Centre to probe EY employee's death from alleged ‘overwork’
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New Delhi: The Union Labour Ministry has announced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of 26-year-old chartered accountant Anna Sebastian Perayil, NDTV reported.
The probe comes in the wake of widespread outrage after it is reported that Sebastian Perayil died due to work-related stress at Ernst and Young India.
Minister of State for Labour Shobha Karandlaje responded to Perayil’s passing announcing a ‘thorough investigation into the allegations of an unsafe and exploitative work environment’.
BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar brought the matter to the minister’s attention with a post terming Anna's death "very sad but also disturbing at many levels".
Chandrasekhar urged for a probe into her family's allegations of an exploitative work environment at Ernst and Young India where Anna was working.
Writing to Ernst & Young India chairman Rajiv Memani, Anna’s mother Anita Augustine alleged that her daughter died just four months into joining the company.
Anita Augustine urged the company to change its work culture which she said ‘glorify overwork while neglecting the very human being behind the role’.
She wrote that she was a devastated mother after losing her ‘precious child’, while saying ‘it is necessary to share our story in the hope that no other family will have to endure the pain we are going through.’
Anita Augustine said her daughter was an excellent student at school and college and cleared chartered accountancy exam with distinction.
The mother said that EY was Anna’ s first job and she was thrilled at working ‘such a prestigious company’, adding that four months later on July 20 th 2024 she received the ‘ devastating news’ of Anna’s passing at age 26.
Responding to it, Ernst & Young India issued a statement expressing sadness at Anna's death, adding that it would take the family's correspondence with the "utmost seriousness and humility’.
Claiming that it always gives ‘highest importance’ to employee’s wellbeing, the company said it would ‘continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace’ to its ‘1,00,000 people across EY member firms in India’.