Disciplinary Matters 2.6.1 Prior to the imposition of any disciplinary penalty, the Company shall hold a Disciplinary Interview, which shall replace Step 1 of the grievance process.
2.6.2 The Company shall provide the Union and any employees who may be disciplined three (3) days’ notice of the Interview.
2.6.3 The Interview shall take place between the Company, the Union and the accused individual.
2.6.4 The Company shall set out its allegations and except where the allegations could constitute a criminal offence, the Union or the individual(s) shall set out their version of the events. Minutes, but not a transcript, of the Interview setting out the substance of the discussion shall be taken.
2.6.5 The minutes of the meeting shall be provided to the Union and the accused individual(s) within seven (7) days of the Interview.
2.6.6 The Union and the accused individual(s) shall forward a written reply to the minutes, if any, within seven (7) days of receipt of the minutes.
2.6.7 Should the Company choose to impose discipline, the Union has ten (10) days to file a grievance commencing at Step 2.
2.6.8 Nothing in the disciplinary interview process is intended to interfere with the Company’s right to investigate matters.
Governance Matters (a) The Company shall cause the Investor Designated Director to be elected or appointed on the Closing Date to the Board of Directors as well as the board of directors of the Bank (the “Bank Board”), subject to satisfaction of all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a member of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board. The Company shall recommend to its shareholders the election of the Investor Designated Director to the Board of Directors at the Company’s annual meeting, subject to satisfaction of all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a director of the Company. If the Investor no longer has the Qualifying Ownership Interest, it shall have no further rights under Sections 3.4(a), 3.4(b), 3.4(c) and 3.4(d) and, in each case, at the written request of the Board of Directors, the Investor shall use all reasonable best efforts to cause the Investor Designated Director to resign from the Board of Directors and the Bank Board as promptly as possible thereafter. The Board of Directors and the Bank Board shall cause the Investor Designated Director to be appointed to the committees of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board, as applicable, identified by the Investor, so long as the Investor Designated Director qualifies to serve on such committees subject to satisfaction of all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a committee member.
(b) For so long as the Investor owns, in the aggregate with its Affiliates, ten percent (10%) or more of the outstanding shares of Common Stock (as adjusted from time to time for any reorganization, recapitalization, stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split, or other like changes in the Company’s capitalization) (the “Qualifying Ownership Interest”), the Investor Designated Director shall, subject to applicable Law, be the nominee of the Company and the Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Nominating Committee”) to serve on the Board of Directors and on the Bank Board. The Company shall use its reasonable best efforts to have the Investor Designated Director elected as director of the Company by the shareholders of the Company and the Company shall solicit proxies for the Investor Designated Director to the same extent as it does for any of its other nominees to the Board of Directors.
(c) For so long as the Investor owns, in the aggregate with its Affiliates, the Qualifying Ownership Interest, the Investor Designated Director shall, subject to applicable Law (including the applicable rules of the NYSE), be appointed to the committees of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board (or any other committees performing similar functions of the foregoing committees) identified by the Investor.
(d) Subject to Section 3.4(a), upon the death, disability, resignation, retirement, disqualification or removal from office of a Designated Investor Director, the Investor shall have the right to designate the replacement for the Investor Designated Director, which replacement shall be reasonably acceptable to the Company and shall satisfy all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a member of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board, as applicable. The Board of Directors shall use its reasonable best efforts to take all action required to fill the vacancy resulting therefrom with such person (including such person, subject to applicable Law, being the Company’s and the Nominating Committee’s nominee to serve on the Board of Directors, calling a special meeting of shareholders to vote on such person, using all reasonable best efforts to have such person elected as director of the Company by the shareholders of the Company and the Company soliciting proxies for such person to the same extent as it does for any of its other nominees to the Board of Directors).
(e) For so long the Investor with its Affiliates owns, in the aggregate with its Affiliates, five percent (5%) or more of the aggregate number of outstanding shares of Common Stock (as adjusted from time to time for any reorganization, recapitalization, stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split, or other like changes in the Company’s capitalization), the Company shall, subject to applicable Law, invite a person designated by the Investor and reasonably acceptable to the Board of Directors (the “Observer”) to attend all meetings of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board (including any meetings of committees thereof which the Investor Designated Director is a member) in a nonvoting observer capacity. If the Investor no longer beneficially owns the minimum number of Common Shares as specified in the first sentence of this Section 3.4(e), the Investor shall have no further rights under this Section 3.4(e). The Investor shall cause the Observer to agree to hold in confidence and trust and to act in a fiduciary manner with respect to all information provided to such Observer and the Company, the Board of Directors, the Bank Board and any committees thereof shall have the right to withhold any information and to exclude the Observer from any meeting or portion thereof (i) if doing so is, in the opinion of counsel to the Company, necessary to protect the attorney-client privilege between the Company and counsel or (ii) if the Board of Directors, the Bank Board or any committee thereof determines in good faith, after consultation with counsel, that fiduciary requirements under applicable Law would make attendance by the Observer inappropriate. The Observer shall have no right to vote on any matters presented to the Board of Directors, the Bank Board or any committee thereof.
(f) The Investor Designated Director shall be entitled to the same compensation, including fees, and the same indemnification and insurance coverage in connection with his or her role as a director as the other members of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board, as applicable, and the Investor Designated Director shall be entitled to reimbursement for documented, reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in attending meetings of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board, or any committee thereof, to the same extent as the other members of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board, as applicable. The Company shall notify the Investor Designated Director of all regular meetings and special meetings of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board and of all regular and special meetings of any committee of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board of which the Investor Designated Director is a member in accordance with the applicable bylaws. The Company and the Bank shall provide the Investor Designated Director with copies of all notices, minutes, consents and other material that they provide to all other members of their respective boards of directors concurrently as such materials are provided to the other members.
(g) Each of the Company and the Bank acknowledges that the Designated Investor Director may have certain rights to indemnification, advancement of expenses and/or insurance provided by the Investor and/or certain of its Affiliates (collectively, the “Investor Indemnitors”). Each of the Company and the Bank hereby agrees (1) that it is the indemnitor of first resort (i.e., its obligations to the Designated Investor Director are primary and any obligation of the Investor Indemnitors to advance expenses or to provide indemnification for the same expenses or liabilities incurred by the Designated Investor Director are secondary), and (2) that it shall be required to advance the full amount of expenses incurred by the Designated Investor Director and shall be liable for the full amount of all expenses and liabilities incurred by the Designated Investor Director, in each case to the extent legally permitted and as required by the terms of this Agreement and the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the Company and the Bank (and any other agreement regarding indemnification between the Company and/or the Bank, on the one hand, and the Designated Investor Director, on the other hand), without regard to any rights the Designated Investor Director may have against any Investor Indemnitor. The Company further agrees that no advancement or payment by any Investor Indemnitor on behalf of the Designated Investor Director with respect to any claim for which the Designated Investor Director has sought indemnification from the Company shall affect the foregoing and the Investor Indemnitors shall have a right of contribution and/or be subrogated to the extent of such advancement or payment to all of the rights of recovery of the Designated Investor Director against the Company. The Company agrees that the Investor Indemnitors are express third party beneficiaries of the terms of this Section 3.4(g).
(h) For the purposes of the definition of “Change in Control” under the Benefit Plans, the Company acknowledges and agrees that the Investor Designated Director shall be deemed to be an “Incumbent Director” as defined in the applicable Benefit Plans.
Corporate Governance Matters (a) Holdco and Sorin shall take all actions within their power as may be necessary to cause (i) for a period beginning as of the Cyberonics Merger Effective Time and ending on the date of the first annual meeting of the members of Holdco following the completion of the second full fiscal year of Holdco (such period, the “Initial Period”) the number of directors constituting the Holdco board of directors as of the Effective Times to be nine (9) and (ii) the Holdco board of directors during the Initial Period to be composed as follows: (A) four (4) individuals designated by Cyberonics prior to the Closing Date (each, a “Cyberonics Designee”), (B) four individuals designated by Sorin prior to the Closing Date (each, a “Sorin Designee”) and (C) one (1) director mutually agreed to by Sorin and Cyberonics, who shall meet the independence standards of the NASDAQ applicable to non-controlled domestic U.S. issuers.
(b) Sorin and Holdco shall take all corporate actions as may be necessary to cause, effective as of the Sorin Merger Effective Time and Cyberonics Merger Effective Time, as the case may be: (i) the Chief Executive Officer of Sorin as of immediately prior to the Sorin Merger Effective Time to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the Sorin Merger Surviving Company immediately following the Sorin Merger Effective Time until the end of the Initial Period, (ii) the Chief Executive Officer of Cyberonics as of immediately prior to the Cyberonics Merger Effective Time to serve as the Chairman of the Holdco board of directors for the Initial Period, (iii) a Cyberonics Designee to serve as the Chairman of the audit and compensation committees of the Holdco board of directors for the Initial Period, (iv) each committee of the Holdco board of directors to have at least three (3) members and (v) a Sorin Designee to serve as a member of each committee of the Holdco board of directors during the Initial Period.
(c) For as long as the Holdco Shares are listed on the NASDAQ, Holdco shall comply with all NASDAQ corporate governance standards set forth in Rule 5600 of the NASDAQ Stock Market Rules applicable to non-controlled domestic U.S. issuers, regardless of whether Holdco is a foreign private issuer. For as long as the Holdco Shares are listed on the LSE, Holdco shall comply with all Listing Rules and any other Laws applicable to it.
(d) Prior to the Closing Date, Sorin and Holdco shall procure the passing of resolutions of the shareholders of Holdco providing for the reregistration of Holdco as a public limited company.
(e) Subject to applicable Law, Sorin and Cyberonics shall take all requisite action to cause the organizational documents of those entities that will be Subsidiaries of Holdco to be substantially in such form as agreed by Cyberonics and Sorin, effective as of the Cyberonics Merger Effective Time.
(f) As promptly as practicable after the Effective Times, the Sorin Merger Surviving Company shall take all requisite action to cause the composition of the board of directors or other governing body of each of the Subsidiaries of the Sorin Merger Surviving Company to reflect representation by directors designated by Cyberonics immediately prior to the Effective Times, on the one hand, and directors designated by Sorin immediately prior to the Effective Times, on the other hand, that is proportionate to the relative representation of directors designated by such party on the Holdco board of directors as of the Effective Times as provided in Section 5.18(a), unless otherwise mutually agreed by Sorin and Cyberonics.
(g) The Cyberonics Designees, the Sorin Designees and each of their respective successors on the Holdco board of directors during the first three (3) years following the Effective Times are express third-party beneficiaries of Sections 5.18(a) and 5.18(b).
Personnel Matters 7.1 Verbal or written complaints regarding an employee made to any member of the Administration by any parent, student or other person which is to be placed in any personnel file or which may be used to evaluate or discipline an employee shall be promptly investigated. The employee shall be given prompt notice of such complaint and shall be given the opportunity to respond to the complaint. Unsubstantiated complaints shall not be placed in an employee’s file.
7.2 Each employee shall be entitled to access to his/her personnel file. This review shall take place during an agreed upon time; requests to examine the file need to be made to the Superintendent or his/her designee at least 24 hours prior and shall not be unreasonably withheld. The employee may, if he/she wishes, have a representative of the Association accompany him/her during such review.
7.3 The employee shall have the right to make a response to any material contained in his/her personnel file and such response shall be made a part of said employee’s file. Reproductions of such material may be made by hand or copying machine, if available.
7.4 No disciplinary material will be placed in an employee's personnel file without written or electronic notification to the employee.
7.5 The Board agrees to maintain, as part of its general policy manual, job descriptions for members of the bargaining unit; said policy manual to be made available to each member of the bargaining unit and any new employee. Whenever the District contemplates any changes in job description, the District will notify the Association on the planned action and convene the Job Description Team per the Memorandum of Understanding included in Exhibit 1.
Procedural Matters The Trustee may maintain a proceeding even if it does not possess any of the Notes or does not produce any of them in such proceeding. A delay or omission by the Trustee or any Holder in exercising any right or remedy following an Event of Default will not impair the right or remedy or constitute a waiver of, or acquiescence in, such Event of Default. All remedies will be cumulative to the extent permitted by law.
DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES 16.1 The Employee is subject to the Company's disciplinary and grievance procedures, copies of which are available from the Group HR Manager. These procedures do not form part of the Employee's contract of employment.
16.2 If the Employee wants to raise a grievance, he may apply in writing to the CEO in accordance with the Company's grievance procedure.
16.3 If the Employee wishes to appeal against a disciplinary decision, he may apply in writing to the CEO in accordance with the Company's disciplinary procedure.
16.4 The Company may suspend the Employee from any or all of his duties for no longer than is necessary to investigate any disciplinary matter involving the Employee or so long as is otherwise reasonable while any disciplinary procedure against the Employee is outstanding.
16.5 During any period of suspension:
a) the Employee shall continue to receive his basic salary and all contractual benefits in the usual way and subject to the terms of any benefit arrangement;
b) the Employee shall remain an employee of the Company and bound by the terms of this agreement;
c) the Employee shall ensure that the CEO knows where he will be and how he can be contacted during each working day (except during any periods taken as holiday in the usual way);
d) the Company may exclude the Employee from his place of work or any other premises of the Company; and
e) the Company may require the Employee not to contact or deal with (or attempt to contact or deal with) any officer, employee, consultant, client, customer, supplier, agent, distributor, shareholder, adviser or other business contact of the Company.
Governance (a) The HSP represents, warrants and covenants that it has established, and will maintain for the period during which this Agreement is in effect, policies and procedures: that set out a code of conduct for, and that identify the ethical responsibilities for all persons at all levels of the HSP’s organization; to ensure the ongoing effective functioning of the HSP; for effective and appropriate decision-making; for effective and prudent risk-management, including the identification and management of potential, actual and perceived conflicts of interest; for the prudent and effective management of the Funding; to monitor and ensure the accurate and timely fulfillment of the HSP’s obligations under this Agreement and compliance with the Enabling Legislation; to enable the preparation, approval and delivery of all Reports; to address complaints about the provision of Services, the management or governance of the HSP; and to deal with such other matters as the HSP considers necessary to ensure that the HSP carries out its obligations under this Agreement.
(b) The HSP represents and warrants that: it has, or will have within 60 Days of the execution of this Agreement, a Performance Agreement with its CEO that ties a reasonable portion of the CEO’s compensation plan to the CEO’s performance; it will take all reasonable care to ensure that its CEO complies with the Performance Agreement; it will enforce the HSP’s rights under the Performance Agreement; and a reasonable portion of any compensation award provided to the CEO during the term of this Agreement will be pursuant to an evaluation of the CEO’s performance under the Performance Agreement and the CEO’s achievement of performance goals and performance improvement targets and in compliance with Applicable Law. “compensation award”, for the purposes of Section 9.3(b)(4) above, means all forms of payment, benefits and perquisites paid or provided, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a CEO who performs duties and functions that entitle him or her to be paid.
Technical Objections to Grievances It is the intent of both Parties of this Agreement that no grievance shall be defeated merely because of a technical error, other than time limitations in processing the grievance through the grievance procedure. To this end, an arbitration board shall have the power to allow all necessary amendments to the grievance and the power to waive formal procedural irregularities in the processing of a grievance, in order to determine the real matter in dispute and to render a decision according to equitable principles and the justice of the case.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Limitations This is a requirement of the TIPS Contract and is non-negotiable. No Waiver of TIPS Immunity This is a requirement of the TIPS Contract and is non-negotiable. 5 5 Payment Terms and Funding Out Clause This is a requirement of the TIPS Contract and is non-negotiable. 6
Dispute Resolutions Parties agree to arbitration of dispute in Houston, Texas, USA.
