Executive Compensation: Managing Risks and Rewards Across Borders

Executive compensation may consist of various components, including base salary, sign-on bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, special retirement plans, and other perks.  In this session, employment and compensation lawyers from the U.S. and Europe will compare executive compensation arrangements – and relevant disputes – across U.S. and European markets.  Various important aspects of these plans can be quite different across borders.  These include issues such as:

• General overview of compensation (5 minutes)
• Can the employer properly retain “discretion” as to whether or not to pay a bonus, or to recoup payment once made if the employee misbehaves, e.g. violates an NDA or non-compete agreement? (12 minutes)
• The permitted ratio between base and variable pay, and regulatory and legal caps on bonuses (5 minutes)
• Equity arrangements and cash liquidity (10 minutes)
• Garden leave clauses (standard in Europe, rare and misunderstood in America (15 minutes)
• Rights and remedies on termination – for “cause,” without cause, and otherwise
  • “Cause” and “Good Reason” issues (10 minutes)
• Negotiability of these provisions (3 minutes)