Techie claims startup made her team sleep on office floor, then fired them without pay
A techie claimed that he and several members of his company's AI team were allegedly made to sleep on the office floor in sleeping bags
A techie claimed that he and several members of his company's AI team were allegedly made to sleep on the office floor in sleeping bags during a high-pressure project, only to later be verbally fired and told that their salaries for May would not be paid. The claims, shared in a Reddit post, have triggered outrage online, with many users urging the employees to pursue legal action. Read Full Story The techie shared his experience on Reddit's r/developersIndia forum in a post titled, "Startup made our AI team sleep on the floor in sleeping bags, then verbally fired us and is withholding our May wages. Need advice." According to the post, the employees were fresh graduates who had joined the company last year and spent May 2026 working on computer vision and AI deployments under what they described as extreme pressure. As deadlines intensified, weekends became regular workdays and management allegedly instructed team members to bring their bags and stay overnight at the office.
The techie claimed that the company provided sleeping bags and expected employees to sleep on the floor so they could continue working around the clock. Some employees allegedly spent multiple nights there, despite the office not having shower facilities or adequate arrangements. "As a woman, I personally found the situation extremely uncomfortable, unhygienic, and deeply unprofessional," the techie wrote. According to the timeline provided in the post, management verbally asked the AI team to go on three days of "paid operational leave" on May 29 while the company reviewed its structure. When they returned on June 4, the team was allegedly moved to a separate floor away from the rest of the technical staff. A day later, on June 5, the entire AI team was allegedly called into a room and informed verbally that their employment had been terminated with immediate effect. The techie further claimed that management said salaries for May would not be paid, despite employees having already worked through the month.
The post alleged that no written warnings, performance improvement plans, show-cause notices or termination letters were issued. When employees requested documentation, management allegedly warned that formal termination paperwork could affect the cleanliness of their employment records. The team later sent a joint email seeking written confirmation of their employment status, details regarding full and final settlement and the release of their wages. However, according to the post, they had not received any response as of June 10. The techie said the team had preserved appointment letters, payslips, attendance logs, salary records and internal emails, and was preparing to approach labour authorities regarding unpaid wages and lack of documentation. Take a look at the post here The claims sparked strong reactions online, as several users advised the team to immediately seek legal remedies, with one commenter suggesting that they send a legal notice through a labour lawyer and even consider filing a public interest litigation against the company.
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