51–60 of 391 posts
File under: Live and learn. $10K is an amount that sounds like a lot to many folks but it's nothing you can ever recover. If you engage a lawyer it'll all go to his fees even if you "win." Move on.
One could file in small claims court, if $10k is within the limit.
While this is unfortunate and it sounds like you deserve better (I'd like to hear the other side of the story first), I would discourage against taking this public. This is an issue between you and the founders, and no one else. "Warning" your former Miso coworkers should happen privately -- this post brings them the wrong kind of attention, but they did nothing to deserve it. Future employers who read this post will…
You may want to consider putting the $10K towards a good cause (if Miso eventually steps up), to show it was never about the money. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like Miso may have made a business decision, and you are reminding them of the cost side of that equation.
You may want to consider putting the $10K towards a good cause (if Miso eventually steps up), to show it was never about the money. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like Miso may have made a business decision, and you are reminding them of the cost side of that equation.
Why wouldn't it be about the money?
Why is this guy under any obligation to give away money he EARNED by making a referral?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not really how it works. If it's in an e-mail, it's a contract. Me: "Hey, if you do X I'll give you $10k." You: [Does X.] "Can I have my $10k?" Me: "Nah, the moment's passed. I'm not really feeling it anymore." Nope. That's sleazy behavior.
As long as the email isn't as fully formulated as an actual contract I usually tend to see them more as a declaration of an intent that isn't 100% fixed yet and is missing some of the details. (such as: you won't get it after you decided to quit and work somewhere else). That's usually the nice thing about startups, you don't have to fill out gobs of paperwork and have hours of meetings to get these small perks figur…
Think how many things in our society would break down if this wasn't the case.
You may want to consider putting the $10K towards a good cause (if Miso eventually steps up), to show it was never about the money. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like Miso may have made a business decision, and you are reminding them of the cost side of that equation.
Why in god's name shouldn't it be about the money? He delivered incredible value by finding the company some talent in a talent-scarce environment. $10k seems like a pittance – but definitely one he earned.
Honestly, the answers that the Miso founders gave seemed very professional and I think am a bit on their side in this one. If OP had asked for the bonus while still being at Miso, it seems like he would simply have gotten it. Seeing as a non-contractual bonus is an investment in the employee that the company does in addition to the usual compensation, and seeing as OP quit on his own and doesn't have a compensation a…
The engineer communicated very professionally too. Just because you don't HAVE to not be an asshole, doesn't mean you SHOULD be an asshole. I agree with the engineer here since really this is something they promised at least informally and not delivering on it out of spite is just douchey.
- "Impeccable logic."
- ' At this point. You might as well just tell me "fuck you. you didn't sign a contract. boohoo." '
- ' I was starting to feel like they were determined to screw me.'
- 'No. I'm not proud of threatening, but I was pissed.'
- ' The rest of this chain of emails consists of me double checking if he understood what I was saying, and him giving me some more BS.'
- 'This is unethical practice. Period.'
- 'Somrat. Tim. Was this worth the 10k?'
This part sounds dubious: "For example, we don't pay people outside of Miso when they refer us candidates that we hire." Any recruiter worth their salt is getting a minimum of 15% on first years salary right now, and many are getting 20%. On a typical $150K Salary that would be $30K if the same candidate comes through a recruiter. Perhaps it's just the case that Miso doesn't use external recruiters, and so the statem…
I would think very few startups use recruiters -- who has that much extra cash laying around?
Of course, there are some that don't, but it's certainly not unusual for startups to use recruiters.
Taking it public like this comes across as really petty and childish.
I'm sure that everyone who would screw an engineer out of $10k agrees with this.
For example, should some future employer decide to Google your name before making an offer, they're likely to come up with an old spat between you and your employer. Even if you're in the right, it will make them think twice about hiring you. This disagreement may follow you forever (Google doesn't forget) and cost much more than $10k.
A better tactic may be to try and leverage your relationship with your friend who is still employed there. If this quarrel is detrimental to his morale, they may be willing to come to an agreement.