Include a clause in the options agreement stating that if an employee is laid off, or fired without good cause, they become fully vested. Of course, “good caus

Include a clause in the options agreement stating that if an employee is laid off, or fired without good cause, they become fully vested. Of course, “good cause” is an inherently slippery term, but if a CEO announces in the frigging Wall Street Journal that he’s trying to twist employees into giving their stock back, and then turns to Fred and says “Fred, I haven’t mentioned this before, but I think your performance has been really poor over the past year”, then Fred’s lawyer does not have a very difficult case.