"Probe into EY India's office after worker's death finds it lacked labour welfare permit", 26 September 2024

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.

...

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.

...

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 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.

...

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.