Employee Matters; Benefit Plans (a) Except as required by applicable Legal Requirements, the employment of each of the Acquired Corporations’ employees is terminable by the applicable Acquired Corporation at will.
Employee Benefit Plans; Employment Agreements Except in --------------------------------------------- each case as set forth in SCHEDULE 4.10, (i) there has been no "prohibited transaction," as such term is defined in Section 406 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1975, as amended ("ERISA") and Section 4975 of the Code, with respect to any employee pension plans (as defined in Section 3(2) of ERISA, any material employee welfare plans (as defined in Section 3(1) of ERISA), or any material bonus, stock option, stock purchase, incentive, deferred compensation, supplemental retirement, severance and other similar fringe or employee benefit plans, programs or arrangements (collectively, the "COMPANY EMPLOYEE PLANS") which could result in any liability of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries; (ii) all Company Employee Plans are in compliance in all material respects with the requirements prescribed by any and all Laws (including ERISA and the Code), currently in effect with respect thereto (including all applicable requirements for notification to participants or the Department of Labor, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the "PBGC"), Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") or Secretary of the Treasury), and the Company and each of its Subsidiaries have performed all material obligations required to be performed by them under, are not in any material respect in default under or violation of, and have no knowledge of any material default or violation by any other party to, any of the Company Employee Plans; (iii) each Company Employee Plan intended to qualify under Section 401(a) of the Code and each trust intended to qualify under Section 501(a) of the Code is the subject of a favorable determination letter from the IRS, and nothing has occurred which may reasonably be expected to impair such determination; (iv) all contributions required to be made to any Company Employee Plan pursuant to Section 412 of the Code, or the terms of any Company Employee Plan or any collective bargaining agreement, have been made on or before their due dates; (v) with respect to each Company Employee Plan, no "reportable event" within the meaning of Section 4043 of ERISA (excluding any such event for which the 30-day notice requirement has been waived under the regulations to Section 4043 of ERISA) nor any event described in Section 4062, 4063 or 4041 of ERISA has occurred; (vi) no withdrawal (including a partial withdrawal) has occurred with respect to any multiemployer plan within the meaning set forth in Section 3(37) of ERISA that has resulted in, or could reasonably be expected to result in, any withdrawal liability for the Company or any of its Subsidiaries; (vii) neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries has incurred, or reasonably expects to incur, any liability under Title IV of ERISA (other than liability for premium payments to the PBGC, and contributions not in default to the respective plans, arising in the ordinary course), (viii) none of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is a party to any employment, consulting or similar agreement; and (ix) none of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is or will be liable for any severance or other payments to any of its employees as a result of this Agreement or the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby.
Benefits Plans During the Employment Period, You will be eligible to participate in all benefit plans in effect for executives and employees of the Company, subject to the terms and conditions of such plans.
Company Employee Plans (a) Part 3.19(a) of the Disclosure Schedule sets forth a complete and accurate list of each material Company Employee Plan. For purposes of this Agreement, “
Equity Plans Executive shall be entitled to participate in any equity or other employee benefit plan that is generally available to senior executive officers, as distinguished from general management, of the Company. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, Executive’s participation in and benefits under any such plan shall be on the terms and subject to the conditions specified in the governing document of the particular plan.
Intercompany Arrangements Prior to the Closing, the Seller shall cause any contract or arrangement that is disclosed (or should have been disclosed) in Section 3.15(a)(x) of the Disclosure Schedule, other than those contracts or arrangements set forth in Section 6.10 of the Disclosure Schedule, to be terminated or otherwise amended to exclude the Companies and the Transferred Subsidiaries as parties thereto.
Seller Benefit Plans Unless otherwise provided under the terms of the applicable Employee Benefit Plan or the Transition Services Agreement, effective as of 12:01 a.m. on the Applicable Closing Date, each Employee shall cease all active participation in and accrual of benefits under the Employee Benefit Plans that are not Assumed Benefit Plans (such Employee Benefit Plans, along with any other benefit or compensation plan, program, policy or arrangement at any time sponsored, maintained, contributed to or required to be contributed to by any of the Sellers, the Transferred Subsidiaries or any of their respective ERISA Affiliates, the “Retained Benefit Plans”). The Assumed Benefit Plans are set forth in Section 6.02 of the Disclosure Schedule). Sellers and their affiliates (other than any of the Transferred Subsidiaries) shall retain or assume all liabilities and obligations under or with respect to the Retained Benefit Plans, whether arising before, on or after the Applicable Closing Date (such liabilities and obligations shall be deemed Retained Liabilities for all purposes under this Agreement notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement), and neither Purchaser nor any of its affiliates (including, after the Applicable Closing Date, any of the Transferred Subsidiaries) shall sponsor, contribute to or maintain, or have any liability with respect to, any of the Retained Benefit Plans, other than the Purchaser Retention Payment described in Section 6.11 hereof. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, (a) any employee or former employee working in the Business who (i) as of the Applicable Closing Date is receiving or eligible to receive short-term disability benefits under a Retained Benefit Plan, or (ii) as of the Applicable Closing Date is receiving or is in an eligibility waiting or exclusion period for purposes of receiving long-term disability benefits under a Retained Benefit Plan, shall become eligible or continue to be eligible, as applicable, to receive such benefits under a Retained Benefit Plan and (b) Sellers and their affiliates (other than the Transferred Subsidiaries) will assume or retain any obligations under Section 4980B of the Code, Part 6 of Subtitle B of Title I of ERISA, or similar state Law (“COBRA”) with respect to employees and any other qualified beneficiaries (i) who are enrolled in COBRA continuation coverage under a Retained Benefit Plan as of the Applicable Closing Date, or (ii) with respect to whom a COBRA qualifying event occurred on or prior to the Applicable Closing Date. Following the Applicable Closing Date, each Transferred Employee shall be permitted to elect to take distribution (subject to applicable Law) of his or her vested accounts under any Retained Benefit Plan that is a U.S. tax-qualified defined contribution plan and, if a Transferred Employee so elects, to roll them over, directly or otherwise, in accordance with applicable Law, to an individual retirement account or to a U.S. tax-qualified defined contribution retirement plan established or maintained by Purchaser or a Transferred Subsidiary (the “Buyer U.S. Defined Contribution Plans”), and Purchaser and Sellers shall reasonably cooperate to facilitate the direct rollover of distributions, including loan balances, to the Buyer U.S. Defined Contribution Plans where elected by the Transferred Employee. Effective as of 12:01 a.m. on the Applicable Closing Date, Purchaser shall assume or a Transferred Subsidiary shall retain (as applicable) and honor in accordance with their terms the Assumed Benefit Plans and shall be solely responsible for all liabilities under the Assumed Benefit Plans, whether arising before, on or after the applicable Closing (such liabilities and obligations shall be Assumed Liabilities for all purposes under this Agreement), and Sellers shall not sponsor, contribute to or maintain, or have any liability with respect to, the Assumed Benefit Plans.
Employee Benefit Plans; New Hires; Pay Increases Adopt any employee benefit or stock purchase or option plan, or hire any new director level or officer level employee, pay any special bonus or special remuneration to any employee or director, or increase the salaries or wage rates of its employees;
Retirement and Welfare Plans Executive shall participate in employee retirement and welfare benefit plans made available to the Company’s senior level executives as a group or to its employees generally, as such retirement and welfare plans may be in effect from time to time and subject to the eligibility requirements of the plans. Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent the Company from amending or terminating any retirement, welfare or other employee benefit plans or programs from time to time as the Company deems appropriate.
Welfare Plans (a) For all purposes (including purposes of vesting, eligibility to participate and level of benefits) under the employee welfare benefit plans of Buyer and its affiliates providing benefits to any Acquired Employees after the Closing (the “New Welfare Plans” ), each Acquired Employee shall subject to applicable Law and applicable tax qualification requirements be credited with his or her years of service with Knight Ridder or its affiliates, including the Acquired Companies and their Subsidiaries, before the Closing, to the same extent as such Acquired Employee was entitled, before the Closing, to credit for such service under any similar employee benefit plan in which such Acquired Employee participated or was eligible to participate immediately prior to the Closing, provided that the foregoing shall not apply to the extent that its application would result in a duplication of benefits. In addition, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, (A) each Acquired Employee shall be immediately eligible to participate, without any waiting time, in any and all New Welfare Plans if such Acquired Employee participated immediately before the consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement in a comparable type of welfare benefit plan of a Seller Entity (such plans, collectively, the “Old Plans” ), and (B) for purposes of each New Welfare Plan providing medical, dental, pharmaceutical and/or vision benefits to any Acquired Employee, Buyer, or, as applicable, an Acquired Company, shall cause all pre-existing condition exclusions and actively-at-work requirements of such New Welfare Plan to be waived for such Acquired Employee and his or her covered dependents, unless such conditions would not have been waived under the comparable plans of Knight Ridder or its affiliates, including the Acquired Companies and their Subsidiaries, in which such Acquired Employee participated immediately prior to the Closing and Buyer shall cause any eligible expenses incurred by such employee and his or her covered dependents during the portion of the plan year of the Old Plan ending on the date such 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, coinsurance and maximum out-of-pocket requirements applicable to such 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.
