An Indian techie working in the United States has alleged that he was fired from his job days after he flew back home to meet his critically ill father. Prayut Jain was one of the founding engineers of a San Francisco-based startup — and what made his sudden termination even worse was the fact that he was let go just days before his equity cliff.
An equity cliff is a period that an employee has to work at a startup before he can earn any of the equity (shares/options) promised to him. For Jain, his employment was also tied to his visa status — he was working in the United States on an H-1B visa — and he is now questioning what the future holds for him.
“My preference is to continue my career in the US and find a role that allows me to maintain my visa status. That said, I’m also open to moving back to for the right opportunity, especially something exciting where I can have meaningful ownership and impact,” the 30-year-old AI engineer told Hindustantimes.com over a LinkedIn message.
Fired on H-1B visa
Prayut Jain took to LinkedIn to write about his distressing experience and question the ethics of firing an early startup employee before his equity could be vested.
He also highlighted how a startup that he had treated as his own fired him at a low point in his life.
“When you join a startup early, you’re often asked to treat it like your own. I did that for almost a year,” he said. “Then, while my father was fighting for his life on a ventilator, I was told my employment would end in 15 days, just weeks before my equity cliff.”
Jain told Hindustantimes.com that he flew to India on July 12 after his father took ill. His presence in India was required as the primary caregiver for his father. Besides that, he was also the one financially supporting his father’s treatment.
The techie, who has been based in the US since 2022, was by his employer over a call just two weeks after he returned to India.
“I flew back to India on July 12 to be with my family, and I was informed about my termination on July 30 over a call. I wasn’t sent a formal termination letter at the time,” he said.
The personal vs the professional
In his LinkedIn post, Prayut Jain explained that his father was diagnosed with pneumonia and put on a ventilator, prompting his rushed return to India.
“My father was diagnosed with severe pneumonia. I urgently flew to India as his condition deteriorated into severe ARDS. He was put on a ventilator and eventually ECMO, an advanced life support when the lungs can no longer provide enough oxygen,” he wrote.
Even when he was juggling family responsibilities in India, Jain claims he “continued working and staying involved with the product”.
“After nearly a year of our collective effort and belief, I couldn’t simply disconnect. Two weeks later, I received the call that my employment would end,” he revealed.
He expressed his disappointment with the fact that a company for which he went above and beyond would fire him so unceremoniously.
“It was more than a company I worked for. It was something we were building together, and something I treated as my own,” he said. “I cared about the product, customers, architecture, and whether we succeeded. I took ownership beyond a job description because that’s what you do when a small group decides to build something together.”
A question mark over his future
Jain claims that the decision to end his employment was communicated to him on July 30. He has, however, not received a formal termination letter yet.
“I have not received a termination letter still. Today is my last day as per my last call with them,” he said.
For someone who was working in the US on an , the abrupt termination has put a huge question mark over Jain’s future. The timing of the termination also means he’ll go without equity.
“As an H-1B visa holder, this meant more than losing my job. It directly affected my immigration status and the career I had spent years building in the US,” he said on LinkedIn.
“My first major equity vesting milestone was also due in October. Ending my employment now meant losing the ownership I had spent nearly a year working toward,” he said.
“Everything collapsing”
The AI engineer voiced his disappointment and anger in his LinkedIn post. He said that at the time he received news of his termination, his father’s health was failing.
“At the same time, doctors told us my father’s lungs were failing to recover and a lung transplant might be his only path forward. Everything felt like it was collapsing at once, medically, emotionally, financially, and professionally,” he said.
Calling out his employer, Jain added: “I understand have to make difficult choices. But accountability toward the people building those companies should be part of their foundation.”
He argued that the responsibility should not rest entirely on employees when startups ask them to go beyond their job descriptions.
Pointing out that early employees are often expected to think like owners, take risks and put in extra effort to help build the company, he wrote: “Someone can spend almost a year building a company, face one of the hardest moments of their life, and leave weeks before an equity cliff with nothing.”
(Also read: )
