sexual harassment, and will take disciplinary action when such harassment is discovered. It is imperative that the reduction of sexual harassment in healthcare is important because it is a major social issue.
In organisations employing 10 or more workers as a whole, the organisation has to mandatorily constitute an ICC at each location to redress grievances. The committee is headed by a Senior Woman employee apart from two other employee members and an external representative who may be an NGO member or an advocate. Minimum 50 per cent of the said members must be women.
In case of organisations that employ up to nine workers or where the complaint is against the senior management/business owners, such complaints are heard and decided by the Local Complaints Committee (LCC) constituted in each District by the local authorities. Hence a redressal forum has been provided with respect to every organisation, big or small.
All employees of the organisation must necessarily undergo sensitisation training each year as the entire emphasis of the law is prevention of instances of sexual harassment. Even the ICC members need to undergo skill building training as they are a fact finding body which needs to adhere to principles of natural justice with powers of the Civil Court whilst hearing and deciding the complaint(s). Further recommendations of the ICC are challengeable before the Industrial Tribunal. Setting up a mechanism does not mean that there is sexual harassment in your workplace. Prevention is better than cure, and being pro-active always helps. Along with performance, change in employees’ behaviour patterns also deserves employer’s close scrutiny.
The act complained about must be unwelcome to the aggrieved woman. Hence, what may be sexual harassment in a normal situation may not be construed as sexual harassment in a consensual and romantic relationship. By the compliance of the mentioned law the management of organisations can shield themselves from any legal consequences and ensure that prompt remedial action is taken against the perpetrator i.e. accused in case of genuine complaints and the complainant in case of false and malicious complaints.
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