[vabmit]

A lot of people said hire a lawyer. I think that's wrong. I would just move on and find another job and forget about this start-up. My guess would be that either you had bad luck and got involved with a bad founding team or that there were performance issues/issues with your working relationships/personality. Either way just moving on is the mature thing to do. I would never hire anyone who mentioned the word "lawyer" over a firing (let alone actually sued a company) that's just too much of a risk for a small company/start-up. Talking to other engineers at the company to "warn them", or better yet, gain an understanding of why you were let go would probably be helpful in your own career development. When I've had to fire a technical person, I've always gone over the matter with their co-workers to make sure there is coverage and not a skills gap with out the person. If you do sue, your name will most likely show up in public court filings. That could end your career with start-ups unless the start-up turns out to be a total publicly visible disaster. The economic damage to your reputation will likely outweigh any awards from the court (if you even win the case)... especially after you pay your legal team.

Were your options really "clawed back" (meaning recouping compensation that has already been given) or did they just not vest? Unless you mean founder equity or RSUs instead of options, I can't see how you would have had them after 51 weeks. Usually, people vest like 25% of their promised equity compensation after 1 year (the "cliff") and then a small percentage each additional month until they fully vest after 4 (or sometimes 5) years.