All women employees who have been working as an employee in the company for a period of at least 80 days in the past 12 months are eligible for Maternity Leave. 3 Aces provides for a paid Maternity Leave for a period of 6 Months of which not more than 2 Months shall precede the date of her expected delivery. The employee should inform the Supervisor/ HR, at least 2 months in advance before proceeding on leave. Any public holiday/weekends falling within the period of maternity leave is to be counted as part of the maternity leave. Un-availed Maternity leave is non- cashable. Maternity leave can be availed only 2 times during the employee’s tenure with the organisation.

All male employees can avail paid paternity leave up to 3 days from the date of birth of the child.

Harassment in employment, including sexual, racial, and ethnic harassment, as well as any other harassment forbidden by law, is strictly prohibited by 3 Aces. Employees who violate this policy are subject to disciplinary proceedings, including possible termination.

The Company will take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment from occurring and will take immediate and appropriate action when the Company knows that unlawful harassment has occurred.

If you have been harassed by a co-worker, supervisor, agent, vendor or customer, or if you believe that another employee has been harassed, you have a duty to promptly report the facts of the incident or incidents, and names of the individuals involved, to HR Dept. IDE Consulting Services takes proactive measures to curb sexual harassment at its offices and will take all necessary steps to deal with cases of Sexual Harassment as defined by law

Sexual HARASSMENT may be one or a series of incidents involving unsolicited and unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, or any other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature.

Employee of 3 Aces– Includes person carrying out any work on behalf of 3 Aces and may have been hired as Permanent, Temporary, Contracted or on Retainership Basis, part-time basis etc either directly or indirectly or through vendor organization.
Sexual Harassment – Harassment of a Female/Male employee consisting of any unwelcome sexually determined behaviour, whether directly, indirectly, by any male/female in charge of the Company or a male/female co-employee either individually or in association with other persons to exploit the sexuality of co-employee to harass him/her in manner which prevents or impairs his/her full utilization of full benefits, facilities or opportunities or any other behaviour which is generally considered to be derogatory .
Sexual Harassment at the workplace includes:

Unwelcome sexual advances (verbal, written or physical)
Demand or request for sexual favours
Any other type of sexually-oriented conduct
Verbal abuse or ‘joking’ that is sex-oriented,
Any conduct that has the purpose or the effect of interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment and/or submission to such conduct is either an explicit or implicit term or condition of employment and /or submission or rejection of the conduct is used as a basis for making employment decisions.

RESPONSIBILITIES REGARDING SEXUAL HARASSMENT:
All employees of the Company have a personal responsibility to ensure that their behaviour is not contrary to this policy.
All employees are encouraged to reinforce the maintenance of a work environment free from sexual harassment.
COMPLAINT MECHANISM:
A complaint shall be submitted in writing to any member of the Internal Committee mentioned herein within 3 months of occurrence of an act of Sexual Harassment. If the respondent is direct supervisor of the complainant, or person influencing the career growth of the complainant, the reporting structure will be changed till the time the enquiry is completed

COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE
The Company has instituted a Complaints Committee for redressal of sexual harassment complaint (made by the victim) and for ensuring time bound treatment of such complaints.

Initially, and till further notice, the Complaints Committee will comprise of the following four members out of which at least two members will be of the same gender as that of the complainant:

1. HR Manager (Presiding Officer)

2. Employee at a Sr. Level (Member)

3. Head of the Department from where the complaint has originated (Member)

4. Member from an NGO or Lawyer (Member)

The Complaints Committee is responsible for:

Investigating every formal written complaint of sexual harassment.
Taking appropriate remedial measures to respond to any substantiated allegations of sexual harassment.
Discouraging and preventing employment-related sexual harassment.

PROCEDURES FOR RESOLUTION, SETTLEMENT OR PROSECUTION OF ACTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT:
The Company is committed to providing a supportive environment to resolve concerns of sexual harassment as under:

A. Informal Resolution Options
When an incident of sexual harassment occurs, the victim of such conduct can communicate their disapproval and objections immediately to the harasser and request the harasser to behave decently.

If the harassment does not stop or if victim is not comfortable with addressing the harasser directly, the victim can bring their concern to the attention of the Complaints Committee for redressal of their grievances. The Complaints Committee will thereafter provide advice or extend support as requested and will undertake prompt investigation to resolve the matter.

B. Complaints:
1. An employee with a harassment concern, who is not comfortable with the informal resolution options or has exhausted such options, may make a formal complaint to the Presiding Officer of the Complaints Committee constituted by the Company. The complaint shall have to be in writing and can be in form of a letter, preferably within 15 days from the date of occurrence of the alleged incident, sent in a sealed envelope. Alternately, the employee can send complaint through an email. The employee is required to disclose their name, department, division and location they are working in, to enable the Presiding Officer to contact them and take the matter forward.

2. The Presiding Officer of the Complaints Committee will proceed to determine whether the allegations (assuming them to be true only for this determination) made in the complaint fall under the purview of Sexual Harassment, preferably within 30 days from receipt of the complaint.

In the event, the allegation does not fall under the purview of Sexual Harassment or the allegation does not constitute an offence of Sexual Harassment, the Presiding Officer will record this finding with reasons and communicate the same to the complainant.

3. If the Presiding Officer of the Complaints Committee determines that the allegations constitute an act of sexual harassment, he/ she will proceed to investigate the allegation with the assistance of the Complaints Committee.

4. Where such conduct, on the part of the accused, amounts to a specific offence under the law, the Company shall initiate appropriate action in accordance with law by making a complaint with the appropriate authority.

5. The Complaints Committee shall conduct such investigations in a timely manner and shall submit a written report containing the findings and recommendations to the CEO as soon as practically possible and in any case, not later than 90 days from the date of receipt of the complaint. The CEO will ensure corrective action on the recommendations of the Complaints Committee and keep the complainant informed of the same.

Corrective action may include any of the following:

Formal apology
Counselling
Written warning to the perpetrator and a copy of it maintained in the employee’s file.
Change of work assignment / transfer for either the perpetrator or the victim.
Suspension or termination of services of the employee found guilty of the offence

6. In case the complaint is found to be false, the Complainant shall, if deemed fit, be liable for appropriate disciplinary action by the Company.

CONFIDENTIALITY:
The Company understands that it is difficult for the victim to come forward with a complaint of sexual harassment and recognizes the victim’s interest in keeping the matter confidential. To protect the interests of the victim, the accused person and others who may report incidents of sexual harassment, confidentiality will be maintained throughout the investigatory process to the extent practicable and appropriate under the circumstances.

ACCESS TO REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS:
All records of complaints, including contents of meetings, results of investigations and other relevant material will be kept confidential by the Company except where disclosure is required under disciplinary or other remedial processes.

PROTECTION TO COMPLAINANT / VICTIM:
The Company is committed to ensuring that no employee who brings forward a harassment concern is subject to any form of reprisal. Any reprisal will be subject to disciplinary action.

The Company will ensure that the victim or witnesses are not victimized or discriminated against while dealing with complaints of sexual harassment.

However, anyone who abuses the procedure (for example, by maliciously putting an allegation knowing it to be untrue) will be subject to disciplinary action.