Executive Perquisites, Benefits and Other Compensation Executive shall be entitled to receive additional benefits and compensation from the Company in such form and to such extent as specified below:
(i) Payment of all premiums for coverage for Executive and his dependent family members under health, hospitalization, disability, dental, life and other insurance plans that the Company may have in effect from time to time, benefits provided to Executive under this clause (i) to be at least equal to such benefits provided to Metals executives.
(ii) Reimbursement for all business travel and other out-of-pocket expenses reasonably incurred by Executive in the performance of his services pursuant to this Agreement. All reimbursable expenses shall be appropriately documented in reasonable detail by Executive upon submission of any request for reimbursement, and in a format and manner consistent with the Company's expense reporting policy.
(iii) The Company shall provide Executive with other executive perquisites as may be available to or deemed appropriate for Executive by the Board and participation in all other Company-wide employee benefits as are available from time to time.
Employees; Employee Benefits (a) For the 12-month period following the Closing Date (the “Continuation Period”), Buyer shall provide, or shall cause the Company to continue providing, to each individual who is a Business Employee as of the Closing (each, a “Continuing Employee”): (i) a base salary or hourly wage rate, as applicable, that is at least equal to the base salary or hourly wage rate provided to such Continuing Employee immediately prior to the Closing, (ii) annual or other short-term cash bonus opportunities (for the avoidance of doubt, excluding equity and equity based rights) that are substantially comparable to those provided to such Continuing Employee immediately prior to Closing, and (iii) medical and defined contribution retirement benefits that are substantially comparable, in the aggregate, to those provided to similarly situated employees of Buyer or its Affiliates. If Buyer terminates, or causes the Company to terminate, any Continuing Employee in the 6-month period following the Closing Date (each, a “Terminated Employee”), Buyer or the Company, as the case may be, shall provide to such Terminated Employee the amount of severance, as determined by Buyer in good faith, to which such Terminated Employee would have been entitled under the Company’s existing severance plan in place as of the Closing Date.
(b) For all purposes, including vesting, eligibility to participate and level of benefits (other than benefits under defined benefit pension plans) under the Employee Benefit Plans of Buyer or its Affiliates (as applicable) providing benefits to Continuing Employees after the Closing in which such Continuing Employees are eligible to participate (the “New Plans”), each Continuing Employee in such plans shall be credited with his or her years of service with the Company and its predecessors prior to the Closing, to the same extent as such Continuing Employee was entitled, before the Closing, to credit for such service under any similar Employee Benefit Plan in which such Continuing Employee participated or was eligible to participate immediately prior to the Closing (such plans, collectively, the “Old Plans”); provided, however, that the foregoing shall not apply to the extent that its application would result in a duplication of benefits with respect to the same period of service. In addition, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Buyer shall undertake commercially reasonable efforts to provide that (i) each Continuing Employee shall be immediately eligible to participate, without any waiting time, in any and all New Plans to the extent coverage under any such New Plan replaces coverage under any Old Plan and (ii) for purposes of each New Plan providing medical, dental, pharmaceutical, vision, disability, life insurance and/or other welfare benefits to any Continuing Employee (collectively, the “New Welfare Plans”), Buyer shall cause (A) all pre-existing conditions, exclusions or limitations, eligibility waiting periods and actively-at-work requirements of such New Welfare Plans to be waived for such Continuing Employee and his or her covered dependents (to the extent such conditions, exclusions, limitations, periods and requirements were waived or satisfied as of immediately prior to the Closing under comparable Old Plans), and (B) any eligible expenses incurred by each Continuing Employee and his or her covered dependents during the portion of the plan year of the Old Plan ending on the date such Continuing Employee’s participation in the corresponding New Welfare Plan begins to be taken into account under such New Welfare Plan for purposes of satisfying all deductible, co-payment, coinsurance and maximum out-of-pocket requirements applicable to such Continuing Employee and his or her covered dependents for the applicable plan year as if such amounts had been paid in accordance with such New Welfare Plan.
(c) As of the Closing, Seller and its Affiliates (other than the Group Companies) shall assume and/or retain sponsorship of and be solely responsible for all Liabilities relating to or at any time arising under or in connection with or pursuant to any Employee Benefit Plan or other plan, program, arrangement, or agreement providing compensation or benefits to any current or former director, officer, employee or other service provider of Seller or its Affiliates.
(d) Nothing contained in this Section 7.3 or elsewhere in this Agreement, express or implied, shall confer upon any current or former Business Employee or Business Service Provider any right to continued employment or service (or resumed employment or service) subsequent to the Closing. This Section 7.3 shall operate exclusively for the benefit of the Parties and not for the benefit of any other Person, including any current or former Business Employees or the Continuing Employees, which Persons shall have no rights to enforce this Section 7.3 of this Agreement. Nothing in this Section 7.3 shall: (i) create any third party rights in any current or former Business Employee or Business Service Provider (including any beneficiary or dependent thereof) or (ii) be treated as an amendment of any Employee Benefit Plan or restrict the ability of the Parties or their Affiliates to amend, modify, discontinue or terminate any Employee Benefit Plan or any other employee benefit plan, practice or policy established or maintained by the Parties or their Affiliates.
Employees; Employee Benefit Plans (a) Section 5.11(a) of the TD Banknorth Disclosure Schedule contains a true and complete list of each “employee benefit plan” (within the meaning of ERISA, including multiemployer plans within the meaning of ERISA Section 3(37)), stock purchase, stock option, severance, employment, loan, change-in-control, fringe benefit, collective bargaining, bonus, incentive, deferred compensation and all other employee benefit plans, agreements, programs, policies or other arrangements, whether or not subject to ERISA (including any funding mechanism therefor now in effect or required in the future as a result of the transaction contemplated by this Agreement or otherwise) under which any current or former employee, director or independent contractor of TD Banknorth or any of its Subsidiaries has any present or future right to benefits and under which TD Banknorth or any of its Subsidiaries has any present or future liability. All such plans, agreements, programs, policies and arrangements shall be collectively referred to as the “TD Banknorth Benefit Plans.”
(b) Except as would not reasonably be expected to have, either individually or in the aggregate, a Material Adverse Effect on TD Banknorth, (i) each of the TD Banknorth Benefit Plans has been established and administered in accordance with its terms, and in compliance with the applicable provisions of ERISA, the Code and other applicable laws, rules and regulations; (ii) each TD Banknorth Benefit Plan which is intended to be qualified within the meaning of Code Section 401(a) has received a favorable determination letter as to its qualification, and nothing has occurred, whether by action or failure to act, that would reasonably be expected to cause the loss of such qualification; (iii) no “reportable event” (as such term is defined in ERISA Section 4043), “prohibited transaction” (as such term is defined in ERISA Section 406 and Code Section 4975) or “accumulated funding deficiency” (as such term is defined in ERISA section 302 and Code Section 412 (whether or not waived)) has occurred with respect to any TD Banknorth Benefit Plan; (iv) except as set forth in Section 5.11(b) of the TD Banknorth Disclosure Schedule, no TD Banknorth Benefit Plan provides retiree welfare benefits and neither TD Banknorth nor any of its Subsidiaries have any obligation to provide any retiree welfare benefits other than as required by Section 4980B of the Code; and (v) neither TD Banknorth nor any ERISA Affiliate has engaged in, or is a successor or parent corporation to an entity that has engaged in, a transaction described in Sections 4069 or 4212(c) of ERISA.
(c) With respect to any TD Banknorth Benefit Plan, except as would not reasonably be expected to have, either individually or in the aggregate, a Material Adverse Effect on TD Banknorth, or as set forth in Section 5.11(c) of the TD Banknorth Disclosure Schedule, (i) no actions, suits or claims (other than routine claims for benefits in the ordinary course) are pending or, to the Knowledge of TD Banknorth or any of its Subsidiaries, threatened, (ii) no written communication has been received from the PBGC in respect of any TD Banknorth Benefit Plan subject to Title IV of ERISA concerning the funded status of any such plan or any transfer of assets and liabilities from any such plan in connection with the transactions contemplated herein and (iii) no administrative investigation, audit or other administrative proceeding by the Department of Labor, the PBGC, the Internal Revenue Service or other governmental agencies are pending, in progress (including any routine requests for information from the PBGC), or to the Knowledge of TD Banknorth, threatened.
(d) Except as set forth in Section 5.11(d) of the TD Banknorth Disclosure Schedule, none of the TD Banknorth Benefit Plans is a multiemployer plan (within the meaning of ERISA Section 4001(a)(3)), and none of TD Banknorth, its Subsidiaries or any ERISA Affiliate has any liability with respect to a multiemployer plan that remains unsatisfied.
Participation in Retirement, Medical and Other Plans The Executive shall participate in any plan that the Company maintains for the benefit of its employees if the plan relates to (i) pension, profit-sharing, or other retirement benefits, (ii) medical insurance or the reimbursement of medical or dependent care expenses, or (iii) other group benefits, including disability and life insurance plans.
Solicitation of Employees, Consultants and Other Parties I agree that during the term of my Relationship with the Company, and for a period of twenty-four months immediately following the termination of my Relationship with the Company for any reason, whether with or without cause, I shall not either directly or indirectly solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or attempt to solicit, induce, recruit, encourage or take away employees or consultants of the Company, either for myself or for any other person or entity. Further, during my Relationship with the Company and at any time following termination of my Relationship with the Company for any reason, with or without cause, I shall not use any information rising to the level of a trade secret of the Company: (i) to attempt to negatively influence any of the Company’s clients or customers from purchasing Company products or services; (ii) to solicit or influence or attempt to influence any client, customer or other person either directly or indirectly; or, (iii) to direct any of the Company’s clients or customers to purchase products and/or services – from any person, firm, corporation, institution or other entity in competition with the business of the Company.
Labor and Other Employment Matters (a) (i) Neither the Parent nor any of the Parent Subsidiaries is a party to or bound by any collective bargaining or similar agreement or work rules or practices with any labor union, works council, labor organization or employee association applicable to employees of the Parent or any Parent Subsidiary, nor are there any negotiations or discussions currently pending between the Parent or the Parent Subsidiaries and any union, work counsel, labor organization, or employee association, (ii) there have been no strikes, work stoppages, shutdowns, or lockouts with respect to any Parent Employee during the last five (5) years, (iii) to the knowledge of the Parent, there is no effort pending or threatened against the Parent or any Parent Subsidiary, (iv) there is no unfair labor practice, labor dispute (other than routine individual grievances) or labor arbitration proceeding pending or, to the knowledge of the Parent, threatened with respect to Parent Employees, and (v) there is no slowdown, work stoppage or similar labor activity in effect or, to the knowledge of the Parent, threatened with respect to Parent Employees; except, with respect to clauses (ii) through (v) hereof, as would not have, or would not reasonably be expected to have, individually or in the aggregate, a Parent Material Adverse Effect.
(b) The Parent and the Parent Subsidiaries are, and have been, in compliance in all material respects with all applicable Laws respecting (i) employment and employment practices, (ii) terms and conditions of employment and wages and hours, including the obligations of the WARN Act, (iii) unfair labor practices, and (iv) occupational safety and health and immigration, except as set forth in Section 5.12(b) of the Parent Disclosure Letter, neither Parent nor any Parent Subsidiary has implemented, conducted or experienced a “plant closing” or “mass layoff” as defined in the WARN Act (or any similar group personnel action requiring advance notice under the WARN Act) affecting any site of employment or one or more facilities or operating units within any site of employment or facility of Parent or any Parent Subsidiary.
(c) Except as set forth in Section 5.12(c) of the Parent Disclosure Letter, there are no proceedings pending or, to the knowledge of the Parent, threatened against the Parent or any of the Parent Subsidiaries in any forum by or on behalf of any present or former Parent Employee or any present or former employee of any Person providing services to any Parent Entity for which Parent could reasonably be expected to be liable that, individually or in the aggregate, would reasonably be expected to have a Parent Material Adverse Effect, any applicant for employment or classes of the foregoing alleging unpaid or overdue wages or compensation due, breach of any express or implied employment contract, violation of any Law or regulation governing employment or the termination thereof, or any other discriminatory, wrongful or tortious conduct on the part of the Parent of any of the Parent Subsidiaries in connection with the employment relationship that, individually or in the aggregate, would reasonably be expected to have a Parent Material Adverse Effect.
(d) Each individual who renders service to the Parent or any Parent Subsidiary who is classified by the Parent or such Parent Subsidiary, as applicable, as having the status of an independent contractor or other non-employee status for any purpose (including for purposes of taxation and tax reporting and under any Parent Employee Benefit Plans) is properly so classified and treated in accordance with applicable Laws and for purposes of all Parent Employee Benefit Plans and perquisites.
Employment and Employee Benefits Matters (a) Parent shall, and shall cause the Surviving Corporation and each of its other Subsidiaries to, for the period commencing at the Effective Time and ending December 31, 2019, maintain for each individual employed by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries at the Effective Time (each, a “Current Employee”) (i) each of base compensation and a target annual cash incentive compensation opportunity at least as favorable as that provided to the Current Employee as of immediately prior to the Effective Time, (ii) benefits that are at least as favorable as the benefits maintained for and provided to the Current Employee as of immediately prior to the Effective Time and (iii) severance benefits that are at least as favorable as the severance benefits provided by the Company to the Current Employees as of immediately prior to the Effective Time to the extent set forth in Section 4.13(a) of the Company Disclosure Schedule.
(b) Parent shall, and shall cause the Surviving Corporation to, cause service rendered by Current Employees to the Company and its Subsidiaries, prior to the Effective Time to be taken into account for all purposes under employee benefit plans of Parent, the Surviving Corporation, and its Subsidiaries, to the same extent as such service was taken into account under the corresponding Company Plans immediately prior to the Effective Time for those purposes; provided that the foregoing shall not apply to the extent that its application would result in a duplication of benefits or the funding thereof with respect to the same period of service. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Parent shall not, and shall cause the Surviving Corporation to not, subject Current Employees to any eligibility requirements, waiting periods, actively-at-work requirements or pre-existing condition limitations under any employee benefit plan of Parent, the Surviving Corporation or its Subsidiaries for any condition for which they would have been entitled to coverage under the corresponding Company Plan in which they participated prior to the Effective Time. Parent shall, and shall cause the Surviving Corporation and its Subsidiaries, to give such Current Employees credit under such employee benefit plans for any eligible expenses incurred by such Current Employees and their covered dependents under a Company Plan during the portion of the year prior to the Effective Time for purposes of satisfying all co-payment, co-insurance, deductibles, maximum out-of-pocket requirements, and other out-of-pocket expenses applicable to such Current Employees and their covered dependents in respect of the plan year in which the Effective Time occurs; provided that the foregoing shall not apply to the extent that its application would result in a duplication of benefits or the funding thereof with respect to the same period of service.
(c) No provision of this Agreement (i) prohibits Parent or the Surviving Corporation from amending or terminating any individual Company Plan or any other employee benefit plan, (ii) confers upon any director, Current Employee or service provider of the Company or any Subsidiary or Affiliate thereof any right to continue in the employ or service of the Surviving Corporation, Parent or any Subsidiary or any Affiliate thereof for any period of time, or shall interfere with or restrict in any way the rights of the Surviving Corporation, Parent or any Subsidiary or Affiliate thereof to discharge or terminate the services of any director, employee or individual service provider of the Company or any Subsidiary or Affiliate thereof at any time for any reason whatsoever, with or without cause, or (iii) constitutes the establishment or adoption of, or amendment to, any Company Plan or employee benefit plan. No Current Employee or any other individual employed by, or providing services to, the Company or its Subsidiaries has any third-party beneficiary or other rights with respect to this Agreement.
Employee Benefits Matters (a) From and after the Effective Time, each of the Surviving Corporation and its Subsidiaries shall honor all of its respective compensation and benefits plans, programs, agreements and arrangements of the Company and its Subsidiaries in accordance with their terms as in effect immediately prior to the Effective Time, provided that nothing in this sentence shall prohibit the Surviving Corporation or its Subsidiaries from amending or terminating any such plans, programs, agreements and arrangements in accordance with their terms. The Surviving Corporation shall, for the six-month period immediately following the Effective Time, provide each retained employee of the Company and its Subsidiaries as of the Effective Time (each, a “Retained Employee”), other than any Retained Employee whose employment is subject to a collective bargaining or other labor agreement, with compensation and employee benefits, excluding equity, equity-based and similar compensation, that are comparable in the aggregate to those provided by the Company and its Subsidiaries (other than with respect to change of control payments or other payments resulting from the Offer or the Merger) to such Retained Employees immediately prior to the Effective Time. Nothing herein shall be deemed to be a guarantee of employment for any employee or prohibit or restrict the right of the Surviving Corporation to (i) make changes to salaries, employee benefits and incentive compensation pursuant to negotiations in connection with a collective bargaining agreement or (ii) amend and/or eliminate any benefit program, subject to compliance with the first sentence of this Section 6.7(a).
(b) The Retained Employees shall receive credit for service with the Company and its Subsidiaries for all purposes (including for purposes of eligibility to participate, vesting, benefit accrual and eligibility to receive benefits, but excluding benefit accruals under any defined benefit pension plan) under any compensation or employee benefit plan, program or arrangement established or maintained by Parent (to the extent an Retained Employee is brought under any such plan), the Surviving Corporation or any of their respective Affiliates under which each Retained Employee may be eligible to participate on or after the Effective Time to the same extent recognized by the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries under comparable benefit plans immediately prior to the Effective Time; provided, however, that such crediting of service shall not operate to duplicate any benefit or the funding of any such benefit.
(c) To the extent that, after the Effective Time, the Surviving Corporation changes the welfare benefit plans, programs and arrangements in which Retained Employees participate, Parent shall (i) waive, or use its reasonable best efforts to cause its insurance carrier to waive, all limitations as to preexisting and at-work conditions, if any, with respect to participation and coverage requirements applicable to each Retained Employee to the same extent waived under a comparable benefit plan and (ii) with respect to the plan year in which the change was made, provide a credit to each Retained Employee for any co-payments, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses paid by such Retained Employee under the benefit plans during the relevant plan year, up to and including the Effective Time.
(d) During the period from the date hereof to the Acceptance Date, the Company shall not, and shall not permit any of its Subsidiaries to, without Parent’s prior written consent, make any payment or contribution to the Employee Benefit Plans except in accordance with past practices in the ordinary course.
(e) The parties agree that the provisions of this Section 6.7 may be modified without the consent of any employee (it being understood and agreed that the employees to whom this Section 6.7 applies shall not be third party beneficiaries of this Section 6.7).
Compensation and Other Benefits Subject to the provisions of this Agreement, the Company shall pay and provide the following compensation and other benefits to the Executive during the Term as compensation for services rendered hereunder:
Vacation and Other Benefits Each Contract Year, Executive shall be entitled to four (4) weeks of paid vacation in accordance with Employer’s applicable policies and procedures for executive-level employees. Executive shall also be eligible to participate in and receive the fringe benefits generally made available to other executive-level employees of Employer in accordance with and to the extent that Executive is eligible under the general provisions of Employer’s fringe benefit plans or programs; provided, however, that Executive understands that these benefits may be increased, changed, eliminated or added from time to time during the Term as determined in Employer’s sole and absolute discretion.
