The Union government on Thursday announced that it is investigating allegations of an exploitative work environment at Ernst & Young’s India offices.
This came on the heels of allegations levelled by Anita Augustine, the mother of Anna Sebastian Perayil, an employee of the accounting firm in Pune, who passed away in July.
In a letter to Ernst & Young India Chairman Rajiv Memani, Augustine attributed her daughter’s death to “backbreaking work” conditions at the company, reported the Business Standard.
“A thorough investigation into the allegations of an unsafe and exploitative work environment is underway,” Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje wrote on X on Thursday. “We are committed to ensuring justice and labour ministry has officially taken up the complaint.”
Karandlaje’s statement on X was made in response to a post by BJP leader and former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who shared a news article about Perayil and described her death as “disturbing on many levels”.
“I request Govt of India…to investigate these allegations made by the mother of unsafe and exploitative work environment that claimed the life of young, full of future Anna Sebastian Perayil,” Chandrasekhar wrote.
“Anna would return to her room utterly exhausted, sometimes collapsing on the bed without even changing her clothes, only to be bombarded with messages asking for more reports,” Augustine said in her letter. “She was putting in her best efforts, working very hard to meet the deadlines.”
“That [Perayil’s] promising career was cut short in this tragic manner is an irreparable loss for all of us,” Ernst & Young India said in a statement on Wednesday. “While no measure can compensate for the loss experienced by the family, we have provided all assistance as we always do in such times of distress and will continue to do so.”
The company noted that Perayil worked for SR Batliboi, a member of the Ernst & Young Global network of accounting firms.