UPSC Mains 2019 GS4 Q9 — Workplace Sexual Harassment
An apparel manufacturing company having large number of women employees was losing sales due to various factors. The company hired a reputed marketing executive, who increased the volume of sales within a short span of time. However, some unconfirmed reports came up regarding his indulgence in sexual harassment at the work place. After sometime, a woman employee lodged a formal complaint to the management against the marketing executive about sexually harassing her. Faced with the company’s indifference in not taking cognizance of her grievance, she lodged an FIR with the Police. Realizing the sensitivity and gravity of the situation, the company called the woman employee to negotiate. In that she was offered a hefty sum of money to withdraw the complaint and the FIR and also give in writing that the marketing executive is not involved in the case. Identify the ethical issues involved in this case. What options are available to the woman employee ? (250 words)
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- IdentifyWhat options are available
- Scope keywords
- sexual harassment at the work placecompany’s indifferencehefty sum of money to withdrawmarketing executivenot taking cognizance
- Implicit sub-parts
- What are the specific ethical dilemmas faced by the management versus the individual victim?
- An analysis of the company's failure in institutional governance and POSH Act compliance.
- The conflict between economic survival (sales growth) and ethical integrity (safe workplace).
- Evaluation of the pros and cons of each potential course of action for the woman.
- Common pitfalls
- Spending too much time criticizing the manager's character rather than the company's structural ethical failure.
- Suggesting the woman take the money as a 'pragmatic' solution without addressing the legal and moral illegality of compounding a non-compoundable offense.
- Failing to mention the Vishaka Guidelines or the POSH Act, 2013, which provide the legal backbone for this GS4 case.
- Neglecting to discuss the long-term impact on the organizational culture and other women employees if a settlement is reached.
- Dimensions required
- Legal/Statutory (POSH Act, IPC/BNS)Organizational Ethics (Corporate Governance)Socio-Psychological (Victim's dignity vs Financial pressure)Economic (Performance vs Ethics trade-off)
- Marks allocation hint
Allocate approximately 75-100 words to identifying ethical issues, focusing on institutional betrayal and the commodification of justice. Devote the remaining 150 words to a multi-dimensional analysis of her options, ensuring each option is evaluated against its ethical and legal consequences, concluding with a firm 'best' course of action.
Unlock the full analysis for this question
You've seen the question and its examiner-intent decoding. Subscribers also get:
- 🔗 Similar Previous Year Questions — cross-year, cross-paper matches so you study the topic, not the question
- 📚 Source Map — verified citations from Laxmikanth, NCERT, PRS, Yojana, Economic Survey, Spectrum
- 🌱 How this topic is evolving — current-affairs bridge anchored to live TARS news clustering
- 🧭 Examiner's Pattern — how the topic has been framed across every year UPSC has tested it
- ✍️ Answer Skeleton — a structured outline (intro → body → conclusion) you can flesh out
- 🎯 AI evaluation — write your answer, get rubric-based scoring from gs-eval
Or browse 132+ free preview questions across all years and papers — the first 3 questions of every paper are unlocked.
Ready to practice?
Subscribers can attempt this question in 250 words and get an instant, rubric-based evaluation showing where they stand.
Subscribe to evaluate your answer →