EY employee death: Probe finds office working without required permit
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New Delhi: After a 26-year-old employee allegedly died from workload at the Ernst & Young (EY) office in Pune, it is now reported the company has been operating without a permit regulating work hours, The News Minute reported.
It is reported citing a government official that the company has been operating without this permit since 2007.
Maharashtra’s Additional Labour Commissioner, Shailendra Pol, reportedly stated that the EY office in Pune failed to register under the Shops and Establishments Act, which restricts work hours to 9 hours per day and 48 hours per week.
Meanwhile, the company has now been given seven days to explain why it caused the lapse.
“EY applied for registration only in February 2024, which we rejected because they have been non-compliant since the office opened in 2007,” Pol was quoted as saying.
Taking suo motu cognizance of Anna’s death, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said that Anna’s death brings to fore challenges that young people face at work including mental stress, anxiety, and lack of sleep, adversely affecting their health, while struggling with impractical targets and timelines.
The NHRC emphasized that it is ‘the primary duty of the employer to provide safe, secure and positive environment’ to the workers, treating them with ‘dignity and fairness’.
The NHRC reportedly sought a detailed report from the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment within four weeks alongside seeking the steps being taken to ward off such incidents.
The report of Anna’s tragic death came out after her mother penned a heart-wrenching letter to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani, saying that her daughter died on July 21 from ‘backbreaking workload’ and ‘work stress’.