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Summary
President Zardari on Friday signed the 'Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill 2009'. The Parliament passed this bill on January 21. The bill was signed during a ceremony at the Chief Ministers residence in Karachi. The bills objective, according to a statement of objects and reasons accompanying it, is to create a safe working environment for workers which is free of sexual harassment, abuse and intimidation with a view to enabling higher productivity and better quality of life at work. Punishment for the guilty, or violators of a code of conduct, will range from a 3-year jail term and Rs 5 lac fine under the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Bill. Minor penalties are: censure, withholding for specified periods of promotion or increment and stoppage at an efficiency bar in the time-scale, otherwise than for fitness to cross such bar, and recovery of compensation payable to a complainant from pay or any other source of the accused. Major penalties include reduction to a lower post or time-scale or to a lower stage in a time scale, compulsory retirement, removal from service, dismissal from service, and fine, a part of which can be used as compensation for the complainant. The bill was part of a comprehensive bill originally moved by former information minister Sherry Rehman when she held the additional portfolio of Womens Development.
