Giving an employee an option on a $30 unit of stock with a $30 dollar strike price has no tax implications. Giving the same option with a $1 strike price means $29 of immediate taxable income. Multiply by an early employee grant size and you're looking at bankruptcy from taxes on completely illiquid assets.

This is also why options are strongly preferred to actual stock.

Strike prices aren't set arbitrarily, they're set based on 3rd party valuations of the value of the stock at the time of the option grant. Failing to follow these rules can have huge negative consequences for both companies and employees.