Forfeiture of Awards The Restricted Stock Units granted hereunder (and gains earned or accrued in connection therewith) shall be subject to such generally applicable policies as to forfeiture and recoupment (including, without limitation, upon the occurrence of material financial or accounting errors, financial or other misconduct or Competitive Activity) as may be adopted by the Administrator or the Board from time to time and communicated to the Employee or as required by applicable law, and are otherwise subject to forfeiture or disgorgement of profits as provided by the Plan.
Payment of Awards The payment of the Award shall be made in shares of Common Stock. The payment of an Award shall be made within 70 days following the end of the Restricted Period.
Settlement of Awards Pursuant to Section 5 of this Agreement, the Corporation shall deliver to the Employee one Share for each vested Restricted Stock Unit included in the Award and, as applicable, one share for each vested Restricted Stock Unit that corresponds to an accrued dividend equivalent. Any vested Restricted Stock Units payable to the Employee (including Shares payable pursuant to Section 3 above) shall be paid solely in Shares. Any fractional Share will be rounded to the closest whole Share.
Forfeiture of Award 4.1 If, at any time during the Award Recipient’s employment by the Company or within 18 months after termination of employment, the Award Recipient engages in any activity in competition with any activity of the Company, or inimical, contrary or harmful to the interests of the Company, including but not limited to: (a) conduct relating to the Award Recipient’s employment for which either criminal or civil penalties against the Award Recipient may be sought, (b) conduct or activity that results in termination of the Award Recipient’s employment for cause, (c) violation of the Company’s policies, including, without limitation, the Company’s xxxxxxx xxxxxxx policy and corporate compliance program, (d) accepting employment with, acquiring a 5% or more equity or participation interest in, serving as a consultant, advisor, director or agent of, directly or indirectly soliciting or recruiting any employee of the Company who was employed at any time during the Award Recipient’s tenure with the Company, or otherwise assisting in any other capacity or manner any company or enterprise that is directly or indirectly in competition with or acting against the interests of the Company or any of its lines of business (a “competitor”), except for (A) any isolated, sporadic accommodation or assistance provided to a competitor, at its request, by the Award Recipient during the Award Recipient’s tenure with the Company, but only if provided in the good faith and reasonable belief that such action would benefit the Company by promoting good business relations with the competitor and would not harm the Company’s interests in any substantial manner or (B) any other service or assistance that is provided at the request or with the written permission of the Company, (e) disclosing or misusing any confidential information or material concerning the Company, (f) engaging in, promoting, assisting or otherwise participating in a hostile takeover attempt of the Company or any other transaction or proxy contest that could reasonably be expected to result in a Change of Control (as defined in the Plan) not approved by the CenturyTel Board of Directors or (g) making any statement or disclosing any information to any customers, suppliers, lessors, lessees, licensors, licensees, regulators, employees or others with whom the Company engages in business that is defamatory or derogatory with respect to the business, operations, technology, management, or other employees of the Company, or taking any other action that could reasonably be expected to injure the Company in its business relationships with any of the foregoing parties or result in any other detrimental effect on the Company, then the award of Restricted Stock granted hereunder shall automatically terminate and be forfeited effective on the date on which the Award Recipient engages in such activity and (i) all shares of Common Stock acquired by the Award Recipient pursuant to this Agreement (or other securities into which such shares have been converted or exchanged) shall be returned to the Company or, if no longer held by the Award Recipient, the Award Recipient shall pay to the Company, without interest, all cash, securities or other assets received by the Award Recipient upon the sale or transfer of such stock or securities, and (ii) all unvested shares of Restricted Stock shall be forfeited.
4.2 If the Award Recipient owes any amount to the Company under Section 4.1 above, the Award Recipient acknowledges that the Company may, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, deduct such amount from any amounts the Company owes the Award Recipient from time to time for any reason (including without limitation amounts owed to the Award Recipient as salary, wages, reimbursements or other compensation, fringe benefits, retirement benefits or vacation pay). Whether or not the Company elects to make any such set-off in whole or in part, if the Company does not recover by means of set-off the full amount the Award Recipient owes it, the Award Recipient hereby agrees to pay immediately the unpaid balance to the Company.
4.3 The Award Recipient may be released from the Award Recipient’s obligations under Sections 4.1 and 4.2 above only if the Committee determines in its sole discretion that such action is in the best interests of the Company.
Vesting of Award Subject to Section 2(b) below and the other terms and conditions of this Agreement, this Award shall become vested in three equal annual installments on the first, second and third anniversaries of the date hereof. Unless otherwise provided by the Company, all dividends and other amounts receivable in connection with any adjustments to the Shares under Section 4(c) of the Plan shall be subject to the vesting schedule in this Section 2(a).
Settlement of Award The Award, if earned in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, shall be payable in whole shares of Common Stock. The total number of Shares that may be acquired upon vesting of the Award (or portion thereof) shall be rounded down to the nearest whole share. A certificate or certificates for the Shares subject to the Award or portion thereof shall be issued in the name of the Participant or his or her beneficiary (or, in the case of uncertificated shares, other written evidence of ownership in accordance with Applicable Law shall be provided) promptly after, and only to the extent that, the Award or portion thereof has vested and been earned and is distributable. Shares of Common Stock or any other benefit subject to the Award shall, upon vesting of the Award, be issued and distributed to the Participant (or his or her beneficiary) no later than the later of (a) the fifteenth (15th) day of the third month following the Participant’s first taxable year in which the amount is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture, or (b) the fifteenth (15th) day of the third month following the end of the Company’s first taxable year in which the amount is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture, or otherwise in accordance with Code Section 409A.
Nontransferability of Awards Except as provided in Section 5 or as otherwise permitted by the Committee, you may not sell, transfer, pledge, assign or otherwise alienate or hypothecate any of your Performance Shares, and all rights with respect to your Performance Shares are exercisable during your lifetime only by you.
Terms of Award The following terms used in this Agreement shall have the meanings set forth in this paragraph 1:
Payment of Award The Performance Shares that may become payable pursuant to this Award Agreement shall be based upon the highest performance determined in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 or, in the event of a Change in Control prior to the Final Measurement Date, based on performance at the level determined in accordance with the provisions of Section 3.4. In other words, the attainment of multiple performance measures under this Award Agreement will not result in the payment of a cumulative number of Performance Shares for each performance measure achieved. Payment of the Award, to the extent earned, shall be made as follows:
Termination of Award In the event that the Employee shall forfeit all or a portion of the restricted stock units subject to the Award, the Employee shall promptly return this Agreement to the Company for cancellation. Such cancellation shall be effective regardless of whether the Employee returns this Agreement.
