I agree that it is wrong for a company to claim that they are offering compensation that they aren't, and it is easily possible that that occurred here and Zynga is wrong. I am certainly not going to try to claim that Zynga is a great company that everyone should try to be more like.
But I think the core issue here is that this is what stock options and RSUs are. This isn't Zynga exploiting a loophole that only they wrote into their contract and only they do, this is the definition of stock options. I understand that Zynga is awful, I am more trying to make everyone aware that this isn't some insane situation that could never happen to them because they work at a nicer startup. If you are working for RSUs there is a much much higher chance that you are going to get fired a month before your stock vests than a month after, and it seems like everyone on here has been tricked just like the Zynga employees were tricked into thinking that stock options in startup X are just as good as stock.
But I think the core issue here is that this is what stock options and RSUs are. This isn't Zynga exploiting a loophole that only they wrote into their contract and only they do, this is the definition of stock options. I understand that Zynga is awful, I am more trying to make everyone aware that this isn't some insane situation that could never happen to them because they work at a nicer startup. If you are working for RSUs there is a much much higher chance that you are going to get fired a month before your stock vests than a month after, and it seems like everyone on here has been tricked just like the Zynga employees were tricked into thinking that stock options in startup X are just as good as stock.