Ben moved the cursor over a name, then pulled his hand away from the mouse. “You don’t want to know,” he whispered. I insisted, and finally he said it: Monica. She was the executive who had told me my $236,400 distribution was only a temporary adjustment. She had told me not to make an emotional decision and reminded me that Northstar needed me. Now I knew she had personally approved reducing my payment to one dollar.

But the money suddenly seemed less important. Ben revealed that three other former employees had also had their distributions manually reduced to zero. I returned to my desk and reread my eight-year agreement like someone preparing for court. Then I found the section about intellectual property. It appeared the company was claiming ownership over work I had created before signing the contract. Worse, the agreement referenced a Schedule C that didn’t exist. When Ben searched my historical equity records, he discovered something that made my stomach drop: five years earlier, Northstar had granted me 480,000 restricted units. Click continue reading below