Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy - pwc

1 Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Document No: PG-08 Revision No: Document Owner: PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee Document Classification: Internal Released: 14 September 2020 PwC SDC Kolkata 2 Document Release Notice Document Title: Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Version No.: Date of Release: 22 May 2019 Owner(s): PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Committee Prepared By: Ujjwal Kumar Bose Reviewed By: Subhasis Majumdar Approved by: PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee Revision History Release No. Release Date Change details Amended by Approved by 18 February 2014 First Release - Internal Complaints Committee 30 October 2014 Revision of redressal process Kalyani Bhowmick Internal Complaints Committee 8 April 2015 Change of member of the Internal Complaints Committee Kalyani Bhowmick PwC SDC Leadership Team 20 April 2015 Reconstitution of the Internal Complaints Committee - PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 10 July 2017 Revision of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata)

2 Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 1 August 2017 Revision of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee PwC SDC Kolkata 3 1 September 2017 Revision of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 17 October 2017 Change in Composition of Internal Complaints Committee Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 6 November 2017 Change in Composition of Internal Complaints Committee Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 14 December 2018 Revision of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 22 May 2019 Revision of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 27th April 2020 Revision of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata) Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Complaints Committee 14th September 2020 Revision of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy Ujjwal Kumar Bose PwC SDC (Kolkata)

3 Prevention of Sexual Harassment Internal Committee PwC SDC Kolkata 4 Table of Contents Background .. 5 Purpose & Scope .. 5 Important definitions .. 5 Procedures & Guidelines .. 7 Composition of Internal Committee .. 7 Complaint of Sexual Harassment3 .. 7 Raising of complaint .. 7 redressal Process .. 8 Conciliation .. 8 Inquiry .. 8 Interim relief .. 9 prohibition on disclosure of information .. 9 Harassment by individuals outside this Policy .. 9 Protection to Complainant .. 9 Appeal .. 9 Disciplinary Proceedings .. 9 Savings and Repeal .. 10 Annexure-1 .. 11 Annexure-2 .. 12 PwC SDC Kolkata 5 Background PricewaterhouseCoopers Service Delivery Center (Kolkata) Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as the Company ) as part of the global PwC network is committed to provide equal opportunity and a Harassment free workplace notwithstanding race, caste, religion, colour, ancestry, marital status, gender, Sexual orientation, age, nationality, ethnic origin or disability, as the case may be.

4 Thus in order to create such a safe and conducive work environment, this Policy has been framed, in line with the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of women at workplace ( Prevention , prohibition and redressal ) Act, 2013 of India (hereinafter referred to as the Act 1) and existing rules framed thereunder namely the Sexual Harassment of women at workplace ( Prevention , prohibition and redressal ) Rules, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules 2). Purpose & Scope Purpose of this Policy is to provide protection against Sexual Harassment of women at workplace and the Prevention and redressal of complaints of Sexual Harassment and matters related to it. This Policy extends to all employees including individuals coming to the workplace for employment or for any other purpose whatsoever including but not limited to visitors, vendors, contractual resources, secondees and applies to any alleged act of Sexual Harassment against persons at workplace , whether the incident has occurred during or beyond office hours.

5 This Policy does not prevent any aggrieved person from taking recourse to the law of the land. Important definitions (a) Aggrieved Individual means in relation to a workplace , a person, of any age, whether employed or not, who alleges to have been subject to any act of Sexual Harassment by the respondent and includes contractual, temporary employees and visitors. (b) Complainant is any aggrieved individual (including a representative as more fully described under Rule 6 of the said Rules, if the aggrieved individual is unable to make a complaint on account of his/her physical or mental incapacity or death or otherwise) who makes a complaint alleging Sexual Harassment under this Policy . (c) Employee as defined under the Act and means a person employed with the Company for any work on permanent, temporary, part-time, ad-hoc or daily wage basis, either directly or through an agent, including a contractor, who with or without the knowledge of the Principal employer, whether for remuneration or not, or working on a voluntary basis or otherwise, whether the terms of employment are expressed or implied and includes a co-worker, a contract worker, probationer, trainee, apprentice or called by any other such name.

6 (d) Employer means person who are responsible for management, supervision and control of the workplace including appointment/removal/termination of employees and will include Director and General Manager , Chief People Officer (CPO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) . 1. 2. (e) Internal Committee means and include an Internal Complaints Committee (hereinafter referred to as the IC ). PwC SDC Kolkata 6 (f) Member means a member of the IC. (g) Presiding officer means the presiding officer of the IC and shall be a woman employed at a senior level at the workplace amongst the employees. (h) Respondent means a person against whom a complaint of alleging Sexual Harassment has been made under this Policy .

7 (i) Parties means collectively the complainant and the respondent. (j) Sexual Harassment includes any one or more of the following unwelcome acts of behavior (whether directly or by implication): A. Any unwelcome sexually determined behavior or pattern of conduct that would cause discomfort and/or humiliate a person at whom the behavior or conduct was directed namely - (i) Physical contact and advances; (ii) Demand or request for Sexual favours; iii) making sexually coloured remarks or remarks of Sexual nature about a person s clothing or body; (iv) showing pornography; (v) Any other unwelcome physical, visual, verbal or non-verbal conduct of Sexual nature including but not limited to cat-call, wolf/finger whistle, vulgar/indecent jokes, letters, phone calls, text messages, e-mails, gestures etc.

8 Sexual Harassment can involve a series of incidents or it can be a one-off occurrence. B. The following circumstances, among other circumstances, if it occurs or is present in relation to connected with any act or behavior of Sexual Harassment may amount to Sexual Harassment :- - Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in employment; or - Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in employment; or - Implied or explicit threat about the present or future employment status; or - Interference with work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment for the person; or - Humiliating treatment affecting any person s health or safety. (k) workplace means establishments, enterprises, institutions, offices, branches, premises, locations or units established, owned, controlled by the Company or places visited by the employees out of or during the course of employment including accommodation, transportation provided by the employer for undertaking such journey.

9 PwC SDC Kolkata 7 Procedures & Guidelines Composition of Internal Committee Pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Act, an Internal Committee (IC) has been constituted to prevent Sexual Harassment and to receive and effectively deal with complaints pertaining to the same. Details of the members, including their names and contact information, of the IC constituted by the Company for its offices at Kolkata and Bangalore are displayed at office notice board and have also been published in the intranet SDConnect under Legal & Compliance and will be updated on a periodic basis, as and when applicable. Employer will not form a part of the IC. A quorum of 4 members is required to be present for the proceedings to take place.

10 The quorum must include the Presiding Officer, at least two members (one of whom must be female) and the external member. CPO and Ethics Leader may be consulted by the IC from time to time. Such consultation is purely discretionary. Complaint of Sexual Harassment3 Raising of complaint 1. Any aggrieved individual may make in writing, a complaint of Sexual Harassment to the Human Capital (HC) Department (through respective Lines of Service HC) or through Company s Ethics Office (email id: or Help Line No: 1800 419 0502) within a period of three (3) months from the date of incident and in case of more than one incident, within a period of three (3) months from the date of last incident. Complaints arising of incidents more than three (3) months old shall not be accepted.