[twostorytower]

First off, I'm sorry this happened to you. That's a really sucky thing for a company to do to somebody.

That said, you're not in a good place right now. Don't make any rash decisions in that state of mind. It's really not in your best interest to take this public.

At the end of the day, the company didn't do anything illegal. You most likely signed a standard 4 year/1 year cliff vesting schedule, and it did what it was designed to do. What they did was immoral and wrong, but not illegal. Sure, you can still sue (unlikely you'd win but they may settle to avoid a costly legal battle). And if you think a year of your options are going to be really valuable, it may be worth discussing with a lawyer if you're willing to foot the bill.

My best advice - focus on finding a new job right now. Land somewhere with a great track record for employee well-being so you don't run into this in the future. Get settled into that first. There's no benefit to making a big deal about this right this second. Bring yourself to a good place, then explore your options.

[VestingBurn]

Thanks -- this actually happened end of February. I decided to wait until I was in a good place before asking.

[Gibbon1]

> It's really not in your best interest to take this public.

Of course not, the threat of taking it public is one of the clubs the nice employment lawyer is going to us to extract a settlement from them.