
Ask HN: Not sure what to do here - justthat1guy
One of the founders of the startup I work at threatened me today when I said: &quot;If you&#x27;re not going to pay me what I&#x27;m currently getting paid, I&#x27;ll probably quit.&quot; I was trying to be transparent about my feelings when saying this and they fired back with: &quot;I&#x27;ll sue you and take your shares back!&quot;. My shares haven&#x27;t vested so I don&#x27;t really care too much about that, but I am scared they&#x27;ll try to drown me in legal fees from suing me.<p>Any advice would be appreciated.<p>Thanks...
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greenyoda
_" "If you're not going to pay me what I'm currently getting paid"_

Not sure exactly what this means. Are you saying that they're not paying you
your salary, or something else?

What could they possibly sue you for? Do you have a contract with them that
says you'll work for a particular salary for a fixed amount of time? If not,
you're an "at-will" employee, and can leave at any time. In any case, I don't
think they can drown you in legal fees because they seem to have nothing to
sue you over. I'm pretty sure this startup's investors wouldn't be happy if
the founders started pursuing frivolous lawsuits against their employees -
it's a waste of money, and companies that have a reputation for suing their
employees will find it very hard to recruit new employees.

If my employer made a crazy threat to sue me, I'd be looking for a new job
right away.

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mtmail
If we're talking about employee stock options then you loose them if
employment ends anyway. Some contract give you let's say 90 days after leaving
to sell (well convert, same-day-sale) them.

On what grounds could they sue you? I mean you have the right to quit for any
(or no) reason. I'd say it's an empty threat.

