Hello,
I am an employee of the company which few years ago introduced ESOP plan and I was a part of it since day one. Now by the end of 2019 company approached all share holders saying that there is a good buyer for the company and the price is right. Then we all could vote in favor of sale or against it. Sell was accepted and all calculations and testing started. There was a huge amount of unalocated shares that should be fairly redistributed between all ESOP participants and due to sale all participants were 100% vested. Here my case started. In December 2019 I was injured in a car accident and forced to go for surgery, which put me out of work for 7 months. During that time I was on short term disability provided through company's benefits since company did not wanted to adjust my work to lighter duty to allow me to earn my income and recover at the same time. I was recently released to work by doctors just to find out that I am getting only 100% of my share value which I owned till end of 2019. The big pool of unalocated shares was distributed on the beginning of 2020 and I was told that since theoretically I did not get any pay stub in 2020 I am not eligible for distribution of the most valued shares. In that case I lost 2/3 of predicted after sale payout. Is there any law, rule or regulation that is protecting me in this case? I never quit the company nor was fired. I was told to go on disability which I did. It was not my choice, just unfortunate accident which can happened to anyone and any time. Now it feels like double loss to me since I worked hard many years just to be left like that. Thank you all for any comment, opinion etc.
