New Delhi, September 3, 2026: A new research initiative by POSH at Work, the workplace sexual-harassment practice of The Legal Swan, has highlighted significant gaps between the existence of sexual-harassment policies in Indian workplaces and their effective understanding and implementation.
The findings come from two reports — The Quiet Crisis, based on an analysis of 103 workplace sexual-harassment complaints handled by The Legal Swan in 2025, and The Silent Gap, based on responses from 6,353 participants, including employees, students, managers, Internal Committee (IC) members and trainers.
The research presents a picture in which workplace sexual harassment is increasingly not confined to the traditional office environment. According to the complaint analysis, 90.20% of the complaints involved hostile-work-environment harassment, rather than the more commonly understood quid-pro-quo form involving an explicit exchange of employment benefits for sexual favours.
Harassment increasingly extends beyond office premises
One of the most significant findings concerns where incidents occur.
Only 31.07% of the complaints analysed by The Legal Swan involved incidents confined to physical office premises. In contrast, 43.69% involved extended workplace settings, including offsites, business travel, hotels and after-hours gatherings. Another 25.24% involved both traditional and extended workplace settings.
The findings are significant because India’s POSH legislation defines “workplace” more broadly than simply the employer’s office. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 includes places visited by an employee arising out of or during employment, as well as employer-provided transportation, within the statutory definition of workplace.
The research therefore underscores a growing challenge for employers: workplace safety obligations cannot be viewed solely through the lens of what happens inside an office building.
Awareness does not necessarily mean understanding
The second Legal Swan report points to a different but closely connected problem — employees may have heard of POSH without actually understanding what constitutes sexual harassment or how the complaint mechanism works.
Nearly one in four employees — 24.86% — said they were unaware that their organisation had a POSH policy, despite the statutory requirement for employers to disseminate information about the law and related policies.
The research also found that 38.45% of employees did not recognise abusive or vulgar language at the workplace as a form of sexual harassment. This suggests that formal training or the existence of a policy does not automatically translate into an employee’s ability to identify inappropriate conduct.
Under the POSH Act, sexual harassment includes unwelcome physical contact or advances, demands or requests for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography and other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature. The law also recognises circumstances such as threats to employment, interference with work and the creation of an intimidating, offensive or hostile work environment.
Confidentiality emerges as another major weakness
The research also raises concerns about confidentiality during POSH proceedings.
According to the survey, 54.27% of employees and 41.14% of managers said they would discuss an ongoing POSH complaint with colleagues. Such disclosures can undermine the confidentiality expected during workplace sexual-harassment proceedings.
The findings are particularly relevant because POSH proceedings are intended to provide a structured mechanism for addressing allegations while protecting the interests and dignity of the parties involved.
The survey further found that 53.95% of managers believed that a respondent should be terminated immediately if direct evidence implicating the person existed. The finding points to another training gap: workplace decision-makers may understand the seriousness of harassment but not necessarily understand the procedural safeguards and principles governing an internal inquiry.
Nearly half of analysed respondents found guilty
The complaint analysis found that 48.04% of the cases resulted in a finding of sexual harassment against the respondent. Meanwhile, 5.88% of the complaints were determined to be false and malicious.
These figures should not be interpreted as a national prevalence rate. The dataset consists of 103 complaints handled by The Legal Swan in 2025, and therefore reflects the complaints that came within its professional caseload rather than all workplace-harassment incidents across India.
That distinction is important in assessing the research: its value lies principally in identifying patterns in reported complaints and gaps in workplace understanding, rather than estimating the overall incidence of sexual harassment in India’s workforce.
Law exists, but implementation remains the challenge
India’s POSH Act, enacted in 2013, places significant responsibilities on employers. The law requires workplaces to take measures to prevent sexual harassment and provides for Internal Committees to inquire into complaints.
The legislation also places an emphasis on creating a safe working environment. The Legal Swan itself notes that organisations with 10 or more employees are subject to key POSH compliance requirements.
The research arrives at a time when POSH compliance is receiving renewed regulatory attention. In June 2026, the National Commission for Women was reported to have called for stronger monitoring and annual POSH audits, reflecting concerns that compliance should move beyond the creation of committees and policies towards effective implementation.
The broader regulatory direction is also toward greater corporate disclosure. In 2025, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs amended reporting requirements for listed companies to include information relating to sexual-harassment complaints received and disposed of during the year.
From compliance to workplace culture
The Legal Swan’s findings ultimately point to a distinction between formal compliance and substantive workplace safety.
An organisation may have a POSH policy, an Internal Committee and periodic training, yet employees may still be unaware of the policy, managers may misunderstand the inquiry process, and colleagues may fail to appreciate confidentiality obligations.
The research’s central message is therefore less about the absence of a legal framework and more about the gap between having the framework and making it work.
Shivangi Prasad, Founder of The Legal Swan, described the findings by saying that POSH compliance in India is “wide but not yet deep”, arguing that the objective should be prevention rather than merely resolving complaints after harm has occurred.
The findings suggest that the next phase of POSH implementation in India will have to focus not merely on whether organisations have complied with the law on paper, but on whether employees understand their rights, managers understand their responsibilities, Internal Committees can conduct fair inquiries, and organisations are capable of creating workplaces where inappropriate conduct is identified and addressed before it becomes entrenched.
The research reports:The Quiet Crisis and The Silent Gap, published by POSH at Work by The Legal Swan.
