Giving Notice and Vesting Cliff

Question

I've been at a company for a little over a year that is not a good fit for me. I started interviewing a few months back and just recently got a really good offer from one of the FAANG gang.The company I am currently at doesn't vest your first year on your anniversary, but instead on preset days each quarter (I'm not sure if this is common).I pushed my start date out significantly, but its not more than 2 weeks from my current cliff and it is as far out as the organization will allow.I want to get the stock for my first year, and I also want to give a reasonable notice to my current employer - the thing is, I dont trust my current employer.If I were to give a 4-6 weeks notice for _after_ my cliff date, and my current org let me go in the meantime, do I have any recourse?Is my only option to stay until I vest, and give a very short notice?The stock grant is 6 figures, so not an insignificant amount.

NonEUCitizen · Accepted Answer

No, absolutely do NOT give them any notice until after your cliff date. It's a bad idea to give them notice before your cliff date for an end date after your cliff date.
Read your stock option plan agreement. Typically, you have 90-days after parting ways to exercise your vested shares (some more progressive companies have increased this exercise window). Read up on what your tax obligations will be before you exercise, and factor that in when deciding whether to exercise, and how much (it's not a decision between exercising none or exercising all; exercising some is very valid). Soon after you leave, and way before exercising, find out if there's a private market for your stock options. In your modeling to decide how much to exercise, make sure to consider the scenario where the options end up being worth zero (you will still be liable for tax this year even if you can deduct the loss later; your upfront expenses can be high). [assumption here is that it's a startup]
You do not need to give them 2-weeks' notice -- if you're in USA, your job is probably "at-will." Do you think they will give you 2-week's notice if they lay you off (apart from what the law requires them to)? You already indicated you don't trust them, based on about 1 year of interaction; why would you suddenly trust them in the next few hours / days / weeks?

davismwfl · Answer

IANAL but in general if you give notice and they see your stock grant hasn't happened and would if they let you serve out the notice, you won't get to serve out your notice. And at least that I know of there is nothing illegal about that and no recourse for you. It is crappy (maybe immoral to some) but from what I understand/know not illegal.Assuming this is a real stock grant with equity that can be made liquid, and not a startup, then you would want to find a way to manage around this date issue. Also make sure they have no clause for clawback if you leave within X period of your first year anniversary (saw that once). If we are talking about a startup that isn't public and has no immediate liquidity route for the equity just go.