INDIA INC READY TO BECOME MORE INCLUSIVE
Corporate India on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court judgment decriminalising some parts of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised non-heterosexual acts. But employers still have a long way to go to make workplaces more diverse and inclusive, claim human resource (HR) experts and employment lawyers.
Most multinational corporations said they did not discriminate among employees on account of sexual orientation.
“After this judgment, we may have to reconsider specifics in policies to more openly accept certain kind of relationships that seemed illegal earlier,” said Santrupt Mishra, HR head for Aditya Birla Group.
For most companies, this would mean extending medical coverage to same-sex partners, say legal experts.
“As an equal-opportunity employer, we believe that being inclusive and allowing people to be themselves truly brings out the best in them. We strive to maintain a work environment that is free from any harassment,” said a Hindustan Unilever spokesperson.
According to Anuranjita Kumar, managing director and HR head, International Hubs, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the bank was the first to introduce a medical cover for same-sex partners. “We see this as just the beginning of more job opportunities for the community,” said Kumar.
The Godrej group, which already has an anti-discrimination policy in place, is contemplating extending health insurance benefits to samesex partners. “The corporate world is the ground on which the next victory for equal rights will be won,” said Parmesh Shahani, head, Godrej India Culture Lab.
The advertising fraternity is already ahead of the curve when it comes to making the workplace friendly and fair for the LGBTQ community.
According to Shashi Sinha, chief executive officer, IPG Mediabrands India, the group already follows an inclusive policy as part of their global charter. “We do not discriminate on the basis of gender or sexual orientation,” he said.
Some advertising companies already extended benefits to same-sex partners.
Arun Nanda, chairman, Rediffusion, said the firm already extends mediclaim benefits to same-sex partners. However, the challenge going forward for companies will be to tackle mindset issues at workplace, he said.
Legal experts pointed out that decriminalising Section 377 did not create an obligation on companies to have gender-neutral policies.
“Unless the Sexual Harassment Act is amended to protect male employees or other genders, companies will not be mandated to make gender-neutral policies by virtue of this judgment alone,” said Atul Gupta, partner, Trilegal. According to Vikram Shroff, head, employment law, Nishith Desai Associates, one of the earliest outcomes would be to include a column on “others” or “neither” in the gender column of the application form. “Such disclosures may also trigger workplaces needing to make necessary adjustments and effectively prohibit discrimination, bullying, abuse, etc,” he added.
However, Kumar of RBS does not agree with the idea.
“Social mindsets take a long time to change. Though people would be more accepting of people who look different, or with people publicly out of the closet but it is not something I would ask for on a CV,” she said.
With inputs from Viveat Susan Pinto, Dev Chatterjee and Priyadarshini Maji