A Sexual Harassment Disclosure Reaches HR: What Should Happen in the First 24 Hours?

The first HR response to a sexual harassment disclosure should make it easier for the person to obtain support and reach the appropriate process. It should not become an unofficial inquiry into whether the allegation is believable.

This guide proposes a first-day receiving and handover protocol for HR professionals in Indian workplaces. The 24-hour frame is an operational recommendation, not a statutory deadline. Urgent safety concerns should be addressed immediately, not saved for the end of that period.

The steps below are practitioner recommendations unless a statutory provision is expressly identified. Their purpose is to organise the receiving work while preserving the committee’s role and the rights of everyone involved.

Start with immediate needs, not a detailed interrogation

Arrange a private conversation or a safe way to continue it. Ask whether the person faces an immediate threat, needs urgent medical assistance or has a work interaction they are concerned about. Establish which contact method is safe to use.

Listen without requiring a polished chronology. Avoid questions that imply blame, such as why the person stayed in a meeting or did not report sooner. Do not promise dismissal, a particular finding or absolute secrecy.

A suggested acknowledgement is: “Thank you for telling me. I can explain the available process and help you reach the appropriate person. Before we discuss details, is there an immediate safety concern? I will explain who may need information and why.”

This is suggested wording, not a statutory script. Section 19 of the PoSH Act includes the employer’s duty to provide a safe working environment and facilities for the committee’s work.[7]

Clarify what has reached HR

Distinguish a request for information, an oral disclosure, a written complaint and a report from someone who is not the affected person. Record that distinction without using it to turn someone away.

Section 9 provides for a written complaint and requires designated committee office-holders or members to assist a woman who cannot make it in writing.[7] Help her access that assistance; do not make HR’s rewriting or approval a condition of referral.

If she wants information but is not ready to complain, explain the route and offer a follow-up. Do not present “informal” as meaning that the organisation can ignore a safety risk. Equally, do not promise that every disclosure will automatically trigger a statutory inquiry. Identify any separate safeguarding or reporting obligation through appropriate advice.

Record relevant dates as reported. Do not tell someone that speaking to HR necessarily completes filing with the competent committee or pauses a legal time limit. Leave questions about limitation and jurisdiction to the appropriate process rather than an intake judgement.

Identify the right recipient and confirm the handover

Check the current committee order and contact details. Do not forward the disclosure to an old distribution list merely because it appeared in last year’s policy.

The Internal Committee is not the recipient in every situation. Section 6 assigns the Local Committee complaints from establishments without an IC because they have fewer than ten workers, and complaints against the employer himself.[7] A senior job title alone should not substitute for checking who is the employer under the Act.

Where the route is uncertain, obtain focused advice promptly. Avoid repeatedly asking the person to recount the incident while departments debate ownership. Explain what is being checked and when you will update them.

For a handover, record the recipient, date, material transferred and acknowledgement. Ask the recipient to confirm receipt. An email in HR’s sent folder is not a good operational test of whether the next person has taken responsibility.

Ungender’s guide to handling a first Internal Committee case addresses the committee’s subsequent process readiness.[5] This first-day protocol concerns the receiving work before and around that handover.

Preserve relevant material without investigating it yourself

Ask what relevant material already exists and where it is held. Preserve the original disclosure and attachments. If notes are necessary, distinguish the person’s account from HR’s observations and let them correct inaccuracies in the account attributed to them.

Hypothetical example: An employee describes an incident near an office entrance and says a colleague may have witnessed it. HR identifies that relevant CCTV may soon be overwritten. The appropriate authorised custodian can preserve the limited time window without HR interviewing the colleague or circulating the footage to leadership.

Document what was preserved, by whom and where. Restrict the request to relevant material. Preservation is not permission to search someone’s entire phone, collect unrelated private conversations or decide that a recording proves the complaint.

Committee-led examination and employer support should remain distinguishable. Ungender’s article on the IC’s quasi-judicial role develops that separation.[6]

Address safety without deciding the outcome

Discuss practical concerns about meetings, travel, shifts or contact with the person named. Identify who can consider a proportionate temporary arrangement under the organisation’s applicable policies. Record its purpose, duration and review point. Do not automatically solve the problem by removing the reporting person from valued work.

Keep ordinary urgent safety action distinct from statutory interim relief. Section 12 concerns committee recommendations during a pending inquiry, on the aggrieved woman’s written request; it includes transfer and leave provisions.[7] HR should help route such a request, not label its own arrangement a section 12 order.

Do not arrange a confrontation or pressure the person to accept an apology. Section 10 places statutory conciliation with the committee, before inquiry and at the aggrieved woman’s request; a monetary settlement cannot be its basis.[7]

Explain confidentiality honestly

Section 16 restricts publication or communication to the public, press and media of specified complaint information, identities, proceedings, recommendations and action taken.[7] Treat this as a legal boundary, not a promise that nobody involved in the process will learn the allegations.

For intake, adopt a practical need-to-know approach. Tell the person which recipient needs the information and why. Avoid broad leadership email chains, personal messaging groups and unnecessary copies. Do not attach the full account to a routine absence or scheduling request.

Check access to the storage location as well as the names on an email. Keep an intake record sufficient to explain the handover, without creating a parallel file that everyone in HR can open.

Close the first day with a clear next step

Before handing over responsibility or ending the day, check that the record answers:

• What was received, when and through which channel?
• What immediate needs were raised, and who is addressing them?
• Has the appropriate recipient acknowledged the handover?
• What material needs preservation, and who owns that task?
• What has the person been told about the process and information-sharing?
• Who will make the next contact, through which channel and when?

If a task remains unresolved, name its owner and next action. Do not mark the matter “handled” because HR acknowledged the message.

Employers preparing this protocol can use Ungender’s PoSH advisory services, which cover policy preparation, committee constitution, awareness and inquiry support.[3] A useful brief would ask for a tested receiving and handover process, with clear responsibilities and escalation contacts.

At the end of the first day, HR need not have an answer to the allegation. It should have an accountable next step, an accurate record and a person who understands what will happen next.

General practitioner guidance, not advice on a particular complaint. Check applicable law, service rules and case-specific circumstances before acting.

Sources

[3] https://www.ungender.in/posh-compliance-services
[5] https://www.ungender.in/constituting-internal-committee-posh-compliance-first-time
[6] https://www.ungender.in/internal-committee-quasi-judicial-role-posh
[7] https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/2104/1/A2013-14.pdf