H-1B worker says he was fired during India trip, weeks before equity cliff

An Indian tech professional working at a San Francisco-based start-up has alleged that he was fired just weeks before his first major equity cliff was due to vest, shortly after he travelled to India to care for his critically ill father.

Prayut Jain, an H-1B visa holder, said he was terminated over a call, about 15 days after travelling to India to be with his father, who was on a ventilator.

‘Responsibilities beyond JD’

In a LinkedIn post that has since gone viral, Jain said he had taken on responsibilities beyond his formal job description at AI start-up Rayni, treating the company’s product and success as his own.

Also read: The fading American Dream: H-1B visa uncertainty drives Indian tech workers back home

“It was something we were building together, and something I treated as my own. I cared about the product, customers, architecture, and whether we succeeded,” Jain wrote. “I took ownership beyond a job description because that’s what you do when a small group decides to build something together,” he added.

Startup culture

Jain’s termination, which came shortly before his equity cliff, has sparked a broader debate over startup culture and the treatment of early employees. An equity cliff is a period an employee must complete before any promised company equity begins to vest. In many start-ups, the cliff is set at one year.

Jain questioned whether companies should rely solely on contractual provisions when making such decisions, particularly after employees have spent months building a business.

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“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. Maybe a contract allows that. But we should still ask whether that’s how we want startups to treat the people who helped build them,” he wrote.

H1-B visa holder concerns

The post also drew attention to the particular vulnerability of H-1B visa holders in the US. Workers on the visa generally have a grace period of up to 60 days after employment ends to find new qualifying employment or otherwise maintain lawful status.

Also read: US plans to extend H-1B, L-1 visa fees to renewals, likely impacting Indian professionals

Jain’s professional background includes Applied AI, Generative AI, AI engineering and AI product and technical leadership. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and holds a master’s degree in data science from the University of Chicago.

His account has prompted criticism of the manner and timing of his termination, while also raising questions about the responsibilities startups have towards employees who are expected to take ownership while helping build early-stage companies.