Fat Nick
Footballguy
So my wife was laid off yesterday - full transparency, she's quite happy about it. She hated her job. She got some decent severance, and we're plenty capable living off 1 income for a while, maybe longer - so it's not a sad situation at all.
I do have a question though as there's an aspect of her termination that doesn't sit well with me. My wife worked for the same large corporation from ~2009 until ~ June 2022. During her time there, she received long term incentive based compensation in the form of options and restricted stock. She was unhappy at that company - they were divesting part of the business, and she'd been passed over for a few roles in what she perceived as unfair reasons, so she left. She took a role with this new company in June 2022. Part of her joining that company was they agreed to give her stock in their company equal to the LTI she left at her old company. The terms of that grant was that it vested 1/3 on her 1-year anniversary, then quarterly on a pro-rata basis until it was fully vested at the end of 3 years. This was similar to her original vesting schedule at her old company.
When she was laid off yesterday, she was told that none of her LTI received during her sign-on will be vested as her last day is in April. I'm not OK with this. Per the fine print, it does appear that this LTI can be withheld at the company's discretion, but I believe this pertains to LTI earned while at the company - her situation is different as it was a signing bonus per se. She was not given the opportunity to fulfill her end of the deal and work long enough to vest the shares - additionally, she may not have left her old company were this not granted to her.
Is there a leg to stand on here to fight for vesting of that LTI since the termination was not for cause, nor was it her choosing?
I do have a question though as there's an aspect of her termination that doesn't sit well with me. My wife worked for the same large corporation from ~2009 until ~ June 2022. During her time there, she received long term incentive based compensation in the form of options and restricted stock. She was unhappy at that company - they were divesting part of the business, and she'd been passed over for a few roles in what she perceived as unfair reasons, so she left. She took a role with this new company in June 2022. Part of her joining that company was they agreed to give her stock in their company equal to the LTI she left at her old company. The terms of that grant was that it vested 1/3 on her 1-year anniversary, then quarterly on a pro-rata basis until it was fully vested at the end of 3 years. This was similar to her original vesting schedule at her old company.
When she was laid off yesterday, she was told that none of her LTI received during her sign-on will be vested as her last day is in April. I'm not OK with this. Per the fine print, it does appear that this LTI can be withheld at the company's discretion, but I believe this pertains to LTI earned while at the company - her situation is different as it was a signing bonus per se. She was not given the opportunity to fulfill her end of the deal and work long enough to vest the shares - additionally, she may not have left her old company were this not granted to her.
Is there a leg to stand on here to fight for vesting of that LTI since the termination was not for cause, nor was it her choosing?
