You have three lawful options and two clocks. Where the Internal Committee found the complaint proved, Section 13(3) of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 requires it to recommend action for sexual harassment as a misconduct under the service rules applicable to you, and Section 13(4) requires your employer to act on that recommendation within sixty days of receiving it. Section 18(2) gives you ninety days from the recommendations to appeal. A resignation changes who ended the employment. It does not delete the report, end the appeal, or by itself stop the compensation you can be directed to pay.
Part of the POSH and workplace harassment practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.
This page is for the employee holding a report with a finding against him and an HR email asking for a resignation by a named date. The inquiry stage is in being named as the respondent in a POSH complaint, and the grounds for attacking a defective report in how to challenge a POSH ICC inquiry report. Nothing here is a way around a lawful process. Contact with the complainant or a witness, through anyone, can itself found a fresh complaint against you.
The three options, scored on what each actually does:
| What is at stake | Resign now | Let the employer terminate | Appeal within ninety days |
|---|---|---|---|
| The finding | Stays. The report is already with the employer | Stays, and the order records it as the reason | The only route that can set the recommendations aside |
| Notice pay and the settlement | You serve or buy out your notice. Earned wages and leave stay due | The proviso to Section 39(1) of the Karnataka Shops Act removes the statutory notice where misconduct is proved at an enquiry held for the purpose | No automatic stop. A stay must be asked for |
| Gratuity | Payable on resignation after five years under Section 53(1) of the Code on Social Security, 2020 | Forfeiture only on the two limbs of Section 53(6), and never automatic | A forfeiture needs a termination. The appeal attacks the recommendation behind it |
| Compensation | Deducted from what is still due, with a direction to pay the balance under the first proviso to Section 13(3) | The same, in the sum fixed under Section 15 | That recommendation is itself appealable |
| The employer's sixty days | No dismissal left to impose. The compensation recommendation survives | Section 13(4), from the day it received the recommendation | Your ninety days outrun the employer's sixty |
| What your service record says | A resignation, with the report on the employer's file | A termination for misconduct | The only step that changes the record, not the label |
Deadline warning. Two dates, not one. The employer's sixty days under Section 13(4) run from its receipt of the recommendation and can expire while your ninety days under Section 18(2) are still open, so count both from your own papers.
Three numbers decide the next two months.
Sixty days
Section 13(4) requires the employer to act within sixty days of receiving the committee's recommendation, usually before your appeal window closes.
Ninety days
Section 18(2) allows an appeal within ninety days of the recommendations, including a recommendation to deduct compensation under Section 13(3)(ii).
Nothing is automatic
Gratuity is not forfeited merely because a dismissal happened. Section 53(6) permits forfeiture on two limbs only, each with conditions.
Can my employer terminate me because the Internal Committee found the complaint proved?
It can act on that report without holding a second enquiry, where its own rules treat the committee's report as the inquiry report and not a preliminary investigation. Section 11(1) requires the inquiry to be made in accordance with the service rules applicable to the respondent, and where none exist, in the manner prescribed. Section 13(3)(i) then requires the recommendation to be for action for sexual harassment as a misconduct under those same service rules. The deeming comes from Supreme Court directions requiring it to be written into the civil service conduct rules and the standing orders rules, not from either section.
The Karnataka High Court applied that in B K Mohanty v Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on 9 July 2026, dismissing a general manager's writ against a punishment imposed on the committee's report, which the employer had treated as the inquiry report under its own conduct and discipline rules. Before imposing it the employer had put the findings to him in a second show cause notice and considered his reply. Hindustan Aeronautics is a public employer with its own conduct rules, and one High Court decision is not settled law across India. The general position on inquiries is in dismissal for misconduct without an inquiry.
If I resign today, does the finding or the compensation go away?
Neither goes away. The report has already reached the employer, and a resignation neither withdraws it nor reopens it.
The compensation survives your exit by design. The first proviso to Section 13(3) provides that where the employer cannot deduct because the respondent is absent from duty or his employment has ceased, it may direct him to pay the sum to the aggrieved woman, and the second proviso adds that if he fails to pay, the committee may forward the order for recovery as an arrear of land revenue to the District Officer. Resignation turns a payroll deduction into a personal liability with a revenue recovery route behind it.
A resignation changes who ended the employment, and with it two rules that work only on a termination. The proviso to Section 39(1) of the Karnataka Shops Act bites on a removal or dismissal, and the forfeiture limbs in Section 53(6) of the Code on Social Security operate where the services have been terminated for the relevant act. Neither is engaged by a resignation you choose to give.
Whether a resignation extracted in a meeting is voluntary in law is dealt with in when a resignation is really a termination, and if you have already sent one, withdrawing a resignation before it takes effect. Either way, do not sign an undated letter or one drafted for you that admits anything.
If I am terminated for misconduct, do I lose notice pay, the settlement and gratuity?
Notice pay can go, the earned part of the settlement cannot, and gratuity is not forfeited automatically.
Section 39(1) of the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 bars the removal or dismissal of an employee with six months of continuous service except for a reasonable cause and unless one month's notice or pay in lieu has been given, and its proviso removes that statutory entitlement where misconduct is brought on record with proof at an enquiry held for the purpose. Whether the committee's inquiry answers that description is to be argued, not assumed, and Section 39(7) leaves a longer notice or better benefit under your contract untouched. Section 3(1) of the same Act puts persons occupying positions of management outside it altogether, and other states have their own Shops Acts, so check that it reaches you before relying on the Section 39(2) appeal, whose period is fixed by the Rules. Section 39(3) compensation, which turns on a finding of no reasonable cause or no proof of misconduct, is covered in being named as the respondent in a POSH complaint. Earned wages, leave and reimbursements are not penalties, and where to claim them is in a full and final settlement that is not paid.
Gratuity turns on one word. Section 53(1) of the Code on Social Security, 2020, in force with the other labour codes from 21 November 2025, makes gratuity payable after five years of continuous service on superannuation, retirement or resignation. Section 53(6) allows forfeiture on two limbs only, and each needs services terminated for the act: clause (a) for damage or loss to the employer's property, and then only to the extent of that damage, and clause (b) for riotous or disorderly conduct, violence, or an act which constitutes an offence involving moral turpitude in the course of employment. In Union Bank of India v C.G. Ajay Babu, decided on 14 August 2018, the Supreme Court held that forfeiture is not automatic on dismissal, and that the statute asks not for proof of misconduct involving moral turpitude but for an offence involving moral turpitude duly established in a court of law. It read Section 4(6) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, whose words Section 53(6) reproduces. The detail is in gratuity under the Code on Social Security.
Common mistake. Treating the committee's finding as what the gratuity provision asks for. The moral turpitude limb needs an offence established in a court of law, which a dismissal order typing those words has not met.
Can they take the complainant's compensation out of my last salary?
They can deduct, but only the sum the committee has determined and only as the Code on Wages, 2019 permits. Section 13(3)(ii) lets the committee recommend a deduction from the salary or wages of the respondent, notwithstanding the service rules, of such sum as it considers appropriate, to be paid to the aggrieved woman, determined under Section 15.
Section 15 lists the factors: the mental trauma, pain, suffering and emotional distress caused, the loss in career opportunity, medical expenses, the income and financial status of the respondent, and the feasibility of a lump sum or instalments. Your own income being a statutory factor, documents about it belong in the representation.
Then the wage law. Section 18(1) of the Code on Wages, 2019 allows no deductions from an employee's wages except those the Code authorises, and its closed list in Section 18(2) includes, at clause (h), deductions required by order of a court or other authority competent to make such order. Whether a committee's direction falls within that clause is untested. Section 18(3) caps total deductions in a wage period at fifty per cent of wages, subject to any other law, and Section 18(4) allows the excess to be recovered in the prescribed manner rather than taken at once. Wages there are computed under Section 2(y), whose second proviso brings house rent allowance, conveyance and overtime in for the purpose of payment of wages. A round sum lifted off your settlement with no determined amount behind it is not authorised at all.
Can I ask for a penalty short of termination?
Yes, and the two places to ask are the representation against the findings before the committee and then the appeal. Where no service rules exist, Rule 9 of the POSH Rules, 2013 lets the committee recommend any action, including a written apology, warning, reprimand or censure, withholding promotion or increments, termination, a counselling session or community service. Rule 9 opens with the words except in cases where service rules exist, so if your employer has service rules, Section 13(3)(i) sends the question to those rules instead.
A penalty short of removal is a real outcome: in B K Mohanty what was imposed was a reduction to a lower scale of pay rather than dismissal. A representation on penalty is short and factual: what the record establishes, which findings you dispute and the document that contradicts each, the Section 15 figures, and your service history. It says nothing about the complainant. A representation that only attacks the finding leaves the committee with nothing on penalty.
Does resigning end my right to appeal, and who hears that appeal in Karnataka?
Section 18(1) gives the appeal to any person aggrieved from the recommendations and does not condition it on being in employment, so a resignation does not by itself end it, though it removes the relief that is about keeping the job. The appeal runs against recommendations under Section 13(2), clause (i) or (ii) of Section 13(3), Section 14 or Section 17, and against non-implementation, so the deduction is appealable after you leave.
The forum needs care. Section 18(1) sends the appeal first to the court or tribunal named in the service rules applicable to you. Where none exist, Rule 11 of the POSH Rules, 2013 sends it to the appellate authority notified under clause (a) of Section 2 of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, which stood repealed on the commencement of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 on 21 November 2025. Section 104(2) of the Code saves an appointment made under the repealed Act so far as it is not contrary to the Code.
In Karnataka the court record puts these appeals before the Additional Labour Commissioner. In Nagaraj G K v The Hon'ble Addl. Labour Commissioner, Appellate Authority under POSH Act, 2013, decided on 5 November 2024, the respondent's Section 18 appeal was already before that officer, and the Karnataka High Court held that the appellate authority has the implied power to consider a stay although the Act and the Rules say nothing about interim relief. A Division Bench of the same Court on 18 March 2026, 2026:KHC:15774-DB, records a Section 18 appeal registered and decided by the Additional Labour Commissioner, Appellate Tribunal, Karmika Bhavan, Bengaluru, by an order of 12 April 2016. Neither a notification nor an order after 21 November 2025 was located, so check the current notification and the officer holding that office before addressing the memorandum. The grounds and the writ alternative are in how to challenge a POSH ICC inquiry report, and the short version in appealing an Internal Committee finding.
What should I write back to HR before Friday?
One letter, neutral, the same day, and nothing signed unread.
- Ask for the report under Section 13(1), and separately for the statements and annexures, which it does not name.
- Ask whether the findings have been furnished for a representation under the second proviso to Section 11(1), which applies where both parties are employees, and if not, ask for that.
- Ask the employer to state the action it proposes, the provision it relies on, and the date it received the recommendation.
- Say you are considering your options under the Act and will respond by a stated date. Declining to sign a resignation that day is not misconduct.
- If a sum has been proposed, ask for the determination and the Section 15 reasoning.
- Take advice before the Friday, and keep complying with every lawful instruction.
- Have no contact with the complainant or any witness, through anyone, for any reason.
What I tell a respondent at this stage is that what is left is a money and record question, worked out on paper before the meeting rather than argued inside it, and that whatever the committee has lawfully directed will be complied with or appealed. The options are rarely as far apart on money as they feel, and far apart on what is left to argue afterwards. These matters go wrong in the week after the report: an undated resignation signed to end a meeting, a settlement taken without the deduction quantified, and ninety days spent deciding.
Three limits on what the employer can take.
Fifty per cent cap
Section 18(3) of the Code on Wages, 2019 caps deductions in a wage period at fifty per cent of wages as Section 2(y) computes them.
A determined sum
A deduction recommended under Section 13(3)(ii) must be of the sum the committee determines on the Section 15 factors, which include your own income.
The Rule 9 list
Where no service rules exist, Rule 9 lets any action be recommended, including an apology, censure, withholding promotion, termination, counselling or community service.
Key takeaway. Resigning changes the label on your exit and keeps clear of the notice pay and gratuity rules that bite only on a termination. It does not remove the finding, the compensation or the appeal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can HR insist that I resign by the deadline it has set?
It can ask, and you can decline. Section 13(4) gives the employer sixty days to act on the recommendation, not a power to require a resignation. Declining in writing, politely and without argument, is not misconduct.
Will this become a police case, and does resigning stop it?
Possibly, and a resignation changes nothing about it, because the criminal track is independent of the committee and of your employment. Sections 19(g) and 19(h) of the POSH Act, which still name the Indian Penal Code, require the employer to assist the woman if she chooses to complain under the penal law and to cause action to be initiated, and the penal law today is the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, where sexual harassment is defined in Section 75.
Can I be made to pay the compensation after I have left the company?
Yes. The first proviso to Section 13(3) allows a direction to the respondent to pay the sum where the employer cannot deduct it because of absence from duty or cessation of employment, and the second proviso allows the committee to forward the order to the District Officer for recovery as an arrear of land revenue.
Does filing the appeal stop the termination?
Not by itself. In Nagaraj G K the Karnataka High Court held that the appellate authority has the implied power to consider a stay although the Act is silent on interim relief, so the stay must be asked for in the appeal, and asked for early given the employer's sixty days.
I have less than five years of service. Does the gratuity point still matter?
Not for gratuity, because Section 53(1) of the Code on Social Security, 2020 requires five years of continuous service except in the situations its provisos cover. Notice pay under Section 39(1) of the Karnataka Shops Act, if that Act reaches you at all, and the compensation question under Sections 13(3)(ii) and 15 still matter from six months of service.
Am I entitled to the full report?
Section 13(1) requires the report to be made available to the concerned parties, and the second proviso to Section 11(1) entitles both parties, where both are employees, to a copy of the findings and a representation against them before the committee. Neither provision names the witness statements or the annexures, so ask in writing, keep the request, and record any refusal.
Will the company tell a future employer what happened?
Section 16 bars publication or communication of the complaint, the identities, the proceedings, the recommendations and the action taken to the public, press and media, and Rule 12 fixes a penalty of five thousand rupees recovered by the employer for contravening it. What it covers on an employer's own records and on answering a verification request has not been settled, so take advice on your contract.
Can I withdraw a resignation I have already given under this pressure?
That depends on whether it has taken effect and on what your appointment letter says about acceptance and notice, which is a separate question dealt with in our guide on withdrawing a resignation before it takes effect. The POSH proceedings run on their own track either way.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.
