'Helpline Used To Silence Staff': EY South Africa Employee Calls Out Company After Anna Sebastian Perayil's Death Due To Work Stress

The recent development surrounding the death of the 26-year-old chartered accountant, Anna Sebastian Perayil, has sparked a major discourse into the intricacies of toxicity at workplaces, especially when it comes to major MNCs like EY. Perayil was employed with EY's Pune operations.

On September 19, the Union Labour Ministry took cognisance of the matter and said a thorough investigation was on in the matter.

EY India Chief Makes A Statement

In another development in the matter, EY India chapter's Chariman and Managing Director Rajiv Memani took to LinkedIn to make a statement in the matter. In his post on the social media platform, Memani said, "Many of you will be aware of the tragic demise of Anna Sebastian, a young woman who worked in our Pune office, and the anguished letter her mother, Ms Anita Augustine wrote to me."

Memani further added, "Over the past few days, I am aware that people have in their social media posts commented on some of our work practices. It has always been very important to us to create a healthy workplace and we attach the highest importance to the well-being of our people."

Former Employee Rebuts Memani

Now, according to an X user, one of EY's employees, based out of the company's South Africa chapter, presented a counter to the matter. In the post, the woman, who is a professional CA herself, said, "Hello Rajiv, As per your email request, regarding Anna’s death stemming from the abuse at EY, you suggest that we should use the ethics hotline to report issues of mental health abuses by EY management."

In the reply to Memani's post, she further added, "I myself, and others, have utilised this hotline multiple times, months ago, to report discrimination, harassment, bullying, victimization and other mental health abuses that EY Partners have subjected me to."

She further went on to expose the system that is supposed to help employees in place and deems it a mechanism to weed out people and silence them.

On the matter, she further added, "Unfortunately, the truth about this hotline is simply that it’s used to identify employees who EY believes should be silenced. "

In addition, the South Africa-based CA also claimed, "These employees are then punished severely for raising these issues against Partners/ managers using the hotline that you suggested we use. Contrary to what you’ve said, EY does not place any importance on the well being of people, instead, peoples mental and physical health is continuously abused, as was done to me."

Consequences of Raising Concerns

On her LinkedIn profile, the user claimed to have worked with Deloitte and EY. In fact, as per her profile, she was a full-time Senior Consultant at the company until September 2024. The reason for her departure has not been specified. However, in her response to Memani, she did mention the circumstances that she found herself in.

Enumerating on the matter, she further added, "I am now facing severe consequences for reporting these abuses, via the ethics hotline. What other avenues do EY employees have to report partners and HR teams who continuously abuse the well-being of staff? Trent Henry has also been contacted about this, and there has been no response. Are you waiting for another “Anna” case to occur before taking action?EY"

The unfortunate event of Anna Sebastian Perayil's death garnered greater traction when a letter from the mother of the young professional claimed that she died due to work stress and no one from her former workspace (EY) attended her funeral.