Shashi Tharoor meets parents of EY employee who died, slams ‘toxic work culture’

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday met with the parents of a 26-year-old Ernst & Young (EY) employee who died of a heart attack, allegedly due to excessive workload. The Congress leader said he discussed with the parents the need for an enquiry, accountability, and the implementation of new laws and regulations to address the toxic work culture.
The Chartered Accountant at EY, Anna Sebastian Perayil, originally from Kerala, died on July 20 in Pune, where she was employed. The incident gained widespread attention recently, triggering massive outrage after a letter written by Anna’s mother to the EY head surfaced, in which her parents highlighted the toxic working conditions their daughter had endured.
“Paid an emotional visit to the parents of EY India’s Anna Sebastian Perayil, who died of a heart attack at age 26 from overwork and intolerable stress and pressure from her managers. Discussed with her anguished parents the need for an enquiry and accountability, new laws and regulations to reform the toxic work culture of bottom-line-obsessed under-staffed establishments, and better training for mid-level managers,” Tharoor wrote.
The Congress MP further stressed, “If a company needs 16-hour days and nights from its employees all the time, it needs to hire more people, not abuse the rights of those it recruits and exploits”.
On September 20, Tharoor mentioned that he had a conversation with Anna’s father, Sibi Joseph, who suggested, and Tharoor agreed, to raise the issue in Parliament of legislating a fixed work schedule for all workplaces, whether in the private or public sector. The proposed legislation would ensure that work hours do not exceed eight hours a day, five days a week.
“Inhumanity at the workplace must be legislated out of existence with stringent punishment and fines for offenders. Human rights do not stop at the workplace! Will raise this matter at the first opportunity during the next session of Parliament,” he tweeted earlier.
Anna’s parents, who spoke out about the matter, alleged that she was overburdened with work to the extent that she couldn’t even sleep or eat properly. In a gut-wrenching letter to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani, Anna’s mother, Anita Augustine, mentioned that “Nobody from EY even attended her funeral.”
Memani, however, claimed that Anna was assigned work like every other employee and dismissed the overwork allegations. The company however, in a statement, stressed that it would take measures to address workplace pressure.