Ben moved the cursor over a name, then pulled his hand away from the mouse. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to know,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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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<\/p>\n
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