Probe into EY India office reveals it lacked labour welfare permit

An Ernst & Young (EY) office in western India, which employed a 26-year-old who allegedly died after facing a high workload, has operated since 2007 without a state permit which regulates work hours, a senior government official told Reuters.

EY faces scrutiny in India over the death of audit executive Anna Sebastian Perayil, which her mother blamed on a "backbreaking" workload in a letter to EY India's chairman.

The incident has already sparked a federal government investigation.

In a statement late on Tuesday, EY said its global member firm where the inspection happened, SRBC & Co. LLP, was "providing its full cooperation to the Ministry of Labour in its investigation." It declined to comment further.

The need for better efforts to shield employees in high-pressure jobs from faltering physical and mental health has been discussed widely after the death of a junior banker at Bank of America in May, and with JPMorgan last week creating a new role to tackle such concerns.

Maharashtra's additional labour commissioner, Shailendra Pol, whose team inspected the EY office in the western city of Pune, said it was operating without a mandatory registration under the state's Shops and Establishments Act.

The law caps the maximum working hours for adults at nine hours each day and 48 hours each week.

"The company applied for a registration with the labour department only in February 2024 and we rejected it because it had not applied since 2007 when it started this office," Pol told Reuters on Tuesday, adding that EY has been given seven days to explain the lapse.

If non-compliance with the law results in an accident causing the serious bodily injury or death of a worker, it could lead to imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to 500,000 rupees ($5,979), or both.

Perayil's mother, Anita Augustine, alleged her daughter faced "overwhelming workload" in her letter, which went viral on social media. "She worked late into the night, even on weekends, with no opportunity to catch her breath." EY has previously said that it placed "the highest importance on the well-being of all employees" and was "taking the family's correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility".

Perayil's family has said she died of cardiac arrest.

Pol said his team has also sought details from EY including the company's log book for employee hours, welfare policies and whether Perayil was asked to work excessively during her four months as an associate at the accounting giant.

EY said it works with about 100,000 people at its member firms in India.