NEW DELHI – According to a senior government source who spoke to source, an Ernst & Young (EY) office in western India has been operating without a state authorization that governs work hours since 2007. The office employed a 26-year-old who is said to have died as a result of working too much.
The death of audit executive Anna Sebastian Perayil, which her mother attributed to a “backbreaking” workload in a letter to the chairman of EY India, has put the company under fire in India.
Late on Tuesday, EY stated in a statement that SRBC & Co. LLP, a global member company where the inspection took place, was “providing its full cooperation to the Ministry of Labour in its investigation.” It declined to provide more commentary.
Following the May death of a junior banker at Bank of America, there has been much discussion about the need for improved measures to protect workers in high-pressure occupations from deteriorating physical and mental health. JPMorgan last week established a new position to address these issues.
Following an inspection by his team, Maharashtra’s Additional Labor Commissioner Shailendra Pol stated that the EY office in Pune, a city in western Maharashtra, was operating without the required registration required by the state’s Shops and Establishments Act.
Adults are only allowed to work a maximum of nine hours per day and 48 hours per week under the law.
According to Pol, who spoke to Reuters on Tuesday, “The company applied for a registration with the labor department only in February 2024 and we rejected it because it had not applied since it started this office.” EY has been given seven days to explain the gap.
A worker may face up to six months in jail, a fine of up to 500,000 rupees ($5,979), or both if their failure to comply with the legislation causes an accident that ends in their death or significant physical harm.
In a letter that went viral on social media, Perayil’s mother, Anita Augustine, claimed her daughter was dealing with a “overwhelming workload”. “She worked late into the night, even on weekends, with no opportunity to catch her breath.”
EY has previously stated that it was “taking the family’s correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility” and that it placed “the highest importance on the well-being of all employees”.
According to Perayil’s family, heart arrest caused her death.
According to Pol, his team has also contacted EY for information about employee hours, welfare rules, and if Perayil was required to work excessive hours during her four months as an associate at the massive accounting firm.
EY stated that it has approximately 100,000 employees at its member companies in India.
$1 is equal to 83.6390 Indian rupees.