Fasken works closely with employers in the race to attract and incentivize talented executives.
Multinational corporations and local start-ups alike, our multi-disciplinary team advises on the full range of executive compensation matters by drawing on our extensive expertise in employment, tax, corporate and securities laws:
- Executive Employment Agreements: Employment agreements are the foundation of executive compensation entitlements, including both short and long term incentive compensation, severance entitlements, and “golden parachutes”. We guide employers through the negotiation of agreements to ensure that the deal is not only attractive to the executive but also aligned with local laws and best practices.
- Equity and Cash Incentive Plans: We work with public and private entities to update or create consistent incentive plans and related documents such as:
- cash-based plans;
- equity-based plans, including stock option plans, share appreciation plans, restricted share unit (RSU) plans, performance share unit (PSU) plans, deferred share unit (DSU) plans;
- pension plans and supplementary retirement plans; and
- clawback policies.
For multinational employers, we adapt cross-border plans to avoid unfortunate surprises that can result from non-compliance with the employment law and income tax regimes in Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Our clients also look to us for our insight into emerging trends in incentive compensation, such as the inclusion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics.
- Employment Terminations: Executive separations are inevitable, and each separation presents its own unique challenges. We provide timely and practical advice at all steps in the process to achieve as seamless a transition as possible, from the board approval process to the negotiation of a separation package and implementation of the termination.
- Disclosure Obligations and Approval Requirements of Public Companies: We guide public employers when navigating proxy disclosure obligations and industry best practices.
- Tax Considerations: We help Canadian and international businesses, both public and private, address a wide variety of tax considerations in compensation arrangements and benefit plans. This might include advice on:
- deferred compensation;
- global or Canadian equity incentive plans including stock options, phantom stock plans;
- dealing with non-qualified securities, cross-border residency and carrying on business issues;
- compliance with payroll taxes; and
- employer withholding obligations including those related to international mobile employees or employees that are part of remote working arrangements.
