HOW A WORKPLACE INCENTIVE DISPUTE TURNS INTO A POSH COMPLAINT? HERE’S REAL STORY

How a Workplace incentive dispute turns into a POSH Complaint? Here’s Real Story

The Client: A 48-year-old sales manager at a FMCG company in Gurugram, who had been with the company for 5 years.

What Happened: Our client and a female colleague on the same position got into a dispute over a sales incentive on a big distributor deal. Management looked at the records and decided incentive in our client's favour. A week later, the colleague filed a POSH complaint saying he had made inappropriate comments at a team dinner three months earlier. The problem got worse fast. The company's Internal Committee was not properly set up — it had no external member and was headed by a junior HR person. Without conducting a proper inquiry, the IC immediately said the complaint looked genuine and recommended suspending our client. His distributor accounts were handed over to others, and word quietly spread across the office that he was "under a POSH inquiry.

What We Did:

• Our client immediately challenged the suspension because proper enquiry was not conducted. The POSH Act does not allow suspension based on a "preliminary finding" before a proper inquiry
• Pointed out that the IC was not constituted properly — no external member, and the presiding officer was too junior to conduct a fair inquiry. We formally requested the company to form a new committee that followed the rules of the POSH Act.
• Helped the client gather proof of where he was that night. we collected his photos, WhatsApp group chats, and Uber ride history, which clearly showed he had left the dinner early — long before the remarks were supposed to have happened.
• Identified two witnesses who confirmed that the complaint had nothing to do with harassment — it started because of the incentive fight.
• Filed a formal request with the management to ensure strict confidentiality of the proceedings, as the client's name had already been leaked internally — a violation of Section 16 of the POSH Act

The Outcome: The company formed a proper Internal Committee with an external member as required by law. After a fresh inquiry, the committee found that the complaint was not genuine — it was linked to the commission dispute, not any real harassment. Our client got his job back with full salary for the suspension period and was promoted the following year. The company also improved its POSH procedures based on our recommendations.

Don't Forget: A poorly constituted IC can do more damage than the false complaint itself. Procedural errors — like suspending the accused without inquiry or operating without an external member — are violations that can be challenged immediately. Knowing your rights under the POSH Act is the first line of defence.