Centre To Probe 26-Year-Old Ernst & Young Employee’s Death; Mother Says She Was ‘Overworked’

New Delhi: The Union Labour Ministry has said it will be investigating the circumstances that led to the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old chartered accountant with Ernst and Young India, allegedly due to work stress.

“Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Anna Sebastian Perayil. A thorough investigation into the allegations of an unsafe and exploitative work environment is underway. We are committed to ensuring justice & @LabourMinistry has officially taken up the complaint. @mansukhmandviya,” Minister of State for Labour Shobha Karandlaje said in a post on X.

She was responding to a post by BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who described Anna’s death as “very sad but also disturbing at many levels” and sought a probe into her family’s allegations of an exploitative work environment at Ernst and Young India.

In a letter to Ernst & Young India chairman Rajiv Memani, Anna’s mother Anita Augustine said her daughter died just four months after joining the company and called on its leadership to change a work culture that “seems to glorify overwork while neglecting the very human being behind the role”. “I am writing this letter as a grieving mother who has lost her precious child, Anna Sebastian Perayil. My heart is heavy, and my soul is shattered as I pen these words, but I believe it is necessary to share our story in the hope that no other family will have to endure the pain we are going through,” the mother wrote in the letter.

She wrote that Anna was an excellent student who topped through school and college and cleared the tough chartered accountancy exam with distinction. “EY was her first job, and she was thrilled to be part of such a prestigious company. But four months later, on July 20th, 2024, my world collapsed when I received the devastating news that Anna had passed away. She was just 26 years old.”

The heartbroken mother narrated the events weeks before she got the crushing news.

“On Saturday, July 6th, my husband and I reached Pune to attend Anna’s CA Convocation. Since she had been complaining of chest constriction upon reaching her PG late at night (around 1 am) for the past week, we took her to the hospital in Pune. Her ECG was normal, and the cardiologist came to allay our fears, telling us she wasn’t getting enough sleep and was eating very late. He prescribed antacids, which reassured us that it wasn’t anything serious. Though we had come all the way from Kochi, she insisted on going to work after seeing the doctor, saying there was a lot of work to be done and she wouldn’t get leave. That night, she returned to her PG late again On Sunday, July 7th, the day of her convocation, she joined us in the morning, but she was working from home even that day until the afternoon, and we reached the convocation venue late,” she wrote.

“It was my daughter’s great dream to take her parents to her convocation with her own hard-earned money. She booked our flight tickets and took us. It breaks my heart to tell you that even during those two days, which were the last we would spend with our child, she couldn’t enjoy them because of the work pressure.” Anita Augustine wrote that Anna worked late into the night, even on weekends, “with no opportunity to catch her breath”. “Her assistant manager once called her at night with a task that needed to be completed by the next morning, leaving her with barely any time to rest or recover. When she voiced her concerns, she was met with the dismissive response, “You can work at night, that’s what we all do.”

“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. She was putting in her best efforts, working very hard to meet the deadlines. She was a fighter to the core, not someone to give up easily. We told her to quit, but she wanted to learn and gain new exposure. However, the overwhelming pressure proved too much even for her,” the mother wrote.

The family said they were deeply hurt because no one from the organisation attended Anna’s funeral. “No one from EY attended Anna’s funeral. This absence at such a critical moment, for an employee who gave her all to your organization until her last breath, is deeply hurtful. Anna deserved better, and so do all the employees who continue to work under these conditions,” her mother wrote, hoping that her daughter’s experience “leads to real change”.

What Ernst & Young India Said

Ernst & Young India has issued a statement and said it was deeply saddened by Anna’s death and was taking the family’s correspondence with the “utmost seriousness and humility”.

“We are deeply saddened by Anna Sebastian’s tragic and untimely passing in July 2024, and our deepest condolences go to the bereaved family. Anna was a part of the Audit team at S R Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune for a brief period of four months, joining the firm on 18 March 2024. That her promising career was cut short in this tragic manner is an irreparable loss for all of us. While no measure can compensate for the loss experienced by the family, we have provided all the assistance as we always do in such times of distress and will continue to do so,” the statement said.

“We are taking the family’s correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility. We place the highest importance on the well-being of all employees and will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for our 1,00,000 people across EY member firms in India,” the company added.