Death of an EY employee: IT employees’ union NITES calls for investigation into the death of the EY employee

The IT union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has called for an “independent and thorough investigation” into the death of 26-year-old Anna Sebastian Perayil, who worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young (EY).

The union has sent letters to both the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Interior, NITES said in a statement.

NITES called on both ministries to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of her death and bring those responsible to justice.

The death of Anna Sebastian Perayil on July 20, four months after she started her first job at global consulting and auditing firm EY in Pune, has sparked a debate on social media about toxic work cultures in corporate organizations.

The debate was sparked by a letter from Perayil’s mother, Anita Augustine, which circulated on the Internet a few days ago. In it, she addressed EY’s India Chairman, Rajiv Memani, and blamed “the workload, the new environment and the long working hours” for her daughter’s tragic death.

“The young employee, forced to take such a devastating step due to immense work pressure, tragically lost her life and no representative of the company attended her funeral. This shocking disregard for employee welfare and basic human dignity raises urgent questions about the toxic work culture in certain corporate environments,” Harpreet Singh Saluja, President of NITES, said in the statement.

Saluja said, “We believe this investigation is crucial to ensure that such tragedies do not happen again and that employees in IT, finance and corporate sectors are protected from hazardous working conditions.” The issue is also being taken up in Parliament, with Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale saying he has formally written to the Maharashtra labour minister demanding an urgent investigation into the working conditions at EY that allegedly led to Perayil’s death.

“Obviously, it is common practice in these accounting and consulting firms for employees to work overtime beyond regular working hours, be humiliated, underpaid for their work and suffer a toxic, pressure-filled work environment. Ms. Periyal’s death is an example of the sheer oppressive practices prevalent in several of these private multinational companies… This is UNACCEPTABLE! We have sufficient laws in our country to protect employees from unfair practices, underpayment and overtime. The problem is that the government, which is responsible for enforcing these laws, looks the other way when rich companies and multinational corporations are involved,” Gokhale said in the statement.

Meanwhile, EY, one of the global Big Four, has issued a statement on Periyal’s untimely death. “Anna was part of the audit team at SR Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune for a short period of four months and joined the firm on March 18, 2024. That her promising career has ended in this tragic manner is an irreparable loss for all of us,” the firm said.

EY added: “We accept the family’s correspondence with utmost seriousness and humility. The wellbeing of all employees is our highest priority and we will continue to look for ways to provide and enhance a healthy workplace for our 100,000 employees across EY member firms in India.”