Moritz Erhardt, student of the University of Michigan and Bank of America intern dropped dead after working for seventy-two hours straight.
The twenty-one year old German national was an undergraduate exchange student at the university's Ross School of Business. He was enrolled in the said school from January to May. He was found dead last Thursday in the shower of his apartment at Claredale House, a student residential facility in East London. According to bank officials and the police, his death was not suspicious.
The intern's death has caused the investigation of the bank's internship program which allegedly required the interns enrolled in the program to work long hours. According to a former investment banker, interns of Bank of America spend fourteen hours at work. "Interns can regularly clock up to 100 or even 110 hours a week, but people are fully aware that banking is hard work and the company constantly reminds you to manage upwards in order to not overheat," the banker said.
Bank of America's spokesman John McIvor expressed the shock and sorrow that the company felt of the death of their intern. "He was popular among his peers and was a highly diligent intern at our company with a promising future," he said in a statement. "Our first thoughts are with his family, and we send our condolences to them at this difficult time."
The death of Erhardt has prompted some politicians and intern campaign groups to condemn the heavy load of work given to interns. Dubbing the heavy workload as "slavery in the city", a British newspaper called on all banks to devise a scheme that will make sure that their staff were not overworked and exhausted.
Mc Ivor said that the bank is waiting for facts about Erhardt's death before they decide on whether or not to review or revise the bank's internship program. "The thing to reiterate right now, nobody knows what happened and until that is established, I think any conclusion is premature," he added.
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