The HR committees an Indian company must have, and what each one has to do

Why these committees exist

Each committee gives employees a fair, known place to raise a problem, without having to go to the boss who may be the problem. The law makes them compulsory once a workplace is big enough that problems are likely.

They also protect you. If a complaint is handled by a committee that was set up properly, its decision is hard to challenge. If the committee was missing, or had the wrong people on it, the decision can be thrown out for that reason alone, however carefully it was made.

Which ones apply to you, by headcount

Count the people at each office or unit, not just the company total. A company with 40 people in Bengaluru and 8 in Pune is treated as two workplaces for some of these rules.

"Employees" means everyone on your rolls, including trainees, interns and people on contract. "Workers" is narrower. It is a term from the Labour Codes that generally leaves out managers and higher-paid supervisors. Confirm the count that applies to you with your labour consultant.

1. The POSH Internal Committee

This is the committee that hears complaints of sexual harassment at work. It is the most important one for small companies, because it starts at only 10 people and the penalty for not having it is real.

Who must have one

Every office, branch or unit with 10 or more employees. You count everyone, men and women, permanent and temporary. Below 10, complaints go to the Local Committee that the district sets up.

Who sits on it

• A presiding officer: a senior woman employee.
• At least two employee members: people who care about women's issues, or who have legal or social-work knowledge.
• One external member: someone from an NGO working on women's issues, or a person who knows the law on sexual harassment. This person is paid a fee for their time.
• At least half the members must be women. Members serve for up to three years.

How a complaint runs

1. The complaint is made in writing within 3 months of the incident. The committee can extend this by 3 more months if there was a good reason for the delay, and can help someone write it down.
2. The committee can try a settlement if the complainant asks for it. Money cannot be the basis of a settlement.
3. Otherwise it holds an inquiry, which must finish within 90 days.
4. It sends its report to the employer within 10 days of finishing.
5. The employer acts on the report within 60 days.

Everything about a complaint is confidential: the names, the evidence and the outcome. That includes keeping it away from the person's line manager.

What is mandatory every year

• A written order forming the committee, with the members' names.
• The POSH policy, the committee's names and contact details, and the penalties displayed at every office.
• At least one awareness session for staff, and training for the committee members.
• An annual report from the committee to the employer and the District Officer. Most companies send it by 31 January for the previous calendar year.
• A line on POSH compliance in the Directors' Report, if you are a company.
• Records of each complaint kept safely, with access limited to the committee.

Penalty: a fine of up to ₹50,000 for not forming the committee or not following the Act. A repeat can mean double the fine, and in some cases cancellation of the business licence.

In HR-VEND, the Harassment committee screen checks your committee against these rules, such as a senior woman presiding, half the members women and an external member. A POSH case in Cases carries the 90-day inquiry clock and stays visible only to the committee.

2. The Grievance Redressal Committee

This committee settles everyday complaints from workers: pay, leave, shift allocation, unfair treatment and similar matters. The idea is to resolve them inside the company before they turn into a formal dispute.

Who must have one

Any establishment with 20 or more workers. It is meant for workers, not managers. You can still give managers a written grievance process of their own.

Who sits on it

• Up to 10 members.
• Equal numbers chosen by the employer and by the workers.
• Women members in proportion to the number of women workers.
• The chairperson comes from the employer side and the worker side in turn, changing every year.

How it works

A worker raises the grievance, usually within a year of the problem. The committee should finish within 30 days. The worker can bring a colleague along. If they are not happy with the result, they can take it further under the Industrial Relations Code.

What is mandatory

• A written order forming the committee.
• The members' names displayed on the notice board.
• A record of each grievance and its outcome, which inspectors can ask to see.

3. The Works Committee

A Works Committee is a forum where management and workers meet regularly to keep good relations and sort out small issues early, such as canteen food, lighting, shift timing or safety gear.

It applies to an industrial establishment that has had 100 or more workers on any day in the past 12 months, when the government orders it. In practice this mostly affects factories and larger operations. It has an equal number of management and worker members, and the worker members are chosen by the workers.

If you have crossed 100 workers, ask your consultant whether your State has issued such an order. Many employers set one up anyway, because it is a cheap way to hear about problems early.

4. The Safety Committee and welfare committees

These mostly matter for factories, construction and other physical work.

• Safety Committee: required in larger factories, in factories with hazardous processes, and in other places your State notifies. It has equal management and worker members. It looks at accidents, near-misses and safety measures, and meets regularly.
• Canteen managing committee: where a large factory must run a canteen, State rules often ask for a committee with worker members to look after menus and prices.
• Safety officer and welfare officer: not committees, but larger factories must appoint them.

The headcounts for safety committees, canteens and these officers are set in each State's rules under the OSH Code, and they changed when the Codes came in. Check the current numbers for your State and your type of work with your consultant before you rely on them.

Any workplace accident still has to be recorded and reported on time, whatever your size. HR-VEND keeps an accident register with both reporting clocks.

5. The vigil mechanism

This is a safe way for employees and directors to report fraud, misconduct or unethical behaviour without fear of punishment. It is required under the Companies Act for:

• listed companies;
• companies that accept deposits from the public;
• companies that have borrowed more than ₹50 crore from banks or financial institutions.

It runs through the board's Audit Committee or, where there is none, a director chosen for it. The policy must say how to report, protect the person who reports, and allow direct access to the Audit Committee chair in serious cases. Smaller companies often adopt a simple version voluntarily.

Committees that are not HR's job

The Companies Act also requires board committees, such as the Audit Committee, the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the CSR Committee. They apply to larger companies and are run by the board and the company secretary, not by HR. You may be asked for headcount or pay data for them, but you do not set them up.

The checklist: what to do for every committee

Whatever the committee, the same few things make it hold up later.

• Check the trigger. Count heads per office every quarter, so you notice when you cross 10, 20 or 50.
• Put it in writing. A signed order with the date, the members' names and their roles.
• Get the make-up right. Check the mix of women, workers and external members the law asks for.
• Display it. Names and contacts on the notice board or intranet, in English and the local language.
• Train the members. A committee that does not know the procedure makes mistakes that void its decisions.
• Meet the deadlines. 90 days for a POSH inquiry, 30 days for a grievance, and the yearly POSH report.
• Keep records. Complaints, minutes and outcomes, stored safely with access limited to the people who need it.
• Refresh it. Replace members who leave, and re-form the POSH committee before the three-year term ends.
• Tell new joiners. Add the policies and the committee contacts to your onboarding checklist, and record that each person has read them.

HR-VEND keeps the required policies in one place, with a dated acknowledgement from each employee under My Policies. Its Policies screen also says which are mandatory and from what headcount each one applies.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information for Indian employers, not legal advice. Labour rules differ by State and change over time, and the State rules under the Labour Codes are still being notified. Confirm anything you act on with your labour law consultant.