How to File a Workplace Harassment Complaint

Workplace harassment in Pakistan has its own federal forum, with offices in six cities, and it decides cases rather than merely passing them on. Most people who need it have never heard its name.

It is the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment, known as FOSPAH. We read its site at fospah.gov.pk on 30 August 2026, and everything below comes from there.

What FOSPAH is

The site describes FOSPAH as an autonomous quasi-judicial statutory body established under the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, with the primary mandate of safeguarding individuals against workplace harassment.

Quasi-judicial is the important word. This is not a suggestion box that forwards your letter to your employer. It is a body that hears a case and decides it, and its site publishes a daily cause list of the matters being heard.

The title says women, and the forum is broader

The founding Act is named for the protection of women, and a great many people read that title and conclude the forum is closed to them. The site's own description is wider: it speaks of safeguarding individuals against workplace harassment.

The legal framework listed on the site includes the Protection against Harassment at Workplace (Amendment) Act, 2022, which sits alongside the 2010 Act. And the daily cause list published on the site on the day we read it included a complaint brought by a male complainant against a company. We are not naming the parties, but the listing is there in public on the forum's own page.

So if you are a man who has been harassed at work, or you are unsure whether your situation fits, the answer is to ask the forum rather than to assume the title excludes you.

It also decides women's property rights in Islamabad

This second mandate is genuinely obscure and worth knowing, because it has nothing to do with harassment.

Under the Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Act, 2020, FOSPAH is empowered to adjudicate cases about women's legal rights in properties situated in the Islamabad Capital Territory.

That is a fast, specialised route for a specific problem: a woman being denied her share or her possession of property in Islamabad. It does not extend to the provinces, where the ordinary courts apply. Our guide to how inheritance shares are worked out covers what the entitlement is, which is a separate question from where you enforce it.

The laws it works under

The fourth one matters for what happens after a decision. It is the same statute that governs the other federal ombudsmen, and it carries the review and representation route those offices use.

Where to go, and how

The site lists a head office in Islamabad, regional offices in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, and a sub office in Multan. It carries a Register Complaint function, a phone number of 03444367367, and an email address of complaints@fospah.gov.pk.

1. Write down what happened, with dates, places and any witnesses.
2. Keep messages, emails and rosters rather than relying on memory.
3. Note whether your employer has an internal committee, and what it did.
4. Register the complaint through the site, or ask on the number listed.
5. Keep a copy of everything you send, and note the date you sent it.

Contemporaneous notes are worth more than a recollection written months later. Write the account down while it is fresh even if you have not decided whether to file.

If the harassment is online rather than at work

The two get confused and they have different destinations. FOSPAH deals with harassment at the workplace. Threats, blackmail, impersonation or abuse over the internet or phone are a cybercrime matter.

Our guide to reporting cybercrime covers that route and what to preserve before you report. Where conduct is both, from a colleague and online, the two are not mutually exclusive and it is reasonable to pursue each in its own forum.

Which ombudsman is which

FOSPAH is one of a family of federal ombudsmen, and people lose weeks writing to the wrong one. Complaints about a bank go to the Banking Mohtasib, set out in our guide to complaining about your bank. Complaints about an insurer go to the Federal Insurance Ombudsman, covered in our guide on a refused insurance claim. A federal government department goes to the Wafaqi Mohtasib, in our guide to complaining to the Wafaqi Mohtasib.

Common questions about FOSPAH

Can a man file a complaint?

The site describes the mandate as safeguarding individuals, and the published cause list includes a complaint by a male complainant. Ask the forum rather than assuming the Act's title excludes you.

Do I need a lawyer?

The site does not require one to register a complaint. Prepare your account and your documents carefully either way.

Where are the offices?

Islamabad as head office, regional offices in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, and a sub office in Multan.

Does it handle property disputes?

Only women's property rights cases for property in the Islamabad Capital Territory, under the 2020 Act.

What if my employer has its own committee?

Note what it did and when. That record is part of your account, and the site lists an anti-harassment committee within FOSPAH itself.

Last checked and sources

Last checked 30 August 2026. We read the website of the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment at fospah.gov.pk on that date. Its description as an autonomous quasi-judicial statutory body established under the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010 with a mandate of safeguarding individuals against workplace harassment, its additional jurisdiction under the Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Act, 2020 over women's legal rights in properties situated in the Islamabad Capital Territory, the listing of the Protection against Harassment at Workplace (Amendment) Act, 2022 and the Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Act, 2013 in its legal framework, the offices in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Multan, the Register Complaint function, the telephone number 03444367367 and the email complaints@fospah.gov.pk are all taken from that site. The observation that a male complainant appears on the published daily cause list is taken from the cause list shown on the site on the same date, and we have deliberately not named any party to a live case. We did not read the text of the 2010 Act, the 2022 Amendment or the 2020 Act for this guide, so no section number, time limit or penalty is quoted here. Confirm any deadline with FOSPAH before relying on it. Nothing on this page is legal advice.