0.1% of a Series B company is the entire four-year grant for a new engineer, or several sales / operations folks.
I don't know of any companies that award options yearly/bonus, it would be an incredibly stupid thing to do, must always do RSUs [1]. Options may be adjusted for dilution or promotions yearly, but that's different. Options are designed as a tool to get a % proportional to what you add as value. If you get options with your own work valued in the strike price, those options are orders of magnitude less valuable than the options you get at sign up. If gitlab made that clear and he agreed, then I agree gitlab are in the right, otherwise yes he got screwed over big time.
[1] The problem with delayed or yearly options grants is that workers have a huge incentive now to lower the strike price for the next valuation. Why would you work hard against yourself if you are really just increasing the price you buy at? You'd be much better off to work against the company at this point and score a lower strike price. Further how can you trust a company that makes you work against your own interest. Perfect example of lose-lose.