CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POSH ACT, 2013 IN THE UNORGANISED SECTOR: A CRITICAL STUDY

ABSTRACT

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH Act”) represents a major legislative response to the constitutional and human-rights imperative that women should be able to work with equality, dignity and security. Its most ambitious feature is its application beyond conventional employment relationships. By creating district-level Local Committees (“LCs”), the Act attempts to extend protection to women working in small establishments, domestic work, construction, agriculture, street-based occupations and other forms of informal labour. Yet the legal architecture is substantially stronger than its implementation in the unorganised sector. The central problem is not simply under-reporting; it is an institutional design mismatch between a centralised, document-heavy adjudicatory model and a labour market characterised by mobility, informality, multiple employers, economic dependence and weak state presence. This paper argues that the implementation gap should be understood as a problem of “institutional distance”: the woman most exposed to harassment is often physically, socially and economically farthest from the institution legally authorised to receive her complaint. The paper examines the statutory framework, constitutional foundations and judicial developments. The paper concludes that meaningful implementation requires moving from committee-centric compliance to worker-centred access to justice.

Keywords: POSH Act; unorganised sector; Local Committee; sexual harassment; informal women workers; migrant workers; labour rights; access to justice; gender equality.

Authored by Santosh Kumar, Ph.D. Scholar (PU)| Department of Law, Patna University, available at: advsantosh1410@gmail.com.

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Publication date and year: 17 August 2026

Preferred Citation: Santosh Kumar, CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POSH ACT, 2013 IN THE UNORGANISED SECTOR: A CRITICAL STUDY, Journal of Unique Laws an Students ISSN:2583-1607, pg. 59 to 59 Vol. III-II, (2026).