India is looking into the working conditions at Big Four accounting firm EY, according to the labour minister, who made the announcement on Thursday. This follows the death of a 26-year-old associate worker, which her mother attributed to stress and demanded accountability for.
Anna Sebastian Perayil passed away in July. Her mother, Anita Augustine, wrote a letter to EY's India chairman, claiming that her daughter was overworked with an overwhelming workload as a new employee, which took a toll on her physically, emotionally, and mentally. The letter went viral on social media, although Reuters could not independently access or verify its contents.
Labour Minister Shobha Karandlaje stated on X that a comprehensive investigation into the allegations of an unsafe and exploitative work environment is currently underway. EY emphasized that the well-being of all employees is of the utmost importance and that they are treating the family's correspondence with the highest seriousness and humility.
EY, which employs around 100,000 people across its member firms in India, noted that Perayil had been with one of these firms for just four months. The need for enhanced measures to protect employees in high-pressure jobs from deteriorating physical and mental health has been a topic of widespread discussion, particularly following the death of a junior banker at Bank of America in May and JPMorgan's creation of a new role to address such concerns.
India's Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a union representing IT employees, wrote to the labour and interior ministries on Thursday, requesting an independent investigation into Perayil's death, which they claim was a suicide. The police in Pune, where Perayil worked, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the cause of her death. NITES has also called for a broader review of working conditions in India's IT and finance sectors.
