35-year-old Microsoft employee found dead at work
A 35-year-old engineer at Microsoft was found dead at work. Now, his family is calling out companies that are overworking their employees.
Pratik Pandey was "found face-down" at 2 a.m. local time on Aug. 20 in Mountain View, California, on Microsoft's campus, local media outlet Palo Alto Daily Post reported.
Community leader Satish Chandra said an initial report from the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner stated that Pandey suffered a heart attack.
The official cause of his death has yet to be disclosed as of writing.
Before his passing, Chandra said Pandey, whom they described as a "very positive" and "hardworking" person, had no known health conditions. The former, however, noted that the latter previously told his roommate and colleagues that he was under heavy stress from juggling multiple projects at the same time.
His uncle, Manoj Pandey, shared that the techie's friends and roommates told them that he often worked for a “very extended period of time."
Per a Bloomberg report, police found "no signs of any suspicious activity or behavior" of Pandey, and that his case is not being treated as a criminal investigation.
Pandey lived in India before moving to the US a decade ago to pursue his master’s degree at San Jose State University. Prior to his employment at Microsoft in 2020, he worked as a software engineer at Apple, Illumina, and Walmart Labs.
After his death, his uncle called for tech companies to look after their employees working late at night, and help lessen their pressure and anxiety.
“That will probably save a life,” he's quoted as saying. “It’s a lot of pain for the family when a loved one passes away.”
