It is common practice for US-based multinational companies to adopt executive severance plans to provide for additional benefits to be paid to executives in the event of certain specified termination events, including those in connection with the change of control of the parent. These benefits may consist of cash payments, favorable treatment of equity awards, and/or other benefits (e.g., payment of health insurance premiums). These types of plans help companies recruit and retain talent and…
March 14, 2023, is recognized as Equal Pay Day in the US. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn the same amount that men earned in the previous year. Because women earn less, on average, than men (according to the US Census Bureau), they must work longer for the same amount of pay. It is vital to know that the wage gap is even greater for most women of color. In recent years, legislatures have…
The new Overseas Investment (OI) Rules issued on August 22, 2022 replace all previously available exemptions to grant share-based awards to Indian residents with a single exemption (the new âgeneral permissionâ), which requires, inter alia, that semi-annual reports be filed with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The reports will need to be submitted by an Authorized Dealer Bank in India (i.e., the bank in India involved with the remittance of funds under the plan)…
Companies offering equity awards in Malaysia have long had to balance the cumbersome tax and securities filings against the business case for providing additional benefits to Malaysian employees. Recent amendments to the Malaysian Employment Act mean that companies will need to re-evaluate payroll deduction requirements and potential translation requirements when deciding to offer equity awards or an ESPP in Malaysia. For more information on the impact of the amendments on your company’s equity plans, read…
2022 will be viewed as a year of political turmoil in the UK with three different prime ministers during the year. While all were leaders of the UK Conservative party, the tax policy objectives were significantly different leading to proposed changes being reversed in some cases. For more information on the latest developments in the UK, see our recent NASPP guest blog post here. *Thank you to our colleague Gillian Parnell in our London office…
Over the years, we have advised many companies on the considerations related to suspending vesting of equity awards and/or suspending participation in an employee stock purchase plan while an employee is on a leave of absence. This seems like a relatively straightforward concept. In practice, however, it can be difficult to get right and a challenge to administer. When determining whether to adopt a leave policy, companies will want to consider: If your company has…
On August 22, 2022, the Indian Government issued new exchange control rules affecting share-based awards offered to Indian residents by non-Indian issuers. In particular, the Indian Government issued the Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Rules, 2022 (âOI Rulesâ), Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Regulations, 2022 (âODI Regulationsâ) and Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Directions, 2022 (âODI Directionsâ).  The new OI Rules replace all previously available exemptions to grant share-based awards to Indian residents with a single…
It’s easy to read current financial headlines and understand that it’s possible the US and other countries may be headed into or are currently already in an economic recession. Either way it doesn’t hurt to start preparing for a potential downturn. In such a downturn, it’s quite possible that corporate budgets will tighten and companies will be tasked with finding ways to stretch each dollar further than the quarter before. Equity stock plan administrators tasked…
Global equity award programs can be costly to the US parent corporation. One strategy to offset some of this expense can be to use recharge arrangements to transfer some of the cost to the local entities that award holders are employed by. This can produce a tax benefit at the local level that would not otherwise be available to the US parent. To consider if recharge arrangements should be included in your global equity plan,…
We are frequently asked whether equity award documentation provided by a multinational company to employees / service providers in another country must be provided in local language. Given a recent, significant development on this topic in Quebec, Canada, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit the requirements and recommendations related to translations for equity award documentation. For purposes of this post, we are assuming the parent company is a US-based company with…