EY employee death: Rahul Gandhi speaks to kin, assures support in fight for better working conditions

The employee's death became a talking point after her mother wrote a strongly-worded letter to EY claiming that her daughter died due to 'excessive work pressure' on July 20.

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday spoke to the parents of a young woman professional who died due to work pressure, and lauded them for their courage and selflessness to speak out about improving working conditions of professionals across the country.

Rahul spoke to them through video call when All India Professional Congress (AIPC) chairman Praveen Chakravarty visited the family of Anna Sebastain Perayil, who was working with Ernst and Young India when she died.

Anna’s death became a talking point after her mother Anita wrote a strongly-worded letter to the firm claiming that her daughter died due to "excessive work pressure" on July 20.

The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment ordered a probe into the death on Thursday.

Rahul assured the family that he would personally fight for the cause of creating safe work environments in his capacity as Leader of Opposition.

He lauded the family’s “courage and selflessness to speak up at this extremely difficult moment about the issue in the larger interest of improving the working conditions of millions of professionals in India,” an AIPC statement said.

Rahul also asked the AIPC to create an awareness movement in Anna’s memory for all working professionals in India.

To that end, the AIPC will announce a helpline soon to collect information from corporate professionals about issues related to work stress and toxic work culture.

After collecting the information, the statement said, the AIPC would seek to come up with draft guidelines for better working conditions for professionals in the corporate sector.