Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had a heartening conversation with father of the deceased, Anna Sebatian on Friday, where he suggested Tharoor to speak upon mandating a 40-hour work week for both government and private sector employees.
He said he had a "deeply emotional and heartrending" conversation with her father, Sibi Joseph.
Joseph narrated incidents to Tharoor when he was constantly asking Anna to quit EY since she was working tirelessly until 12:30am at night as well after coming back from office.
"We advised her to quit, but she insisted that this stint would provide valuable professional exposure," Siby Joseph said.
Additionally, he stated that although senior EY executives were made aware of the problem of excessive work pressure, nothing was done about it.
"She had complained to the assistant manager, but they insisted on working even at night," he said.
"He (Anna's father) suggested, and I agreed, that I raise the issue of legislating, through Parliament, a fixed calendar for all workplaces, whether in the private sector or the public, that would not exceed eight hours a day, five days a week," Tharoor said.
The incident raged angst amonst people when Anna’s mother Anita Augustine, wrote to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani this month, flagging the "glorification" of overwork at the multinational consulting firm.
Taking to his official X account, Tharoor said, Anna passed away after a cardiac arrest, following "four months of deeply stressful seven-day weeks of 14 hours a day" at the Big Four accounting firm.
Tharoor promised Anna’s father that he will raise the matter at the "first opportunity" during the next session of Parliament, which is expected to be held in December.
