Ask HN: Why can't I disclose how many options my last start up paid me?

3 points·kelukelugames··7 comments

The company I just left raised $71 million at $500 million valuation. This is public data on crunchbase.

But the company lawyer says the amount of options I received and their worth is proprietary information and cannot be shared. I don't understand how this can harm the company. Can someone please enlighten me?

I should be able to share how much or how little I got paid.

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"I don't understand how this can harm the company."

Maybe some employees got more shares than other employees with similar job titles, and the company doesn't want the lower-compensated employees to find out (since it may cause them to quit or ask for more money).

Also, employees of your company may have gotten less equity than employees of other, similar companies, and that information may be used by these other companies to recruit employees of your company.

The interests of the company in keeping this information private may be at odds with the interests of the company's employees.

But companies cannot forbid employees from sharing how much salary we make. I don't understand how options are any different. I should go find an employment lawyer.

I think the reason for this is the same as the reason why companies do not disclose salary information of their employees.

But legally we are allowed to disclose salary information.

Is there something about this in your contract?

I'm not allowed to disclose proprietary information. But I don't understand why this is sensitive. My question is why companies try to protect this in the first place.

Is "proprietary" defined in your contract?

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