Compensation; Employment Agreements; Etc Enter into or amend or renew any employment, consulting, severance or similar agreements or arrangements with any director, officer or employee of Metropolitan or its Subsidiaries, or grant any salary or wage increase or increase any employee benefit (including incentive or bonus payments), except (i) for normal individual increases in compensation to employees in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice, (ii) for other changes that are required by applicable law, and (iii) to satisfy Previously Disclosed contractual obligations existing as of the date hereof.
Distributions on Account of Separation from Service If and to the extent required to comply with Section 409A, no payment or benefit required to be paid under this Agreement on account of termination of the Executive’s employment shall be made unless and until the Executive incurs a “separation from service” within the meaning of Section 409A.
Certain Termination Benefits Unless otherwise specifically provided in this Agreement or otherwise required by law, all compensation and benefits payable to Executive under this Agreement shall terminate on the date of termination of Executive’s employment under this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event of termination of Executive’s employment with the Company pursuant to Section 5(c) or Section 5(d) above, the Company shall provide to Executive the following termination benefits (“Termination Benefits”):
(i) continuation of salary at a rate equal to one-hundred (100%) of Executive’s Base Salary as in effect on the date of termination for a period of twelve months (payment shall be subject to withholding under applicable law and shall be made in periodic installments in accordance with the Company’s usual payroll practice for executive officers of the Company as in effect from time to time) with the first payment starting on the first payroll date that occurs 30 days after the Termination Date;
(ii) provided Executive elects and remains eligible for the continuation of group health plan benefits pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1161 et seq. (commonly known as “COBRA”), the Company will pay with the cost of the regular premium for such benefits shared in the same relative proportion by the Company and Executive as in effect on the date of termination from the date of termination until the earlier of: (1) twelve months after the date of termination, or (2) the date Executive is no longer eligible for COBRA; and
(iii) payment of the bonus that the Executive would have been entitled to receive under the bonus or other performance plan referred to in Section 3(b) had his employment not been terminated, prorated based on the number of days the Executive was employed by the Company during the relevant bonus period. Such payment shall be made to the Executive at the time bonuses under such plan are generally paid to other participants but in no event later than March 15 of the calendar year following the termination date. The Company shall have the right to terminate all of the Termination Benefits set forth in Section 5(e)(i) and Section 5(e)(ii) in the event that Executive fails to comply in any material respect with Executive’s Continuing Obligations under this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Section 5(e) shall be construed to affect Executive’s right to receive COBRA continuation entirely at Executive’s own cost to the extent that Executive may continue to be entitled to COBRA continuation after Executive’s right to cost sharing under Section 5(e)(ii) ceases. The Company and Executive agree that the Termination Benefits paid by the Company to Executive under this Section 5(e) shall be in full satisfaction, compromise and release of any claims arising exclusively out of any termination of Executive’s employment pursuant to Section 5(c) or Section 5(d), and that the payment of the Termination Benefits shall be contingent upon Executive’s delivery of a separation agreement in a form satisfactory to the Company that shall include a general release of claims in favor of the Company and related persons and entities (“Release Agreement”), it being understood that no Termination Benefits shall be provided unless and until such Release agreement becomes fully effective.
Timing of Reimbursements and In-kind Benefits If Executive is entitled to be paid or reimbursed for any taxable expenses under this Agreement, and such payments or reimbursements are includible in Executive’s federal gross taxable income, the amount of such expenses reimbursable in any one calendar year shall not affect the amount reimbursable in any other calendar year, and the reimbursement of an eligible expense must be made no later than December 31 of the year after the year in which the expense was incurred. No right of Executive to reimbursement of expenses under this Agreement shall be subject to liquidation or exchange for another benefit.
Termination Benefits (a) Upon the occurrence of a Change in Control, followed at any time during the term of this Agreement by the involuntary termination of the Executive’s employment (other than for Termination for Cause or death), or by the Executive for Good Reason, the Employers shall:
(i) pay the Executive, or in the event of his subsequent death, his beneficiary or beneficiaries, or his estate, as the case may be, a lump sum payment within thirty (30) days of the Date of Termination an amount equal to three (3) times the Executive’s average annual compensation for the five most recent taxable years that the Executive has been employed by the Employers or such lesser number of years in the event that the Executive shall have been employed by the Employers for less than five years. For this purpose, annual compensation shall include base salary and any other taxable income, including, but not limited to, amounts related to the granting, vesting or exercise of restricted stock or stock option awards, commissions, bonuses, pension and profit sharing plan contributions or benefits (whether or not taxable), severance payments, retirement benefits, and fringe benefits paid or to be paid to the Executive or paid for the Executive’s benefit during any such year; and
(ii) cause to be continued life insurance and non-taxable medical, dental and disability coverage substantially identical to the coverage maintained by the Employers for the Executive prior to his Date of Termination, except to the extent such coverage may be changed in its application to all employees on a nondiscriminatory basis. Such coverage and payments shall cease upon the expiration of thirty-six (36) full calendar months from the Date of Termination.
(b) Notwithstanding the foregoing, to the extent required to avoid penalties under Section 409A of the Code, the cash severance payable under Section 3 of this Agreement shall be delayed until the first day of the seventh month following the Executive’s Date of Termination.
(c) For purposes of this Agreement, a “termination of employment” shall mean a “Separation from Service” as defined in Section 409A of the Code and the regulations promulgated thereunder, such that the Employers and the Executive reasonably anticipate that the level of bona fide services the Executive would perform after a termination of employment would permanently decrease to a level that is less than 50% of the average level of bona fide services performed (whether as an employee or as an independent contractor) over the immediately preceding thirty-six (36) month period.
Compensation Benefits Etc During the Employment Period, the Manager shall be compensated as follows:
(a) The Manager shall (i) receive an annual cash base salary, payable not less frequently than semi-monthly, which is not less than the annualized cash base salary payable to Manager as of the Effective Date; (ii) be entitled to at least as favorable annual incentive award opportunity under the Company's annual incentive compensation plan as he did in the calendar year immediately prior to the year in which the Change of Control Event occurs; and (iii) be eligible to participate in all of the Company's long-term incentive compensation plans and programs on terms that are at least as favorable to the Manager as provided to the Manager in the four calendar years prior to the Effective Date.
(b) The Manager shall be entitled to receive fringe benefits, employee benefits, and perquisites (including, but not limited to, vacation, medical, disability, dental, and life insurance benefits) which are at least as favorable to those made generally available as of the Effective Date to all of the Company's salaried managers as a group. In addition, the Manager shall be eligible to participate in the Company's Supplemental Retirement Income Program ("SRIP").
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (whether in this Section 4, in Section 6, or elsewhere), (i) the Board of Directors may authorize an increase in the amount, duration, and nature of and/or the acceleration of any compensation or benefits payable under this Agreement, as well as waive or reduce the requirements for entitlement thereto and (ii) the Company may deduct from amounts otherwise payable to the Manager such amounts as it reasonably believes it is required to withhold for the payment of federal, state, and local taxes.
Form and Timing of Severance Benefits The Severance Benefits described in Sections 3.3(a), 3.3(b), and 3.3
Timing of Severance Payments Any severance payment to which Employee is entitled under Sections 3(a)(i)(1), 3(a)(i)(2) and 3(a)(i)(5) shall be paid by the Company to the Employee (or to the Employee's successors in interest pursuant to Section 7(b)) in cash and in full, not later than thirty (30) calendar days following the Termination Date, subject to any delay required under Section 9.
Post-Retirement Benefits The present value of the expected cost of post-retirement medical and insurance benefits payable by the Borrower and its Subsidiaries to its employees and former employees, as estimated by the Borrower in accordance with procedures and assumptions deemed reasonable by the Required Lenders is zero.
Plan Terminations Under Section 409A Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Section 7.2, if the Company terminates this Agreement in the following circumstances:
(a) Upon the Company’s termination and liquidation of the Agreement pursuant to irrevocable action taken within thirty (30) days before, or twelve (12) months after a change in the ownership or effective control of the Company, or in the ownership of a substantial portion of the assets of the Company as described in Section 409A(2)(A)(v) of the Code, provided that all distributions are made no later than twelve (12) months following such termination of the Agreement and further provided that all the Company’s arrangements which are substantially similar to the Agreement are terminated so the Executive and all participants in the similar arrangements are required to receive all amounts of compensation deferred under the terminated arrangements within twelve (12) months of the termination of the arrangements;
(b) Upon the Company’s termination and liquidation of the Agreement within twelve (12) months of a corporate dissolution taxed under Section 331 of the Code or with the approval of a bankruptcy court provided that the amounts deferred under the Agreement are included in the Executive’s gross income in the latest of the following years (or, if earlier, the taxable year in which the amount is actually or constructively received): (i) the calendar year in which the Agreement terminates; (ii) the first calendar year in which the amount is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture; or (iii) the first calendar year in which the distribution is administratively practical; or
(c) Upon the Company’s termination and liquidation of this and all other non-account balance plans (as referenced in Section 409A of the Code) provided that (i) such action does not occur proximate to a downturn in the financial health of the Company; (ii) all distributions are made no earlier than twelve (12) months and no later than twenty-four (24) months following such termination, and (iii) the Company does not adopt any new non-account balance plans for a minimum of three (3) years following the date of such termination; the Company may distribute the vested Accrual Balance as shown on Schedule A, determined as of the date of the termination of the Agreement, to the Executive in a lump sum subject to the above terms.
