Employment and Labor Relations Neither the Borrower nor any of its Subsidiaries is engaged in any unfair labor practice that, either individually or in the aggregate, could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. There is (i) no unfair labor practice complaint pending against the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries or, to the knowledge of the Borrower, threatened against any of them, before the National Labor Relations Board, and no grievance or arbitration proceeding arising out of or under any collective bargaining agreement is so pending against the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries or, to the knowledge of the Borrower, threatened against any of them, (ii) no strike, labor dispute, slowdown or stoppage pending against the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries or, to the knowledge of the Borrower, threatened against the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries, (iii) no union representation question exists with respect to the employees of the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries, (iv) no equal employment opportunity charges or other claims of employment discrimination are pending or, to the Borrower’s knowledge, threatened against the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries, and (v) no wage and hour department investigation has been made of the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries, except (with respect to any matter specified in clauses (i) through (v) above, either individually or in the aggregate) such as could not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.
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.
Employees; Labor Relations (a) The Company is not a party to any collective bargaining agreement and there is no unfair labor practice or labor arbitration proceedings pending with respect to the Company, or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened, and there are no facts or circumstances known to the Company that could reasonably be expected to give rise to such complaint or claim. To the knowledge of the Company, there are no organizational efforts presently underway or threatened involving any employees of the Company or any of the employees performing work for the Company but provided by an outside employment agency, if any. There has been no work stoppage, strike or other concerted action by employees of the Company.
(b) All employees of the Company are employed at will, and no employees of the Company are represented by a union. Section 3.16(i) of the Company Disclosure Schedule sets forth, individually and by category, the name of each officer, employee and consultant, together with such person's position or function, annual base salary or wage and any incentive, severance or bonus arrangements with respect to such person. Except as described in Section 3.16(b)(ii) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, the completion of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement will not result in any payment or increased payment becoming due from the Company to any current or former officer, director, or employee of, or consultant to, the Company, and to the knowledge of the Company no employee of the Company has made any threat, or otherwise revealed an intent, to terminate such employee's relationship with the Company, for any reason, including because of the consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement. The Company is not a party to any agreement for the provision of labor from any outside agency. Since the Company's date of incorporation, there have been no claims by employees of such outside agencies, if any, with regard to employees assigned to work for the Company, and no claims by any governmental agency with regard to such employees.
(c) Since the Company's date of incorporation, there have been no federal or state claims based on sex, sexual or other harassment, age, disability, race or other discrimination or common law claims, including claims of wrongful termination, by any employees of the Company or by any of the employees performing work for the Company but provided by an outside employment agency, and there are no facts or circumstances known to the Company that could reasonably be expected to give rise to such complaint or claim. The Company has complied with all laws related to the employment of employees and, except as set forth in Section 3.16(c) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, since the Company's date of incorporation, the Company has not received any notice of any claim that it has not complied in any material respect with any Laws relating to the employment of employees, including without limitation, any provisions thereof relating to wages, hours, collective bargaining, the payment of Social Security and similar taxes, equal employment opportunity, employment discrimination, the WARN Act, employee safety, or that it is liable for any arrearages of wages or any taxes or penalties for failure to comply with any of the foregoing.
(d) The Company has no written policies and/or employee handbooks or manuals except as described in Section 3.16(d) of the Company Disclosure Schedule.
(e) To the knowledge of the Company, no officer, employee or consultant of the Company is obligated under any Contract or other agreement or subject to any Order or Law that would interfere with the Company's business as currently conducted. Neither the execution nor delivery of this Agreement, nor the carrying on of the Company's business as presently conducted nor any activity of such officers, employees or consultants in connection with the carrying on of the Company's business as presently conducted, will conflict with or result in a breach of the terms, conditions or provisions of, constitute a default under, or trigger a condition precedent to any rights under any Contract or other agreement under which any of such officer's, employees or consultants is now bound.
Labor Relations; Employees (a) Except as set forth on Section 5.15(a) of the Company Disclosure Letter, (i) neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries is a party to or bound by any collective bargaining agreement or any similar agreement, (ii) no such agreement is being negotiated by the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries, and (iii) no labor union or any other employee representative body has requested or, to the knowledge of the Company, has sought to represent any of the employees of the Company or its Subsidiaries in the past three (3) years. In the past three (3) years, to the knowledge of the Company, there has been no labor organization activity involving any employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries and there has been no actual or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened strike, slowdown, work stoppage, lockout or other labor dispute against or affecting the Company or any Subsidiary of the Company, in each case except as would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(b) Each of the Company and its Subsidiaries are, and have been for the past three (3) years, in compliance with all applicable Laws respecting labor and employment including, but not limited to, all Laws respecting terms and conditions of employment, health and safety, wages and hours, holiday pay and the calculation of holiday pay, working time, employee classification (with respect to both exempt vs. non-exempt status and employee vs. independent contractor and worker status), child labor, immigration, employment discrimination, disability rights or benefits, equal opportunity and equal pay, plant closures and layoffs, affirmative action, workers’ compensation, labor relations, employee leave issues, unemployment insurance and contributions required to be made with respect to any statutory plan, program, practice or arrangement that is required under applicable law and maintained by any Governmental Authority, except where the failure to comply would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(c) Except where it would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, in the past three (3) years, the Company and its Subsidiaries have not received written (i) notice of any unfair labor practice charge or material complaint pending or threatened before any applicable Governmental Authority against them, (ii) notice of any complaints, grievances or arbitrations arising out of any collective bargaining agreement or any other material complaints, grievances or arbitration procedures against them, (iii) notice of any material charge or complaint with respect to or relating to them pending before any applicable Governmental Authority responsible for the prevention of unlawful employment practices, (iv) notice of the intent of any Governmental Authority responsible for the enforcement of labor, employment, wages and hours of work, child labor, immigration, or occupational safety and health Laws to conduct an investigation with respect to or relating to them or notice that such investigation is in progress, or (v) notice of any complaint, lawsuit or other proceeding pending or threatened in any forum by or on behalf of any present or former employee of such entities, any applicant for employment or classes of the foregoing alleging breach of any express or implied Contract of employment, any applicable Law governing employment or the termination thereof or other discriminatory, wrongful or tortious conduct in connection with the employment relationship.
(d) To the knowledge of the Company, no present or former employee, worker or independent contractor of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries’ is in material violation of (i) any restrictive covenant, nondisclosure obligation or fiduciary duty to the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries or (ii) any restrictive covenant or nondisclosure obligation to a former employer or engager of any such individual relating to (A) the right of any such individual to work for or provide services to the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries’ or (B) the knowledge or use of trade secrets or proprietary information, in each case except as would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(e) Neither the Company nor any of the Company’s Subsidiaries is party to a settlement agreement with a current or former officer, employee or independent contractor of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries that involves allegations relating to sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or discrimination by either (i) an officer of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries or (ii) an employee of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries at the level of Director (for the avoidance of doubt, such title does not refer to a member of the board of directors) or above. To the knowledge of the Company, in the last three (3) years, no allegations of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or discrimination have been made against (i) an officer of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries or (ii) an employee of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries at the level of Director (for the avoidance of doubt, such title does not refer to a member of the board of directors) or above, in each case except as would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
Labor Relations No labor dispute exists or, to the knowledge of the Company, is imminent with respect to any of the employees of the Company, which could reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect. None of the Company’s or its Subsidiaries’ employees is a member of a union that relates to such employee’s relationship with the Company or such Subsidiary, and neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries is a party to a collective bargaining agreement, and the Company and its Subsidiaries believe that their relationships with their employees are good. To the knowledge of the Company, no executive officer of the Company or any Subsidiary, is, or is now expected to be, in violation of any material term of any employment contract, confidentiality, disclosure or proprietary information agreement or non-competition agreement, or any other contract or agreement or any restrictive covenant in favor of any third party, and the continued employment of each such executive officer does not subject the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to any liability with respect to any of the foregoing matters. The Company and its Subsidiaries are in compliance with all U.S. federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to employment and employment practices, terms and conditions of employment and wages and hours, except where the failure to be in compliance could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.
Pension and Employee Benefits (a) Each of the Company, each Subsidiary and the Joint Venture has complied in all material respects with all the terms of, and all applicable laws in respect of, the pension and other employee compensation and benefit obligations of the Company, the Subsidiary or Joint Venture, as the case may be, including the terms of any funding and investment contracts or obligations applicable thereto, arising under or relating to each of the pension or retirement income plans or other employee compensation or benefit plans, agreements, policies, programs, arrangements or practices, whether written or oral, which are maintained by or binding upon the Company, any Subsidiary or the Joint Venture (collectively referred to as the “Benefit Plans”) and all Benefit Plans are, as of the last actuarial valuation for same, fully funded and in good standing with such regulatory authorities as may be applicable.
(b) No step has been taken, no event has occurred and no condition or circumstance exists that has resulted in or could reasonably be expected to result in any Benefit Plan being ordered or required to be terminated or wound up in whole or in part or having its registration under applicable legislation refused or revoked, or being placed under the administration of any trustee or receiver or regulatory authority or being required to pay any material taxes, fees, penalties or levies under applicable laws. There are no actions, suits, claims (other than routine claims for payment of benefits in the ordinary course), trials, demands, investigations, arbitrations or other proceedings which are pending or threatened in respect of any of the Benefit Plans or their assets which would have a Company Material Adverse Effect.
(c) None of the Company, any Subsidiary or the Joint Venture has any pension or retirement income plans, and have not made any agreements or promises with respect to same.
(d) None of the Company, any Subsidiary or the Joint Venture has any stock option plan or similar arrangement other than the Stock Option Plan. The Company Disclosure Statement sets forth a complete, up-to-date and accurate list of all optionholders under the Stock Option Plan, together with the number of Options granted, the exercise price, vesting provisions and the expiry date thereof.
Labor and Employee Relations As of the date hereof, except as disclosed in Section 4.11(a) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule hereto or in the PSNC SEC Reports, (i) neither PSNC nor any of the PSNC Subsidiaries is a party to any collective bargaining agreement or other labor agreement with any union or labor organization and (ii) to the best knowledge of PSNC, there is no current union representation question involving employees of PSNC or any of the PSNC Subsidiaries, nor does PSNC know of any activity or proceeding of any labor organization (or representative thereof) or employee group to organize any such employees. PSNC has delivered or otherwise made available to SCANA true, correct and complete copies of the collective bargaining agreements listed in Section 4.11(a) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule, together with all amendments, modifications or supplements thereto. Except as disclosed in Section 4.11(b) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule hereto or in the PSNC SEC Reports filed prior to the date hereof or except to the extent such could not reasonably be expected to have a PSNC Material Adverse Effect, (a) there is no unfair labor practice, employment discrimination or other written grievance, arbitration, claim, suit, action or proceeding against PSNC or any of the PSNC Subsidiaries pending, or to the best knowledge of PSNC, threatened before any court, governmental department, commission agency, instrumentality or authority or any arbitrator, (b) there is no strike, lockout or material dispute, slowdown or work stoppage pending or, to the best knowledge of PSNC, threatened against or involving PSNC, and (c) there is no proceeding, claim, suit, action or governmental investigation pending or, to the best knowledge of PSNC, threatened in respect of which any director, officer, employee or agent of PSNC or any of the PSNC Subsidiaries is or may be entitled to claim indemnification from PSNC or such PSNC Subsidiary pursuant to their respective charters or by-laws or as provided in the indemnification agreements listed in Section 4.11(c) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule. Except as set forth in Section 4.11(d) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule, to the knowledge of PSNC, PSNC and the PSNC Subsidiaries are in material compliance with all federal, state and local laws with respect to employment practices, labor relations, safety and health regulations and mass layoffs and plant closings.
Compensation and Employee Benefits SECTION 13.01.
Labor and Employment As of the date of this Agreement, Section 3.19 of the Company Disclosure Letter sets forth a true and complete list of all collective bargaining agreements or other labor union contracts applicable to any employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries. As of the date of this Agreement, none of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries has breached or otherwise failed to comply with any provision of any collective bargaining agreement or other labor union contract applicable to any employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, except for any breaches or failures to comply that, individually or in the aggregate, have not had and are not reasonably likely to have a Company Material Adverse Effect. Except for matters that, individually or in the aggregate, have not had and are not reasonably likely to have a Company Material Adverse Effect, (i) there is not any, and during the past one year there has not been any, labor strike, dispute, work stoppage or lockout pending, or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened, against or affecting the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, (ii) to the knowledge of the Company, no union organizational campaign is in progress or threatened with respect to the employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries and no question concerning representation of such employees exists, (iii) there are no unfair labor practice charges or complaints against the Company or any of its Subsidiaries pending, or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened and (iv) there are, as of the date of this Agreement, no written grievances or written complaints outstanding or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened against the Company or any of its Subsidiaries. Except for matters that, individually or in the aggregate, have not had and are not reasonably likely to have a Company Material Adverse Effect, there are no, and since November 29, 2011, have not been any “plant closings” or “mass layoffs” (as those terms are defined in the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act or any comparable state or local law) by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, without complying with the notice requirements of such Laws, and the Company and each of its Subsidiaries is in compliance with all Laws respecting employment and employment practices, terms and conditions of employment, wages and hours and occupational safety and health (including, without limitation, classifications of service providers as employees and/or independent contractors).
ERISA and Employee Benefits Matters (A) To the knowledge of the Company, no “prohibited transaction” as defined under Section 406 of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code and not exempt under ERISA Section 408 and the regulations and published interpretations thereunder has occurred with respect to any Employee Benefit Plan. At no time has the Company or any ERISA Affiliate maintained, sponsored, participated in, contributed to or has or had any liability or obligation in respect of any Employee Benefit Plan subject to Part 3 of Subtitle B of Title I of ERISA, Title IV of ERISA, or Section 412 of the Code or any “multiemployer plan” as defined in Section 3(37) of ERISA or any multiple employer plan for which the Company or any ERISA Affiliate has incurred or could incur liability under Section 4063 or 4064 of ERISA. No Employee Benefit Plan provides or promises, or at any time provided or promised, retiree health, life insurance, or other retiree welfare benefits except as may be required by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended, or similar state law. Each Employee Benefit Plan is and has been operated in material compliance with its terms and all applicable laws, including but not limited to ERISA and the Code and, to the knowledge of the Company, no event has occurred (including a “reportable event” as such term is defined in Section 4043 of ERISA) and no condition exists that would subject the Company or any ERISA Affiliate to any material tax, fine, lien, penalty or liability imposed by ERISA, the Code or other applicable law. Each Employee Benefit Plan intended to be qualified under Code Section 401(a) is so qualified and has a favorable determination or opinion letter from the IRS upon which it can rely, and any such determination or opinion letter remains in effect and has not been revoked; to the knowledge of the Company, nothing has occurred since the date of any such determination or opinion letter that is reasonably likely to adversely affect such qualification; (B) with respect to each Foreign Benefit Plan, such Foreign Benefit Plan (1) if intended to qualify for special tax treatment, meets, in all material respects, the requirements for such treatment, and (2) if required to be funded, is funded to the extent required by applicable law, and with respect to all other Foreign Benefit Plans, adequate reserves therefor have been established on the accounting statements of the applicable Company or subsidiary; (C) the Company does not have any obligations under any collective bargaining agreement with any union and no organization efforts are underway with respect to Company employees. As used in this Agreement, “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; “Employee Benefit Plan” means any “employee benefit plan” within the meaning of Section 3(3) of ERISA, including, without limitation, all stock purchase, stock option, stock-based severance, employment, change-in-control, medical, disability, fringe benefit, bonus, incentive, deferred compensation, employee loan and all other employee benefit plans, agreements, programs, policies or other arrangements, whether or not subject to ERISA, under which (x) any current or former employee, director or independent contractor of the Company or its subsidiaries has any present or future right to benefits and which are contributed to, sponsored by or maintained by the Company or any of its respective subsidiaries or (y) the Company or any of its subsidiaries has had or has any present or future obligation or liability; “ERISA” means the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended; “ERISA Affiliate” means any member of the company’s controlled group as defined in Code Section 414(b), (c), (m) or (o); and “Foreign Benefit Plan” means any Employee Benefit Plan established, maintained or contributed to outside of the United States of America or which covers any employee working or residing outside of the United States.
