Are RSUs and employee stock options halal?

Shares as part of your salary

Restricted stock units (RSUs) are shares your employer promises to give you once you've worked there long enough (vesting). Employee stock options give you the right to buy shares later at a fixed price. Both are rewards for your work, and earning from honest work is something Islam encourages:

Owning shares means owning a small part of a real business, which most scholars allow. See Can I invest in stocks as a Muslim?

Check the company's business

The first question is what your employer does. If the core business is halal (software, healthcare, retail, engineering), the shares are fine to hold. If the main income comes from alcohol, gambling, pork, conventional banking or adult content, you shouldn't keep those shares. Many tech and manufacturing firms pass the usual Shariah screens, which also look at how much debt and interest income a company has.

RSUs vs stock options

• RSUs: you simply receive shares as pay. Scholars see little issue beyond screening the company.
• Employer stock options: many contemporary scholars allow them because they are a promise from your employer tied to your job, not something bought and sold on a market. Exercising them to buy shares is fine.
• Traded options: buying and selling options on the market as bets on price moves is widely considered haram due to gharar and speculation. That's a different thing from options in your pay package.
• "Cashless exercise": if a broker lends you money with interest to exercise, avoid that part. A same-day sale with no loan is generally fine.

Purification and zakat

Even halal companies may earn a little interest on their cash. Many scholars recommend giving a small percentage of dividends to charity. See What is dividend purification? Vested shares also count toward your zakat once you own them. See Do I pay zakat on stocks? Unvested RSUs aren't yours yet, so most scholars say no zakat is due on them.