India, Aug. 14 -- 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 t...