CHAPTER: 1 INTRODUCTION

Business ethics are the guidelines a company uses when interacting with entities inside and

outside the company. It is a conscious effort to treat people and companies with respect and

establish a positive working environment. The effects of ethical practices in business can benefit

a company financially and they can also help a company gain the elements it needs to grow.

A business is seen as a single entity by its vendors, the community, its employees and other

corporations. The actions of the company, and not the actions of any single individual, dictate

how the company is perceived by others. A code of ethics ensures that the company presents a

unified image and maintains a standardized positive image among all of the internal and external

elements it will come into contact with.

Business Relationships

A company's ethical business practices give the organization a positive professional reputation

among vendors, clients and potential business partners. Good business ethics can help create

strong business relationships that result in lower product costs, repeat business from customers

and sources of financing for company growth. Maintaining good ethics sustains these strong

business relationships for the benefit of the company and its business contacts.

Turnover

Employee turnover can be damaging to a small business. A company comes to rely on the staff it

has in place, and having to train new employees due to staff turnover can become expensive and

disrupt growth. The ethical treatment of employees is a key element in retaining employees and

reducing the effects of turnover.

Legal Issues

Sexual harassment, discrimination and hazardous working conditions are regulated by state and

federal governments. A company that violates employment laws and standards can find itself

facing fines, lawsuits and injunctions that can cause work to stop. A company's ethical practices

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include developing strict guidelines for adhering to employment laws and avoiding the problems

that violating these laws can create.

CHAPTER: 2 SEXUAL HARRASMENT AT WORKPLACE

2.1 OVERVIEW

The typically men oriented workplace has been replaced by a large number of women getting

employment in every possible field of work. This has given rise to a number of issues that affect

the integrity of the women and also have an impact on the physical, mental and social well being

of the women. In its different forms, sexual harassment is still a part of the workplace

irrespective of the fact that it is reported or not. Women generally do not speak of any act of

sexual harassment committed to them. But this is not a trivial issue to be lightly dealt with. Any

act of sexual harassment can leave a woman with physical, mental and emotional problems that

would have a deep impact on her future life.

The issue of sexual harassment has to be given a serious thought and people’s participation

should be encouraged to make every workplace safer and healthier. Gender equality includes

protection from sexual harassment and right to work with dignity, which is a universally

recognized basic human right. The issue is not just confined to the empowerment of the women

but this issue is related to the basic human rights of the women to work in a safe and secure work

environment being treated equally with the men and no fear of being a subject of sexual

harassment at the hands of the male counterparts in the workplace.

2.2 CONCEPT OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The Supreme Court of India in Vishakha case defined the term sexual harassment to include

such unwelcome sexually determined behavior as physical contacts and advances, sexually

coloured remarks, showing pornography and sexual demands, whether by words or actions.

Such conduct can be humiliating and may constitute a health and safety problem; it is

discriminatory when the woman has reasonable grounds to believe that her objection would

disadvantage her in connection with her employment, including recruiting or promotion, or

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when it creates a hostile working environment.

When a woman has reasonable grounds to believe that her objection would be

disadvantageous to her with respect to her employment or working conditions it amounts to

discrimination of the woman on the basis of her sex.

2.3 CONCEPT OF WORKPLACE

A workplace is any place where working relationships between employer and employee(s)

exist. Thus the definition of workplace does not confine it to the four walls of the office but

goes beyond the physical premises of the office. This concept of workplace extending beyond

the premises of the office building is also applicable if a woman is conducting her duties in

the premises of another organization.

CHAPTER: 3 LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF SEXUAL HARRASMENT AT

WORKPLACE

Sexual harassment is considered as a violation of the fundamental right of a woman to equality

as guaranteed under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India ("Constitution") and her

right to life and to live with dignity as per Article 21 of the Constitution. It has also been

considered as a violation of a right to practice or to carry out any occupation, trade or business

under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, which includes a right to a safe environment free from

harassment.

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS :

The message of international instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of

All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979 (.CEDAW.) and the Beijing

Declaration which directs all State parties to take appropriate measures to prevent

discrimination of all forms against women besides taking steps to protect the honour and

dignity of women is loud and clear. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights contains several provisions particularly important for women.

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Article 7 recognizes her right to fair conditions of work and reflects that women shall not be

subjected to sexual harassment at the place of work which may vitiate working environment.

These international instruments cast an obligation on the Indian State to gender sensitize its laws

and the Courts are under an obligation to see that the message of the international instruments is

not allowed to be drowned. The Courts are under an obligation to give due regard to

International Conventions and Norms for construing domestic laws more so when there is no

inconsistency between them and there is a void in domestic law.

PROTECTION UNDER INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860

In absence of any specific law to deal with the offence of sexual harassment, the Indian Penal

Code, 1860 is used to punish the offender with respect to the nature of the act committed by

him. The following sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860 are cover acts of sexual harassment:

Sections 209, 292 and 294 which deal with Obscenity

Section 354 deal with Criminal Force or Assault Intended to Outrage Modesty

Section 375 deals with the offence of Rape

Section 509 deals with Word, Gesture or Act Intended to Outrage Modesty of women

INDECENT REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN (Prohibition) ACT, 1987

If an individual harasses another with books, photographs, paintings, films, pamphlets,

packages, etc. containing "indecent representation of women"; he is liable for a minimum

sentence of 2 years under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1987.

Section 7 of the Act makes the companies liable where there has been "indecent representation

of women" (such as the display of pornography) on the premises

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and

Redressal) Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual

harassment at their place of work.

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Major Features

Internal Complaints Committee and Local Complaints Committee : The Sexual

Harassment Act requires an employer to set up an 'Internal Complaints Committee' ("ICC") at

each office or branch, of an organization employing at least 10 employees. The government is in

turn required to set up a 'Local Complaints Committees' ("LCC") at the district level to

investigate complaints regarding sexual harassment from establishments where the ICC has not

been constituted on account of the establishment having less than 10 employees or if the

complaint is against the employer. The Sexual Harassment Act also sets out the constitution of

the committees, process to be followed for making a complaint and inquiring into the complaint

in a time bound manner.

Interim Reliefs : The Sexual Harassment Act empowers the ICC and the LCC to recommend

to the employer, at the request of the aggrieved employee, interim measures such as (i) transfer

of the aggrieved woman or the respondent to any other workplace; or (ii) granting leave to the

aggrieved woman up to a period of 3 months in addition to her regular statutory/ contractual

leave entitlement.

Process for Complaint and Inquiry : Please refer to the following flowchart which provides,

in brief, the process to be followed by the aggrieved employee to make the complaint and by the

employer to inquire into the complaint. The law allows female employees to request for

conciliation in order to settle the matter although a monetary settlement should not be made as a

basis of conciliation.

Guidelines of vishakha case:

The landmark judgment that dealt with sexual harassment at workplace was that of

Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan. In this case a social activist, Bhanwari Devi was alleged to

be brutally gang raped in the village of Rajasthan. In this case the Court said that the

incident revealed the hazards to which a working woman may be exposed and the

depravity to which sexual harassment can degenerate; and the urgency for safeguards by

an alternative mechanism in the absence of legislative measures. In the absence of

legislative measures, the need is to find an effective alternative mechanism to fulfill this

felt and urgent social need. Thus for the effective enforcement of the basic human right of

gender equality and guarantee against sexual harassment and abuse, more particularly

against sexual harassment at work places, the Court in exercise of its power under Article

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32 of the Constitution laid down the guidelines and norms specified hereinafter for due

observance at all work places or other institutions.

1. Duty of the Employer or other responsible persons in work places and other institutions

2. Definitions: Sexual Harassment

3. Preventive Step

4. Criminal Proceedings

5. Disciplinary Action

6. Complaint Mechanism:

7. Complaints Committee:

8. Workers Initiative

9. Third Party Harassment

10. Awareness

The Court directed that the above guidelines and norms would be strictly observed in all work

places for the preservation and enforcement of the right to gender equality of the working

women. These directions would be binding and enforceable in law until suitable legislation is

enacted to occupy the field. These guidelines apply to both organized and unorganized work

sectors and to all women whether working part time, on contract or in voluntary/honorary

capacity.

CHAPTER 3: Ethical Implications of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

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Responsibility and Reporting

An employer has the responsibility of preventing workplace sexual harassment and taking action before it happens. Employers accomplish this by establishing sexual harassment and reporting policies. If an employer fulfills this obligation, he may not be liable if harassment occurs. However, some states such as California require an employer to take responsibility of harassment acts by his managers. Yet, a victim of sexual harassment often face the dilemma of reporting and risk losing her job or not reporting and to be accused of condoning the acts.

Work Environment

The acts of one perpetrator of sexual harassment can create sexually hostile environment. This means that both female and male employees will be wary of losing their jobs unless they give in to sexual advances by employers or managers. Employees who perpetrate sexual harassment against others also put indirect pressure on others to either leave the job, to report their acts or to tolerate these acts. Adverse sexual harassment such as discrimination and sexual favoritism can demoralize otherwise hardworking employees

Reduction in productivity and Profit : A health and safe working environment is extremely important for the productivity and profit for an institution. But in case of working environment with risk of sexual harassment, employees will be worried and have to find their own solutions.

Damage to Reputation: Public trust and reputation in such institution might be destroyed especially industries requiring standard of professional ethics.

Loss of Skilled Employes: sexual Harassment can result in skilled employees or those trained by such institution leaving their jobs due to its serious impacts.

Increase of Costs: Institutions must pay expenses related to sexual harassment including lawsuits and additional recruitment and training costs. The more sexual harassment cases appear, the higher relative costs are.

CHAPTER: 4 CASE STUDY ON TEHELKA

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Tehelka's founder-editor Tarun Tejpal is in the news for molesting a young female employee of

the organization. The incident happened in Goa nearly a fortnight back, during Tehelka's Think

2013 event. The female employee who was molested by Tejpal didn't file a police report because

she cared about Tehelka as an institution. Tejpal admitted to the crime in a letter to Shoma

Chaudhary, calling it a "lapse of judgement" and saying he needed to "atone" for it by resigning

himself from his position for a period of six months. Tejpal's admission of guilt however, has not

moved the victim or her friends. They aren't happy that it took the organization three days to

institute an enquiry into the crime. In her email to Shoma Chaudhary, the female employee said

she was assaulted by Tarun Tejpal on two occasions and that it took her time to process the

reality of the situation as she had respected and admired him. Tarun Tejpal first accosted the

young woman on November 7, the very first evening of the Think 2013 event, when she was in

charge of taking care of Hollywood star Robert de Niro and his daughter. The young woman told

her friends that after Tejpal molested her in the elevator, he told her that it was the "easiest way

for her to keep her job". One of the young woman's friends says he stalked her and threatened to

sack her if she didn't accept the proposal. The woman caught a taxi and returned to her hotel

before telling three of her friends about what happened. The next day, Tejpal asked her to

accompany him to Robert de Niro's room on some pretext. When he found her hesitant to get

into the elevator with him, he dragged her inside and molested her again. She escaped Tejpal and

immediately told her friends that Tejpal had molested her again. She also told Tejpal's daughter,

who was her friend, about it. Later the woman found that Tejpal's daughter had shouted at him.

Tejpal told the young woman that she had made a mistake telling his daughter about it. In her

letter to Shoma Chaudhary, the young woman said that the incident had been traumatic and

terrifying for her and demanded that Tehelka institute a sexual harassment cell immediately. She

also demanded a written apology from Tarun Tejpal and an acknowledgment of the same

circulated across the organization. Tarun Tejpal's letter to Shoma Chaudhary said he had

unconditionally apologized to the young woman but he felt "impelled to atone further". Tehelka

has termed the incident an "internal matter" and Shoma Chaudhary has even told one newspaper

that Tehelka is not setting up any enquiry into the matter. Irrespective of the conclusions based

on the outcome of various ethics theories, there seems to be one universal fact. It is that

journalists everywhere play a vital role in providing the public with knowledge and

understanding and must remain sensitive to issues such as fairness and accuracy. Reporters

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continuously need to ask ethical questions throughout different stages of their investigations and

be ready to justify their decisions to editors, colleagues, and the public. Usually, the ethical way

of accomplishing tasks is tougher, but all reporters should be willing to confront such a

challenge. Even though the methods adopted by Tehelka's team could be challenged using some

ethics theories, they have forced people to debate and discuss ethics in media in India, probably

for the first time-which is a good development indeed.

CHAPTER: 5 Strategies and Recommendation for Prevention

There are a number of steps that you can take to reduce the risk of sexual harassment occurring in your workplace. Although you may not be able to take all of the steps listed below, you should take as many of them as you can.

Adopt a clear sexual harassment policy. In your employee handbook, you should have a policy devoted to sexual harassment. That policy should:

o define sexual harassmento state in no uncertain terms that you will not tolerate sexual harassmento state that you will discipline or fire any wrongdoerso set out a clear procedure for filing sexual harassment complaintso state that you will investigate fully any complaint that you receive, ando state that you will not tolerate retaliation against anyone who complains about sexual

harassment.

Train employees. At least once a year, conduct training sessions for employees. These sessions should teach employees what sexual harassment is, explain that employees have a right to a workplace free of sexual harassment, review your complaint procedure, and encourage employees to use it.

Train supervisors and managers. At least once a year, conduct training sessions for supervisors and managers that are separate from the employee sessions. The sessions should educate the managers and supervisors about sexual harassment and explain how to deal with complaints.

Women in executive leadership roles are positioned to reduce sex discrimination to reduce till certain extent sexual harassment problem. Enterprises where sexual harassment continuously take place bear direct and indirect consequences, including a reduction in productivity and profit, damages their own reputation, negative impacts on business relationships, loss of human resources and increase in the running costs of such enterprise.

VARIOUS RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Show stern resentment: When a woman finds the act of any man in her workplace to be offensive she must be clear and strong in her resentment. She should clearly let the other person know that his act is offensive and would not be tolerated.

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2. Speak out: The woman should discuss the issue preferably with her colleagues or some other person so that the act does not go unnoticed. This would make the offender more cautious before doing any derogatory act. Talking about the issue would encourage taking of effective steps to control the act at the initial stage itself.

3. Keep Records: A track record of the happenings should be kept in a document with the date, time and an account of the incident.

4. Report the Complaint: The woman should make a formal complaint to the senior officials regarding the incident. If there is a proper complaint mechanism, the complaint should be made to the designated person and the procedure prescribed therein must be followed to report the incident of sexual harassment. If there is no such policy in the organization, the woman must report the incident to the employer or some senior official f the organization.

5. Say no to situations one fears of bringing in the risk: A woman should clearly say no when you are asked to go places, do things, and respond to questions, or engage in situations that make her uncomfortable. She should not ignore the warnings given by other persons about particular people or social settings.

6. Get oneself medically checked: In case of rape or physical assault the woman should go for a medical check-up and get a medical report.

7. File a police complaint: The woman who has undergone the trauma of being sexually harassed must file a police complaint so that the acts of the culprit should not go unpunished.

8. File a complaint with a women commission: A woman can also file a complaint with the complaints and investigation cell of the women commission that would ensure that the investigations by the police are expedited and monitored. In case the act is serious, the Commission constitutes an Inquiry Committee which makes spot enquiries, examines various witnesses, collects evidence and submits the report with recommendations. Such investigations help in providing immediate relief and justice to the victims of violence and atrocities.

CHAPTER: 6 CONCLUSION

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The issues related to sexual harassment are very sensitive and require an understanding, assessment, and commitment to redress the grievance and to make sure that an appropriate mechanism is formulated to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. It has been found that more than 75% of departments had not set-up a Complaints Committee and not formed any policy against sexual harassment. Most of the organizations have failed to make their female employees aware of any such existing policies or the remedial measures that they have against any such unwanted behaviors. Another lacuna which is existing in Indian laws is the sexual harassment laws are only protecting women but what about protection of men as they are also exploited at workplace. In US already stringent laws are made to curb down workplace bullying.

Organizations have a legal and ethical obligation to eliminate and prevent sexual harassment, which can occur at all levels in an organization. Management should take positive steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. There are several positive steps to prevent sexual harassment that managers can take to maintain a positive work environment. Eg. Establish a No Tolerance Policy, widely disseminate the Policy, Make it Easy for Employees to file complaints, investigate complaints Promptly and Objectively and lastly take appropriate remedial action to prevent a reoccurrence.

Sexual Harassment has a negative effect on worker’s job performance and longevity of employment. Effect includes loss of confidence in superiors, deteriorating relationship with colleagues, less productivity, organizational withdrawal, increased absenteeism increased labour turnover. All this factors will lead to monetary loss of business organization.

The types of psychological symptoms experienced by victim of sexual harassment are depression, guilt, humiliation, social isolation, embarrassment, anxiety, nauseas, illness, anger and fear.

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