I am not a lawyer, nor a US person. Since that employee being around is an ongoing net loss for the company, you could consider quietly sending them off to gar

I am not a lawyer, nor a US person. Since that employee being around is an ongoing net loss for the company, you could consider quietly sending them off to garden leave to end on the day after vesting, conditional on signing a severance agreement that's favorable to you (do not disparage, do not solicit etc.) On the other hand, in some jurisdictions firing an employee a short time before a benefit is due may actually be legally hazardous. Under the normal employee grant conditions - specifically waiving off power of attorney for governance - there shouldn't be that much that person can do to harm you. (They still might have access to shareholder reports FWIW). If they care about vesting, probably they have at least some interest in the company's success. A final angle is the optics towards other employees - even if they don't like the person in question, you probably want to appear reasonable - which includes making an effort to part amicably. So the takeaway here is - consult a lawyer and try to work a quiet solution so that everybody can go back to building that startup you care about so much.