The duties imposed on compensation committees of publicly traded companies have evolved and grown over time. This seventh edition of the Compensation Committee Handbook from the lawyers of the Executive Compensation and...more
Transition relief for amending nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans to reflect the 2017 amendments to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code will expire on December 31, 2020. ...more
As discussed in our March 23, 2020, client alert “Recommendations for Compensation Committees During the COVID-19 Crisis,” compensation committees charged with implementing programs intended to incentivize and retain...more
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) became law on March 27, 2020, providing financial assistance to individuals and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as previously discussed in our...more
3/31/2020
/ Airlines ,
CARES Act ,
Compensation Restrictions ,
Covered Employees ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Federal Loans ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Pensions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Self Employed ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Deferral
As discussed in our March 20, 2020, client alert “Thoughts for Boards of Directors on the COVID-19 Crisis,” COVID-19 is testing the oversight skills of boards of directors as companies come to terms with the new normal in the...more
Companies have important decisions to make as they prepare for the 2020 annual meeting and reporting season. We have prepared a checklist of key corporate governance, executive compensation and disclosure matters on which we...more
12/3/2019
/ Annual Meeting ,
Annual Reports ,
Audits ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Director Compensation ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Glass Lewis ,
Hedging ,
Insider Trading ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals
The First Circuit, however, disagreed with the lower court. Analyzing the multi-factor test for establishing partnership status under federal tax court precedent and noting the lack of other formal guidance from regulators or...more
11/26/2019
/ Appeals ,
Binding Precedent ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Investment Funds ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Partnership-in-Fact ,
Partnerships ,
Portfolio Companies ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Reversal ,
Sun Capital Partners ,
Tax Court ,
Withdrawal Liability
On October 30, 2019, the Delaware Court of Chancery struck a major blow against the plaintiffs’ bar’s efforts to lower the statutory hurdle to maintaining stockholder derivative claims. A stockholder of Ultragenyx...more
11/4/2019
/ Board of Directors ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Derivative Suit ,
Dismissals ,
Executive Compensation ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pre-Suit Notice ,
Shareholder Demands
Many employers make annual employee equity grants in late February and March. This year, companies should review their form equity award agreements to determine whether a different form is needed for participants who live or...more
On December 14, 2018, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) issued updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) related to its U.S. Compensation Policies effective for shareholder meetings occurring on or after February 1,...more
The duties imposed on compensation committees of publicly traded companies have evolved and grown over time. The fifth edition of the Compensation Committee Handbook, authored by our Executive Compensation and Benefits Group,...more
12/11/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Compensation Committee ,
Director Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employment Contract ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Adviser ,
Mergers ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Section 16 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Stock Exchange ,
Taxation
In 2017, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) introduced a policy providing for potential adverse vote recommendations for the members of a company’s board responsible for approving/setting nonemployee director (NED) pay...more
On September 20, 2018, Skadden hosted the webinar “Equal Pay Audit: Current State of the Law.” The panelists were Karen Corman, Skadden labor and employment partner; Robin Quittell, managing director, chief human resources...more
10/4/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Audits ,
Best Practices ,
Defense Strategies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Lilly Ledbetter ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Transparency ,
Remedies ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII
On August 21, 2018, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2018-68, which provides eagerly awaited guidance for changes that were made to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code...more
8/23/2018
/ CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Covered Employees ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Compensation ,
Grandfathering Rules ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Proposed Guidance ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Section 162(m) ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Vesting
On December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act), which imposes a new excise tax on certain tax-exempt organizations for compensation paid to their covered employees in excess...more
1/18/2018
/ Covered Employees ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Exceptions ,
Excise Tax ,
Executive Compensation ,
Golden Parachutes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Section 501 ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
Vesting
On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act), which includes significant changes to the executive compensation deduction rules in Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code)...more
1/5/2018
/ CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retirement Plan ,
Section 16 ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Trump Administration
On December 13, 2017, the Delaware Supreme Court issued an opinion, In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, Case No. 169, holding that, except under limited circumstances, the court will not apply the...more
12/20/2017
/ Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Equity Plans ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Reversal ,
Self-Interest ,
Shareholder Approval ,
Standard of Review
Companies have important decisions to make as they prepare for their 2018 annual meeting and reporting season. We have prepared a checklist of key corporate governance, executive compensation and disclosure matters on which...more
12/4/2017
/ Annual Meeting ,
Auditors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
D&O Insurance ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Filing Requirements ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Access ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recently announced updates to its U.S. proxy voting guidelines for the 2018 proxy season. Although the updates are not likely to have a significant impact on 2018...more
11/21/2017
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Director Compensation ,
Diversity ,
Executive Compensation ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Pledges ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
On November 16, 2017, the House of Representatives voted to approve its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the bill following the Thanksgiving break, which would require a...more
11/20/2017
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retirement Plan ,
Section 162(m) ,
Severance Pay ,
Stock Options ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
The November 6, 2017, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady’s Amendment to the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (originally proposed November 2, 2017) (the “Chairman’s...more
If enacted, the newly proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would effectively put an end to many of the most widely used forms of executive compensation:
- Deferred compensation and stock options would disappear.
- Use of...more
11/3/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Executive Compensation ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Performance Incentives ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Severance Pay ,
Stock Options ,
Tax Cuts ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) released the results of its annual global benchmark voting policy survey on September 25, 2017. In a surprise result, the survey found that nearly 75 percent of the 131 investor...more
On September 21, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an interpretive release on the pay ratio disclosure requirements in Item 402(u) of Regulation S-K, and the staff of the Division of Corporation...more
On June 8, 2017, the House of Representatives passed, by a 233-186 vote (with all Democrats and one Republican voting against), the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017, a bill principally designed to reverse many features of the...more
6/12/2017
/ Clawbacks ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial CHOICE Act ,
Pending Legislation ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Repeal ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Trump Administration