Bank intern dead after working long hours

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Here's a dose of dailyfail...a tragic story unfortunately.

 

Investment bank intern, 21, on ?45,000 worked 'until 6am for three nights in a row' before he was found dead in his London flat

• Moritz Erhardt had been interning with investment bank Merrill Lynch
• Erhardt, from Germany, was found dead in his East London flat last week
• 21-year-old had 'pulled all-nighters' during his summer internship
• Summer interns are paid ?45,000 a year pro rata for their work

 

 

A young student has died in mysterious circumstances while employed as an intern at a top investment bank ? amid claims he was asked to work punishingly long hours.

 

The body of Moritz Erhardt was discovered on Thursday evening as he neared the end of a seven-week internship with the Bank of America Merrill Lynch?s investment bank division.

 

The 21-year-old ? understood to be from Germany ? had joined  Merrill Lynch earlier in the summer hoping to forge a career with the firm.

 

Paid interns at the bank normally earn ?45,000 a year pro rata - around ?2,700 a month.

 

?To avoid any rumours or misinformation, we would like to inform you all that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.?

 

?Every intern?s worst nightmare is what?s called ?the Magic Roundabout? ? which is when you get a taxi to drive you home at 7am and then it waits for you while you shower and change and then takes you back to the office.

 

...

 

?45,000 a year pro rata;

there are 52 weeks in a year => 45,000 / 52 = ?865.38 per week.

 

he neared the end of a seven-week internship

 

Seven weeks multiplied by ?865.38 per week = he died over ?6,057.66

[IM_bck]

That is the most convoluted title that I have ever come across.

[Astra.Xtreme]

A more valuable lesson for him would have been to stand up to his boss and make it known that no task requires that much consecutive work. Productivity typically plummets after 8-10 straight hours anyway.

[Hum]

He's fired !

[cork1958]

Hope they think they got their moneys worth! Freaking idiots!!

 

Very sad :(

[LaP]

A more valuable lesson for him would have been to stand up to his boss and make it known that no task requires that much consecutive work. Productivity typically plummets after 8-10 straight hours anyway.

 

It plummets way before 8 straight hours. Usually it plummets after 3 or 4 straight hours then you need at the minimum a 15 minutes break (preferably 30 minutes) to eat something and relax a bit.

[ILikeTobacco]

 

 

 

Seven weeks multiplied by ?865.38 per week = he died over ?6,057.66

No, he died over a career. You don't take an intern position for bad hours and bad pay. You take an intern position to get the good jobs in the firm.

[Astra.Xtreme]

It plummets way before 8 straight hours. Usually it plummets after 3 or 4 straight hours then you need at the minimum a 15 minutes break (preferably 30 minutes) to eat something and relax a bit.

That's true.  I guess I wasn't taking into consideration a lunch break or something similar.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

No, he died over a career. You don't take an intern position for bad hours and bad pay. You take an intern position to get the good jobs in the firm.

 

This doesn't mean that interns are somehow exempt from the general labour rules which don't apply to them so employers can abuse them.

 

And ?2,700 a month isn't that bad actually for intern position - if it's a fair game (40 hours a week). 

 

Anyways, the moral of the story is:

 

- do not neglect your sleep time - it's key to a healthy life.

- banks are greedy and the investment banks are the worst.

[threetonesun]

This doesn't mean that interns are somehow exempt from the general labour rules which don't apply to them so employers can abuse them.

 

And ?2,700 a month isn't that bad actually for intern position - if it's a fair game (40 hours a week). 

 

Anyways, the moral of the story is:

 

- do not neglect your sleep time - it's key to a healthy life.

- banks are greedy and the investment banks are the worst.

 

Well, exempt employees are exempt from just about everything you could imagine illegal.

[ILikeTobacco]

This doesn't mean that interns are somehow exempt from the general labour rules which don't apply to them so employers can abuse them.

 

And ?2,700 a month isn't that bad actually for intern position - if it's a fair game (40 hours a week). 

 

Anyways, the moral of the story is:

 

- do not neglect your sleep time - it's key to a healthy life.

- banks are greedy and the investment banks are the worst.

I would never bank with an organization whose primary goal is not to multiply wealth. That seems counter productive. Also, there is nothing wrong with being greedy as long as your not doing something illegal. Claiming it is bad for a bank to make money for its members, especially investment banks, baffles me.

 

Also, I never said they were exempt or that something wrong didn't happen here. I simply corrected the comment that he died for the pay and hours of an intern. He died because he was willing to risk himself to get to a full time career job. Notice how the article doesn't say anything about him being forced or coerced into it. It is illegal for the firm to force it, but it is not illegal for a worker to work longer if they so desire. I have worked 11 to 12 hour shifts before. Nothing illegal about it. Ill advised maybe but I had things I needed to get done. Until a report comes out saying his boss forced him to do this, don't try to stir something up that isn't there.

[threetonesun]

I would never bank with an organization whose primary goal is not to multiply wealth. That seems counter productive. Also, there is nothing wrong with being greedy as long as your not doing something illegal. Claiming it is bad for a bank to make money for its members, especially investment banks, baffles me.

 

Well, it's immoral, depending on which religion you believe in, if you do. Usury, according to the Bible, was lending money at any interest rate.

 

Also the purpose of a bank is not necessarily to make money the way a private business would. The point of a bank is to have funds available so that it can be invested into other businesses / communities. There are plenty of stable local banks and credit unions whose main goal is not increasing wealth to stuff a CEO's pockets.

[ILikeTobacco]

Well, it's immoral, depending on which religion you believe in, if you do. Usury, according to the Bible, was lending money at any interest rate.

 

Also the purpose of a bank is not necessarily to make money the way a private business would. The point of a bank is to have funds available so that it can be invested into other businesses / communities. There are plenty of stable local banks and credit unions whose main goal is not increasing wealth to stuff a CEO's pockets.

In the case of an investment bank it obviously is. In the case of other banks, or any business for that matter that is for profit, being greedy is required for survival. The definition of greedy is that you have or want to acquire more than you have and need. Businesses have to make more than they need or they can't grow and if a business is not growing, it is failing in a modern economy. Since most banks are not privately held, that also means that morally it is their responsibility to help increase the wealth of the customers but to also increase the wealth of the shareholders.

 

I am not going to bother talking about your attempt to bring religion into this because we are talking about a heavily regulated business and the government shouldn't be using religion to make rules for banks. Bringing religion into this discussion would just be inane. More on topic, federal regulations that Merrill Lynch have a certain amount of cash on hand at all times and that they are not legally allowed to use 100% of their assets to invest. Because of this, Merrill Lynch HAS to be greedy and make as much as possible to be able to invest.

 

Greedy is not an inherently bad thing and people need to stop acting like it is. In this case, greed from the bank isn't even relevant because it was really the greed of the worker trying to land that job that got him into that position.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

He obviously had an underlying, undetected health condition... no way a young man like that would have died so soon, despite the late nights! 

[I am Reid]

well, I can see why he went all out in order to secure a job, that's a decent salary and he was just an intern

[LaP]

He obviously had an underlying, undetected health condition... no way a young man like that would have died so soon, despite the late nights! 

 

You can definately die from a 3 days sleep and food neglect specially if you are working hard at the same time.

[vcfan]

Title seems to sensationalize on the idea that maybe he died from working too many hours? Which is bull****, especially at a bank. Has been manual labor jobs where people worked constantly for more days and survived, Not to mention in Wars where the work is constant.

 

Obviously this guy had other issues, or maybe someone killed him, which has nothing to do with the amount of hours he worked.

 

no kidding. back in college days, we used to get stupid hammered, party and ###### women till the morning, sober up go to classes,hit the gyms with no sleep for days on end. dying from doing math for a few days on no sleep isnt normal.

[casperhtc]

 

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

no kidding. back in college days, we used to get stupid hammered, party and **** women till the morning, sober up go to classes,hit the gyms with no sleep for days on end. dying from doing math for a few days on no sleep isnt normal.

 

it is true.   i went through 50+ hours without anny sleep under extreme streess when i was 22 -   then slept 18 hours and was perfectly fine.   as for sleeping 2-3 hours a day for more then a week during exam week - that was quite normal.

 

somethink else was an issue for him!

 

 

also i have met people in similar job positions.  it is true that they work 12 hour day + saturdays.  however 12 hours still leaves you some time to sleep (no social life except on sunday though)

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

don't try to stir something up that isn't there.

 

Every intern?s worst nightmare is what?s called ?the Magic Roundabout? ? which is when you get a taxi to drive you home at 7am and then it waits for you while you shower and change and then takes you back to the office.

 

Obviously, it's a systemic issue and no one will be held accountable unfortunately. These banks rule the world.

 

Do you agree with this practice? Am I correct in thinking you're defending the bank?

 

 

He obviously had an underlying, undetected health condition... no way a young man like that would have died so soon, despite the late nights! 

 

Until an autopsy is done we can only guess if he, for example, abused cocaine. I personally don't think so. It's more likely he abused caffeine. He had to.

[ILikeTobacco]

Obviously, it's a systemic issue and no one will be held accountable unfortunately. These banks rule the world.

 

Do you agree with this practice? Am I correct in thinking you're defending the bank?

 

 

 

Until an autopsy is done we can only guess if he, for example, abused cocaine. I personally don't think so. It's more likely he abused caffeine. He had to.

Didn't a recent study show caffeine doesn't even make you more alert, but rather the lack of caffeine makes you less alert?

[IM_bck]

Blank, on 20 Aug 2013 - 10:33, said:

Title seems to sensationalize on the idea that maybe he died from working too many hours? Which is bull****, especially at a bank. Has been manual labor jobs where people worked constantly for more days and survived, Not to mention in Wars where the work is constant.

 

Obviously this guy had other issues, or maybe someone killed him, which has nothing to do with the amount of hours he worked.

The source is the dailymail so sensationalism is the name of the game.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Until an autopsy is done we can only guess if he, for example, abused cocaine. I personally don't think so. It's more likely he abused caffeine. He had to.

That's very possible.  He may have had diabetes also, which I believe is quite dangerous if un-diagnosed or untreated properly.

[dead.cell]

If that's all it takes to die, then I must be immortal. :|

[jakem1]

Sounds like industrial manslaughter to me.