Under 10 Employees? You Still Have POSH Obligations (the LCC Route)

If your company has fewer than 10 employees, you do not need to set up an Internal Committee (ICC) under the POSH Act, but you are not exempt from the law itself. Complaints from your workplace go to the district's Local Committee (LCC) instead, and you still owe your employees a policy, awareness, and a functioning complaint pathway.

Key facts at a glance

• The Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, 2013 applies to every workplace in India, with no minimum employee threshold for the law to apply.
• An Internal Committee is mandatory only at 10 or more employees; below that, complaints go to the Local Committee (LCC) constituted by the District Officer.
• The LCC also handles complaints against the employer personally, and complaints from unorganised-sector and domestic workers.
• Every employer, regardless of size, must have a written POSH policy and display it at the workplace.
• The Supreme Court has been pushing for wider registration of complaint bodies on the government's SHe-Box portal, increasing scrutiny even for smaller employers.
• Non-compliance carries fines and can create downstream problems such as licence-renewal friction, irrespective of company size.

Why the 10-employee line exists, and why it does not mean exemption

The POSH Act sets 10 employees as the threshold for forming an in-house Internal Committee because a formal, standing committee is impractical for very small teams. But the underlying right, a safe workplace and a route to complain about harassment, applies to everyone. Parliament solved this by creating the Local Committee as the fallback mechanism, not by carving out small businesses.

This distinction matters because many founders mistakenly read "no ICC required" as "no POSH obligations at all." That reading is incorrect and can expose the business to legal risk if a complaint arises and there is no clear pathway for the employee to pursue it.

What the Local Committee actually does

The District Officer, typically the District Magistrate or Collector, is required to constitute an LCC for each district (and often at the block or sub-division level in bigger districts) to:

• Receive complaints from workplaces with fewer than 10 employees
• Receive complaints where the employer itself is the respondent
• Receive complaints from domestic workers and unorganised-sector employees who have no employer-side committee at all

The LCC follows a similar inquiry process to an ICC, timelines for completing inquiries, provision for interim relief, and a recommendation to the employer on action to be taken.

What a small employer must still do

Practical steps for a founder

1. Find your district's LCC contact. This is usually available through the District Officer's office or the state Women and Child Development department. Keep the contact details on file, not just a generic reference.
2. Write a short, plain-language policy. State that the company follows the POSH Act, that there is no in-house ICC because of headcount, and that complaints go to the district LCC, with the address and contact.
3. Display it. A notice board, an onboarding document, or an intranet page all work, the requirement is that employees can find it without having to ask.
4. Train informally. Even a short session or a written note during onboarding on what constitutes harassment and how to escalate reduces risk and shows good faith.
5. Re-check your headcount periodically. Once you cross 10 employees, you must form an ICC within a reasonable time, do not wait for an incident to trigger the switch.

The growing scrutiny angle

Courts and regulators have increasingly pushed for wider POSH accountability, including calls for district-wise audits and mandatory registration of complaint bodies on the government's SHe-Box portal. While this pressure is aimed mostly at larger employers with ICCs, it also raises the baseline expectation that even small businesses have a documented, findable complaint mechanism rather than an informal "come talk to me" approach.

If you are not sure where your small business stands on POSH compliance, ComplianceCheck's POSH assessment gives you a clear picture in a few minutes.

Sources

• Ministry of Women and Child Development - wcd.nic.in
• SHe-Box portal (Sexual Harassment electronic Box) - shebox.wcd.gov.in
• Respective state Women and Child Development department and District Officer notifications
• labour.gov.in for related workplace compliance guidance

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Requirements vary by state, sector and headcount - confirm specifics with a compliance professional or the relevant authority.