Stock Options Cliff and Corp/VC Reputation

I was recently fired from a startup just before the one-year anniversary. Because the stock option plan had a one-year cliff I didn't get to keep any options. I was surprised to find out that this is not uncommon. With hardly any effort I discovered three similar cases of senior people with amazing backgrounds getting fired before the one year anniversary. Clearly, companies can get away with behavior like this because few people are going to talk publicly about getting fired.

What would be the best way to track a company or VC reputation? Glassdoor may work for large companies but doesn't seem to work for smaller ones. Since the state Gov already tracks employment, why not make those statistics public? This can include number of employees hired/fired per category, compensation range, gender, age, benefits offered, stock options, sr staff turnover and perhaps other useful stats. We regulate info to buy a company stock, why not do the same for the labor market?

I know that the political systems is mostly run by corporations but why can't we think of a better system that will make the labor market more transparent and fair? After all, good reputable companies will benefit from transparency. In California we vote for lots of silly propositions, why not proposing something useful.

Finally, what is the rationale for the 1-year cliff other than screw employees? Why do we make it so easy for a corporation to fire someone? I don't think it should be too hard but there should be a process and more balance and it should have a higher cost for companies (unless they are truly out of $). Perhaps employment agreements should be standardized and made public so critics can review them.

Because of lack of transparency individuals are at a disadvantage unless we change the rules of the game though the democratic process.

Anyone out there has similar feelings/thoughts? Are there any meetups where people talk about these issues?