-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, Ldzo1ZFKQ75eyaKNgeyXCqmZ6aNaeU61QEzfNbho6929q/JrBnP6ELlxDr9YWEjn mt2+YDq5X2a9GYGriIMIWg== 0001104659-07-079339.txt : 20071102 0001104659-07-079339.hdr.sgml : 20071102 20071102163914 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0001104659-07-079339 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: 8-K PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 7 CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT: 20071029 ITEM INFORMATION: Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement ITEM INFORMATION: Departure of Directors or Principal Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Principal Officers ITEM INFORMATION: Regulation FD Disclosure ITEM INFORMATION: Financial Statements and Exhibits FILED AS OF DATE: 20071102 DATE AS OF CHANGE: 20071102 FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORP /DE/ CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000316793 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: SEMICONDUCTORS & RELATED DEVICES [3674] IRS NUMBER: 951528961 STATE OF INCORPORATION: DE FISCAL YEAR END: 0629 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: 8-K SEC ACT: 1934 Act SEC FILE NUMBER: 001-07935 FILM NUMBER: 071211116 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: 233 KANSAS ST CITY: EL SEGUNDO STATE: CA ZIP: 90245 BUSINESS PHONE: 3107268000 8-K 1 a07-28138_18k.htm 8-K

 

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 8-K

 

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): October 29, 2007

 

INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

 

1-7935

 

95-1528961

(State or other jurisdiction

 

(Commission File Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

of incorporation or organization)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

233 Kansas Street

 

 

El Segundo, California

 

90245

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

(Zip Code)

 

(310) 726-8000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 

o  Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 

o  Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 

o  Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 

o  Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

 

 



 

Section 1 – Registrant’s Business and Operations

 

Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

 

(i) On October 29, 2007 Registrant’s Board of Directors approved four forms of Severance Agreement to be entered into with Registrant’s key officers as identified by the Board of Directors from time to time.

 

Registrant entered into a Severance Agreement dated October 29, 2007 in the form attached as Exhibit 10.1 and as described below with Donald R. Dancer, Registrant’s acting Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel and a Severance Agreement dated October 29, 2007 in the form attached as Exhibit 10.2 and as described below with Linda J. Pahl, acting Chief Financial Officer.

 

On October 29, 2007, Registrant approved a form of Severance Agreement as attached as Exhibit 10.3 and described below for Michael A. Briere, Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer and for Marc Rougee, Executive Vice President-Operations of Registrant.

 

The above three forms of Severance Agreement provide protection of the key executive officers in the event of a voluntary termination for good reason, as defined, or an involuntary termination other than for cause, as defined, following a change in control of Registrant as specified in the Severance Agreement, and in the cases of Ms. Pahl and Mr. Dancer only, a change in the acting Chief Executive Officer within two years also will constitute a defined change in control (Mr. Dancer’s  form of Severance Agreement in addition cross-references his Compensation Agreement (described in item 5.02(e)(ii), below)  and excludes payments under that agreement from the provision that would otherwise reduce payments under the Severance Agreement by any other payments that might be considered to be in the nature of severance). The protections provided in the above three forms of Severance Agreement include payments of two times the key employee’s annual base salary and annual target bonus, the acceleration of vesting of all unvested equity and stock option grants, continuation of COBRA benefits for eighteen months and payment by Registrant in certain situations of excise taxes imposed by Sections 280G and 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended, subject to an aggregate excise tax payment limit of $3 million for each key executive.

 

Certain other key officers will receive Severance Agreements in the form attached as Exhibit 10.4 that provide that in the event of a voluntary termination for good reason, as defined, or an involuntary termination other than for cause, as defined, following a change in control of Registrant as specified in the Severance Agreement, for a payment of one times annual salary and target bonus, the acceleration of vesting of all unvested equity and stock option grants, continuation of COBRA benefits for eighteen months and payment of a modified excise tax gross-up.

 

Section 5 – Corporate Governance and Management

 

Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

 

 (c)   Registrant has appointed Marc Rougee, 53 years of age, to the position of  Executive Vice President, Operations. This promotion was approved by Registrant’s Board of Directors at its meeting on October 29, 2007. Mr. Rougee joined Registrant in 2003 in the position of general manager of Registrant’s facility in Newport, Wales, U.K. He was named vice president, worldwide wafer fab operations in 2004 and became acting senior vice president, operations in June, 2007. Prior to joining Registrant in 2003, Mr. Rougee was vice president for worldwide field engineering and design services for Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing-Singapore from 2002 to 2003 and during that time a director of Silicon Manufacturing Partners, a joint venture in Singapore. Prior to that, he was general manager and vice president at Silicon Manufacturing Partners.

 

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Mr. Rougee participates in Registrant’s bonus plan and has received in the past and is eligible to receive stock option grants under Registrant’s employee stock option plans. Mr. Rougee’s base salary is $330,000, and his bonus target for the first two quarters of Registrant’s fiscal year 2008 is 70% of base salary, with a maximum of 120% of base salary. Mr. Rougee has a severance guarantee that was in place prior to his promotion that provides that if his employment is terminated by Registrant other than for cause prior to March 31, 2009, he is entitled to a severance payment equal to two (2) years base salary. Registrant intends to provide Mr. Rougee with the benefits of the form of Severance Agreement described in Item 1.01 and included as Exhibit 10.3 of this Form 8-K but modified to eliminate duplicate payments that might result from his existing severance guarantee. Mr. Rougee has also received a letter agreement in the form included as Exhibit 99.1 to Registrant’s Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on October 23, 2007, providing for 20,000 employee stock options to be granted at a future date.

 

There are no family relationships between Mr. Rougee and the directors or executive officers of Registrant and, other than as disclosed herein, there are no arrangements or understandings between Mr. Rougee and any other person pursuant to which he was selected as an officer.

 

(e)      (i) Information regarding Mr. Rougee’s compensatory arrangements is contained in the responses to Item 5.02(c) above, which information is incorporated in this Item 5.02(e) by this reference.

 

(ii) Registrant’s Compensation and Stock Options Committee (the “Compensation Committee” or “Committee”) at its meeting on October  29, 2007 approved a total compensation package for Donald R. Dancer, acting Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Dancer’s annual base salary is increased to $450,000, effective as of August 28, 2007; his annual bonus is targeted at 75% of his annual base salary, with the goals for fiscal year 2008 to be set by the Committee at a future meeting; he will be granted 75,000 employee stock options by the Committee at a future meeting subsequent to Registrant becoming current in its financial statement reporting obligations to the SEC, or, if such date is within fifteen (15) days prior to the end of a Registrant fiscal quarter or prior to the filing with the SEC of the periodic report on Form 10-Q for a completed Registrant fiscal quarter, then on the third New York Stock Exchange trading day that follows the day on which such report on Form 10-Q is filed with the SEC (the “Grant Date”), with vesting in three equal consecutive annual installments with the first vesting date to be October 29, 2008, five year term commencing October 29, 2007, accelerated vesting upon a change in control, and a one year post-termination exercise window; he will receive a one-time cash incentive award of $100,000 upon entering into his Compensation Agreement; he will receive a one-time special cash bonus of $400,000 payable on, or within ten (10) business days after, March 1, 2008; and he will also receive a vested special award of that number of restricted stock units (“RSU Award”) determined by dividing $500,000 by the Fair Market Value (as that term is defined in the Registrant’s 2000 Incentive Plan, as amended) of a share of the Registrant's common stock as of the Grant Date, as defined. The $400,000 special cash bonus and the sum of $500,000 in cash (if prior to the Grant Date) will be paid upon any involuntary termination of Mr. Dancer other than for cause or any termination by Mr. Dancer for Good Reason as defined in his Severance Agreement filed as Exhibit 10.1 to this Form 8-K and as described in Item 1.01(i) of this Form 8-K. A copy of Mr. Dancer’s Compensation Agreement is filed as Exhibit 10.5 to this Form 8K. The Registrant's commitment to grant to Mr. Dancer 75,000 employee stock options is additionally memorialized by a letter agreement in the form included as Exhibit 99.1 to Registrant's Form 8-K filed with the SEC on October 23, 2007.

 

(iii) In her role as acting Chief Financial Officer, Linda J. Pahl’s annual base salary has been increased from $243,850 to $270,000 annually effective July 2, 2007.  Additionally, Ms. Pahl’s bonus target for the first two quarters of 2008 is 50% of base salary, with a maximum of 60% of base salary.  In addition, effective commencing in the company’s first fiscal quarter of its 2008 fiscal year, Ms. Pahl shall receive an additional bonus of $25,000 each quarter for each quarter or portion thereof she serves as acting Chief Financial Officer. Additionally, the Registrant has an understanding with Ms. Pahl that she will be granted 6,000 restricted stock units under Registrant’s 2000 Incentive Plan, as amended, subsequent to Registrant becoming current in its financial statement reporting obligations to the SEC. Ms. Pahl has additionally entered into a Severance Agreement in the form described in Item 1.01(i). In Registrant’s Form 8-K filed with the SEC on October 23, 2007, Registrant additionally reported that Ms. Pahl received a letter agreement in the form included as Exhibit 99.1 to that Form 8-K, providing for 20,000 employee stock options to be granted at a future date.

 

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Item 7.01.           Regulation FD Disclosure.

 

On November 2, 2007, the Registrant has issued a press release describing the appointment of Marc Rougee as Executive Vice President - Operations. A copy of the Registrant’s press release is attached as Exhibit 99.1 and incorporated herein by reference.

 

The information in this Item 7.01 of this report on Form 8-K, including Exhibit 99.1, will not be treated as filed for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section. This information will not be incorporated by reference into a filing under the Securities Act of 1933, or into another filing under the Exchange Act, unless that filing expressly refers to specific information in this report.  The furnishing of the information in this Item 7.01 of this report is not intended to and does not, constitute a representation that such furnishing is required by Regulation FD or that the information in this Item 7.01 is material investor information that is not otherwise publicly available.

 

Item 9.01.           Financial Statements and Exhibits.

 

(d)                             Exhibits

 

Exhibit Number

 

Description

10.1

 

Donald R. Dancer Severance Agreement, dated October 29, 2007.

10.2

 

Linda J. Pahl Severance Agreement, dated October 29, 2007.

10.3

 

Form of Executive Officer Severance Agreement.

10.4

 

Form of Key Personnel Severance Agreement.

10.5

 

Donald R. Dancer Compensation Agreement, dated October 29, 2007.

99.1

 

Press Release of International Rectifier Corporation, dated November 2, 2007, regarding the promotion of Marc Rougee.

 

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SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER

 

CORPORATION

 

 

Date:  November 2, 2007

By

/s/ Donald R. Dancer

 

 

 

Donald R. Dancer,

 

 

Chief Executive Officer (acting), Secretary and General
Counsel

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit

 

Description

10.1

 

Donald R. Dancer Severance Agreement, dated October 29, 2007.

10.2

 

Linda J. Pahl Severance Agreement, dated October 29, 2007.

10.3

 

Form of Executive Officer Severance Agreement.

10.4

 

Form of Key Employee Severance Agreement.

10.5

 

Donald R. Dancer Compensation Agreement, dated October 29, 2007.

99.1

 

Press Release of International Rectifier Corporation, dated November 2, 2007, regarding the promotion of Marc Rougee.

 

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EX-10.1 2 a07-28138_1ex10d1.htm EX-10.1

Exhibit 10.1

 

SEVERANCE AGREEMENT

 

THIS SEVERANCE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), dated as of October 29, 2007, (the “Effective Date”) is made by and between International Rectifier Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and Donald R. Dancer (“Employee”). This term of this Agreement extends from the Effective Date through the End Date.

 

WITNESSETH:

 

WHEREAS, Employee is a senior level employee of the Company and is currently serving as its acting Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel;

 

WHEREAS, Employee has made and is expected to continue to make major contributions to the short- and long-term profitability, growth and financial strength of the Company;

 

WHEREAS, the Company desires to assure itself of both present and future continuity of management and desires to establish certain severance benefits for Employee, applicable in the event of a Change in Control;

 

WHEREAS, the Company is contemporaneously entering into a compensation agreement with Employee (the “Compensation Agreement”); and

 

WHEREAS, on October 29, 2007 the Board authorized the Company to enter into this Agreement.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, the Company and Employee agree as follows:

 

1. Certain Defined Terms. In addition to terms defined elsewhere herein, the following terms have the following meanings when used in this Agreement with initial capital letters:

 

(a) “Base Amount” has the same meaning provided to it under the Code Section 280G final regulations.

 

(b) “Base Pay” means Employee’s annual rate of base salary as in effect from time to time.

 

(c) “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company.

 

(d) “Cause” means any one or more of the following committed (or omitted) by Employee:

 

(i) conviction of, or guilty plea or plea of nolo contendre to, a felony crime; or (ii) gross misconduct that is materially injurious to the Company and/or any of its Subsidiaries or affiliates; or

(iii) repeated failure to follow the reasonable and lawful directions of the Company after the Employee has received at least one written warning from the Company; or

(iv) any willful and/or intentional material violation of any written Company policy or procedure; or

(v) a material breach of this Agreement

 

Whether or not Cause exists in clauses (ii) through (v) shall in each case be determined in good faith by the Board.

 

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Notwithstanding the foregoing, Employee shall not be deemed to have been terminated for “Cause” under clauses (ii) through (v) unless and until there shall have been delivered to the Employee a copy of a resolution duly adopted by the affirmative vote of not less than a majority of the Board then in office at a meeting of the Board. In addition, before such termination for Cause is effective, the Company shall provide the Employee with written notice detailing why the Company believes a Cause event has occurred and specifying the particulars thereof in detail. The Board shall also provide the Employee with ten days after his/her receipt of such notice to cure the Cause event(s)(if curable) and the opportunity, together with the Employee’s counsel (if the Employee chooses to have counsel present at such meeting), to be heard before the Board (or, in the Board’s discretion, the Committee or their delegates) during such ten day period. Nothing herein will limit the right of the Employee to contest the validity or propriety of any such determination.

 

(e) “Change in Control” means the occurrence of any one or more of the following events:

 

(1) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of the dissolution or liquidation of the Company, except to the extent the dissolution is in connection with a sale of assets which would not constitute a Change in Control Event under subsection (2) below.

 

(2) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of an agreement to merge, consolidate or otherwise reorganize, with or into, sell or transfer substantially all of the Company’s business and/or assets as an entirety to one or more entities that are not Subsidiaries, as a result of which 50% or less of the outstanding voting securities of the surviving or resulting entities immediately after the reorganization are, or are to be, owned by former stockholders of the Company immediately before such reorganization (assuming for purposes of such determination that there is no change in the record ownership of the Company’s securities from the record date for such approval until such reorganization, but including in such determination any securities of the other parties to such reorganization held by such affiliates of the Company).

 

(3) The occurrence of any of the following:

 

Any “person,” alone or with “affiliates” and “associates” of such person, without the prior approval of the Board, becomes the “beneficial  owner” of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Company (the terms “person,” “affiliates,” “associates” and “beneficial owner” are used as such terms are used in the Exchange Act and the General Rules and Regulations thereunder); provided, however, that a “Change in Control Event” shall not be deemed to have occurred if such “person” is/are:

 

(A) the Company,

(B) any Subsidiary, or

(C) any employee benefit plan or employee stock plan of the Company, or any trust or other entity organized, established or holding shares of such voting securities by, for, or pursuant to the  terms of any such plan.

 

(4) Individuals who at the beginning of any period of two consecutive calendar years constitute a majority of the Board cease for any reason, during such period, to constitute at least a  majority thereof, unless the election, or the nomination for election by the Company’s stockholders, of each new Board member was approved by a vote of at least two-thirds of the Board members then still in office who were Board members at the beginning of such period.

 

(5) If, on or before the second anniversary of the Effective Date, the individual serving as the Company’s Acting Chief Executive Officer or Chief Executive Officer as of the Effective Date is

 

2



 

no longer serving in such position as a result of any reason other than due to such individual’s death or disability.

 

(f) “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

 

(g) “Committee” means the Compensation and Stock Options Committee of the Board.

 

(h) “Disability” means disability as defined in the Company’s long-term disability plan in which the Employee participates at the relevant time or, if the Employee does not participate in a Company long-term disability plan at the relevant time, as such term is defined in the Company’s principal long-term disability plan that generally covers the Company’s senior-level employees at that time, or, if neither of the foregoing applies, as defined in Code Section 22(e)(3).

 

(i) “Employee Benefits” means any Company group health or dental benefit plan; provided, however, that Employee Benefits shall not include contributions made by the Company to any retirement plan, pension plan or profit sharing plan for the benefit of the Employee.

 

(j) “Employee Benefits Continuation Period” means the 18 month period commencing as of the first day of the month following a Qualifying Termination.

 

(k) “End Date” means the earlier of: (i) the effective date that the Company and Employee mutually agree in writing to terminate this Agreement, (ii) the date, following a Qualifying Termination, when the Company has fulfilled all of its obligations to Employee under this Agreement, (iii) the Termination Date arising from a non-Qualifying Termination of Employee’s employment, or (iv) the date that is two years after the date when the Company provided written notice to the Employee that it is terminating this Agreement provided, however, that the End Date under this clause (iv) can be no earlier than the date that is two years after a Change in Control that occurred during the term of the Agreement or the date determined under clause (ii) if there is a Qualifying Termination.

 

(l) “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

 

(m) “Good Reason” means that any one or more of the following have occurred without the Employee’s prior written consent either in connection with a Change in Control or during the Protected Period:

 

(i) Employee has, except in connection with termination of employment for Cause or due to Employee’s death or Disability, suffered a material and substantial diminution in Employee’s job responsibilities as in effect immediately prior to the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur), provided, however, that neither mere changes in title and/or reporting relationship, nor reassignment following a Change in Control to a position that is similar to the position held immediately prior to such public announcement of the contemplated Change in Control shall constitute a material and substantial diminution in job responsibilities. In addition, if Employee’s job title as of the Effective Date (as specified in the above recitals) is denoted as or is in effect an “Interim” or “Acting” position, then a subsequent reassignment to a position of the same level which Employee held immediately prior to assuming such Interim or Acting position or to a higher level shall not constitute a Good Reason event; or

(ii) Employee has incurred a reduction in his or her Base Pay or his/her Target Bonus opportunity; or

(iii) Employee has been notified that his or her principal place of work will be relocated to a new location that is twenty miles or more from Employee’s principal work location as of immediately before the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur); or

(iv) The Company has materially breached this Agreement including without limitation the failure to timely comply with Section 3(a).

 

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Before “Good Reason” has been deemed to have occurred, Employee must give the Company written notice detailing why the Employee believes a Good Reason event has occurred and such notice must be provided to the Company within sixty days of the initial occurrence of such alleged Good Reason event(s) or else such Good Reason event(s) will be deemed to have been irrevocably waived by Employee. The Company shall then have thirty days after its receipt of written notice to cure or remedy the items cited in the written notice so that “Good Reason” will not have formally occurred with respect to the event(s) in question. If the Company does not timely remedy or cure the Good Reason events, then Employee’s employment shall be terminated for Good Reason as of the end of the thirty day cure period.

 

(n) “Protected Period” means the two year period immediately following (and commencing on) a Change in Control.

 

(o) “Qualifying Termination” means termination of the Employee’s employment either by the Company without Cause or by the Employee for Good Reason, in each case occurring either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period. For avoidance of doubt, termination of employment due to Employee’s death or Disability is not a Qualifying Termination.

 

(p) “Release Agreement” means a separation agreement containing the release of all employment related claims against the Company and its affiliates along with Employee’s covenant not to sue the Company or its affiliates in substantially the following form and where such separation agreement will also contain only those covenants expressed in Section 12 below.

 

The release of claims will provide that in exchange for good and valuable consideration, the “Employee hereby covenants not to sue and releases and forever discharges the Company, its parents, subsidiaries, attorneys, insurers, agents, employees, shareholders, directors, officers, affiliates, predecessors and successors of and from any and all employment related rights, claims, actions, demands, causes of action, obligations, attorneys’ fees, costs, damages, and liabilities of whatever kind or nature arising from his service with the Company, in law or in equity, that Employee may have (whether known or not known) (collectively, “Claims”), accruing to Employee as of the Termination Date, that Employee has ever had, including but not limited to Claims based on and/or arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Family Medical Leave Act, The Equal Pay Act, The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, The Fair Labor Standards Act, and/or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act; The California Constitution, The California Government Code, The California Labor Code, The Industrial Welfare Commission’s Orders, The Securities Act of 1933, The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, California Labor Code sections 1400-1408, and any and all other Claims Employee may have under any other federal, state or local Constitution, Statute, Ordinance and/or Regulation; and all other Claims arising under common law including but not limited to tort, express and/or implied contract and/or quasi-contract, arising out of or, in any way, related to Employee’s previous relationship with the Company as an employee, consultant and/ or director. Furthermore, Employee acknowledges that Employee is waiving and releasing any rights Employee may have under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (“ADEA”), as amended, and that this waiver and release is knowing and voluntary. Employee acknowledges that the consideration given for this waiver and release is in addition to anything of value to which Employee was already entitled. Employee further acknowledges that Employee has been advised by this writing that:

 

(a)                                  Employee should consult with an attorney prior to executing this Agreement;

(b)                                 Employee has at least twenty-one (21) days within which to consider this Agreement;

(c)                                  Employee has up to seven (7) days following the execution of this Agreement by the Parties to revoke the Agreement; and

(d)                                 this Agreement shall not be effective until the revocation period in subsection (c) has expired without revocation by Employee.

 

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The Company and Employee agree that this release shall be and remain in effect in all respects as a complete general release as to the matters released.”

 

Such Release Agreement will not require a release of the Employee’s rights to indemnification and contribution by the Company or to coverage under the Company’s directors and officers liability insurance coverage if applicable or any claims that may not be released as a matter of law.

 

(q) “Subsidiary” means any corporation or other entity a majority of whose outstanding voting stock or voting power is beneficially owned directly or indirectly by the Company.

 

(r) “Target Bonus” means the targeted annualized cash-based incentive compensation opportunity for the Employee during each Company fiscal year. Solely for the purposes of determining whether Good Reason applies, this Target Bonus amount can not be reduced from any prior fiscal year without the Employee’s express prior written consent, although the actual amount of any bonus earned and paid to Employee for any year shall be determined pursuant to the terms of each year’s bonus arrangement.

 

(s) “Termination Date” means the last date of Employee’s employment with the Company (and any Subsidiary).

 

2. Qualifying Termination Consequences. If a Qualifying Termination occurs during the term of this Agreement and also occurs either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period, then the following subsections in this Section 2 shall apply (with Sections 2(b) through 2(g) being subject to the effectiveness of the Release Agreement referenced in Section 2(h) below):

 

(a) Within ten days of his/her Termination Date (or such earlier time required by applicable law), Employee shall be paid for (i) his/her unpaid salary and paid time off and vacation pay that are accrued through the Termination Date, (ii) earned but unpaid bonuses for performance periods completed on or prior to the Termination Date, and (iii) unreimbursed valid business expenses that were submitted in accordance with Company policies and procedures. Employee is also eligible for other vested benefits pursuant to the express terms of any applicable Company employee benefit plan.

 

(b) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to two (2) times the sum of the Employee’s Base Pay and Target Bonus as in effect on the Termination Date (the “Cash Severance”). The Board shall determine in good faith whether such Qualifying Termination is occurring in connection with an impending Change in Control. However, such a Qualifying Termination shall in any event be deemed to be in connection with an impending Change in Control if such Qualifying Termination (i) is required by the merger agreement or other instrument relating to such Change in Control, or (ii) is made at the express request of the other party (or parties) to the transaction constituting such Change in Control, or (iii) occurs after the public announcement of an impending Change in Control. The Cash Severance shall be paid to Employee in a cash lump sum within ten days after the effectiveness of the Release Agreement.

 

(c) For the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Company shall continue to provide to Employee the Employee Benefits which were received by, or with respect to, Employee as of the date of the Qualifying Termination, at the same expense to Employee as before the Qualifying Termination subject to immediate cessation (other than as to any pre-existing condition not covered by the new benefits coverage) if Employee is offered employee benefits coverage in connection with new employment. From the Termination Date through the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, Employee shall provide advance written notice to the Company informing the Company when the Employee is offered or becomes eligible for other employee benefits in connection with new employment. In addition, if periodically requested by the Company during the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Employee will provide the Company with written confirmation that he/she has not been offered other employee benefits.

 

(d) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to a pro-rata portion (based on the number of whole months Employee served as a Company employee during the fiscal year of the Qualifying Termination divided by twelve) of the Target Bonus for such year. Any amounts payable to Employee

 

5



 

under this Section 2(d) will be paid to Employee at the same time that the Cash Severance is paid. The Company shall also provide, at Company expense and not to exceed $50,000 in the aggregate, job outplacement services for the Employee until the earlier of nine months after the Termination Date or the date when Employee accepts an offer of new employment. The Company shall select the outplacement service provider and provide any compensation benefit hereunder directly with and to the service provider.

 

(e) In the event that the Employee is entitled to receive payment of the Cash Severance, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any restricted stock, stock option or other equity compensation plan or agreement or deferred compensation or retirement plan or agreement, upon the Termination Date the Employee shall become immediately fully vested (and all vesting restrictions and Company repurchase rights removed) in all of his/her then outstanding stock options, stock appreciation rights, warrants, restricted stock, phantom stock, nonqualified deferred compensation, nonqualified retirement agreement or similar nonqualified plans or agreements with the Company. In addition, subject to the terms of any applicable Company equity compensation plan or merger agreement or other instrument relating to the Change in Control that provides that all Company stock options will be canceled and not continued upon a Change in Control, the Employee shall have at least until the earlier of (i) the scheduled expiration date of the stock option term or (ii) six months after the Termination Date to exercise his/her vested then-outstanding stock options. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any award that is subject to a performance condition will vest only to the extent the performance condition has been satisfied on or prior to the Termination Date.

 

(f) In  the event that it is determined that any payment or distribution of any type to or for the benefit of the Employee made by the Company, by any of its affiliates, by any person who acquires ownership or effective control of the Company or ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code, and the regulations thereunder or by any affiliate of such person, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise (the “Total Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by section 4999 of the Code or any interest or penalties with respect to such excise tax (such excise tax, together with any such interest or penalties, are collectively referred to as the “Excise Tax”), then either paragraphs (1) or (2) of this Section 2(f) below shall occur as applicable:

 

(1) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is less than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then such Total Payments shall be reduced to the smaller amount that is equal to $1.00 less than 300% of the Employee’s Base Amount.

 

(2) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is equal to or greater than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then, subject to the maximum dollar limit expressed in Section 2(g), the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any excise taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Sections 280G and 4999 (the “Excise Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the Excise Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such excise tax with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates. Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are excise taxes owed and will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

(3) All mathematical determinations and all determinations of whether any of the Total Payments are “parachute payments” (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code) that are required to be made under this Section 2(f), shall be made by a nationally recognized independent registered public accounting firm not currently retained by the Company immediately prior to the Change in Control (the “Accountants”), who shall provide their determination, together with detailed supporting calculations regarding the amount of any relevant matters, both to the Company and to the Employee within seven (7) business days of the Change in Control or Termination Date, as applicable, or such earlier time as is requested by the Company. Such determination shall be made by the Accountants using reasonable good faith interpretations of the Code. Any determination by the Accountants shall be binding upon the Company and the Employee,

 

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absent manifest error. The Company shall pay the fees and costs of the Accountants which are incurred in connection with this Section 2(f).

 

(g) In the event the Employee is subject to additional taxes imposed by Code Section 409A with respect to any payments or benefits due to the Employee under this Agreement, the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Section 409A (the “409A Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the 409A Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such Code Section 409A taxes with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates. Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are Code Section 409A taxes owed and will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no Code Section 409A taxes, excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, the maximum aggregate amount of payments that the Company will be required to make under Sections 2(f)(2) and 2(g) is $3,000,000.

 

(h) All payments and benefits provided under Sections 2(b) through 2(g) are conditioned on and subject to the Employee’s continuing compliance with this Agreement and the Employee’s timely execution (and non-revocation and effectiveness) of the Release Agreement on or after the Termination Date and the Employee’s on-going compliance with the terms of the Release Agreement. The Company will provide the Release Agreement to the Employee for his/her review and execution within three days of the Termination Date. There is no entitlement to any payments or benefits unless and until such Release Agreement is effective and the Release Agreement must become effective within sixty days after the Termination Date or else no payments or benefits will be provided to Employee under Sections 2(b) through 2(g). In addition, to the extent Employee receives severance or similar payments and/or benefits (other than any payments and/or benefits under Employee’s Compensation Agreement, which payments and/or benefits are expressly excluded from this provision) under any other Company plan, program, agreement, policy, practice, or the like, or under the WARN Act or similar state law, the payments and benefits due to Employee under this Agreement will be correspondingly reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis (or vice-versa).

 

3. Successors and Binding Agreement.

 

(a) The Company will require any successor (whether direct or indirect, by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise) to all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company, by written agreement in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Employee, expressly to assume and agree to perform this Agreement in the same manner and to the same extent the Company would be required to perform if no such succession had taken place. This Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Company and any successor to the Company, including without limitation any persons acquiring directly or indirectly all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company whether by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise (and such successor shall thereafter be deemed the “Company” for the purposes of this Agreement), but will not otherwise be assignable, transferable or delegable by the Company.

 

(b) This Agreement will inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the Employee’s personal or legal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, heirs, distributees and legatees.

 

(c) This Agreement is personal in nature and neither of the parties hereto shall, without the consent of the other, assign, transfer or delegate this Agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder except as expressly provided in Sections 3(a) and 3(b). Without limiting the generality or effect of the foregoing, the Employee’s right to receive payments hereunder will not be assignable, transferable or delegable, whether by pledge, creation of a security interest, or otherwise, other than by a transfer by Employee’s will or by the laws of descent and distribution and, in the event of any attempted assignment or transfer contrary to this Section 3(c), the Company shall have no liability to pay any amount so attempted to be assigned, transferred or delegated.

 

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4. No Retention Rights. This Agreement is not an employment agreement and does not give the Employee the right to be retained by the Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) and the Employee agrees that he/she is an employee-at-will subject to any effective employment agreement between the parties. The Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) reserves the right to terminate the Employee’s service at any time and for any reason.

 

5. Notices. For all purposes of this Agreement, all communications, including without limitation notices, consents, requests or approvals, required or permitted to be given hereunder will be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly given when hand delivered or dispatched by electronic facsimile transmission (with receipt thereof orally confirmed), or five business days after having been mailed by United States registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, or three business days after having been sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL, addressed to the Company (to the attention of the Secretary of the Company) at its principal executive office and to the Employee at his/her principal residence, or to such other address as any party may have furnished to the other in writing and in accordance herewith, except that notices of changes of address shall be effective only upon receipt.

 

6. Validity. If any provision of this Agreement or the application of any provision hereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal, the remainder of this Agreement and the application of such provision to any other person or circumstances will not be affected, and the provision so held to be invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal will be reformed to the extent (and only to the extent) necessary to make it enforceable, valid or legal.

 

7. Arbitration; Governing Law. Any dispute between the parties under this Agreement shall be resolved (except as provided below) in Los Angeles, California through informal arbitration by an arbitrator selected under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator shall have the right only to interpret and apply the provisions of this Agreement and may not change its provisions. The arbitrator shall permit reasonable pre-hearing discovery of facts, to the extent necessary to establish a claim or a defense to a claim, subject to supervision by the arbitrator. The determination of the arbitrator shall be conclusive and binding upon the parties and judgment upon the same may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrator shall give written notice to the parties stating his determination and shall furnish to each party a signed copy of such written decision. To the extent required by applicable law, the expenses of the arbitration shall be borne by the Company, otherwise the arbitration expenses shall be borne equally by the Company and the Employee provided, however, that each party shall be responsible for their own legal fees and expenses (except that the Company shall reimburse the Employee for the Employee’s legal fees within thirty days of the arbitration decision if the Employee is forced to successfully enforce at least one material claim of his Section 2 entitlements under this Section 7). The validity, interpretation, construction and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

 

8. Miscellaneous. No provision of this Agreement may be modified, waived or discharged unless such waiver, modification or discharge is agreed to in writing signed by the Employee and the Company. No waiver by either party hereto at any time of any breach by the other party hereto any condition or provision of this Agreement to be performed by such other party will be deemed a waiver of similar or dissimilar provisions or conditions at the same or at any prior or subsequent time. This Agreement and the Compensation Agreement constitute the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter thereof and supersede any and all prior agreements of the parties with respect to such subject matter. No agreements or representations, oral or otherwise, expressed or implied with respect to the subject matter thereof have been made by either party which are not set forth expressly in this Agreement and/or the Compensation Agreement.

 

9. Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original but all of which together will constitute one and the same agreement.

 

10. Section 409A. The Agreement is not intended to constitute a “nonqualified deferred compensation plan” within the meaning of section 409A of the Code. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in

 

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the event this Agreement or any benefit paid under this Agreement to Employee is deemed to be subject to section 409A of the Code, the Employee consents to the Company’s adoption of such conforming amendments as the Company deems advisable or necessary, in its sole discretion, to comply with section 409A of the Code (including without limit delaying the timing of payments). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, if, upon Employee’s separation from service, Employee is then a Company “specified employee” (as defined in Section 409A of the Code), then to the extent necessary to comply with Code Section 409A, the Company will defer payment (without interest) of certain of the amounts owed to Employee under this Agreement until the earlier of the Employee’s death or the first business day of the seventh month following Employee’s separation from service.

 

11. Withholding. All payments and benefits made under this Agreement shall be subject to reduction to reflect any withholding taxes or other amounts required by applicable law or regulation.

 

12. Restrictive Covenants. The provisions of this Section 12 shall survive termination of this Agreement and/or termination of Employee’s employment for any reason.

 

(a) Nondisparagement. The Employee will not disparage the Company, its directors, officers, employees, affiliates, Subsidiaries, predecessors, successors or assigns in any written or oral communications to any third party. The Employee further agrees that he/she will not direct anyone to make any disparaging oral or written remarks to any third parties, provided, however, that the Employee may testify or otherwise provide information truthfully in connection with any (i) governmental and/or regulatory proceeding, (ii) required governmental or regulatory filing, or (iii) any subpoena for testimony served upon the Employee.

 

(b) Nonsolicit. During the Employee’s employment with Company and for 12 months after the Termination Date, the Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, either as an individual or as an employee, agent, consultant, advisor, independent contractor, general partner, officer, director, stockholder, investor, lender, or in any other capacity whatsoever, of any person, firm, corporation or partnership: (i) solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or attempt to solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or (ii) attempt to negatively influence any of the Company’s clients or customers from purchasing Company products or services.

 

(c) Nondisclosure. Notwithstanding any requirement that the Company may have to publicly disclose the terms of this Agreement pursuant to applicable law or regulations, the Employee agrees to use reasonable efforts to maintain in confidence the existence of this Agreement, the contents and terms of this Agreement, and the consideration for this Agreement (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Agreement Information”). The Employee also agrees to take every reasonable precaution to prevent disclosure of any Agreement Information to third parties, except for disclosures required by law or reasonably necessary with respect to Employee’s immediate family members or personal advisors who shall also agree to maintain confidentiality of the Agreement Information.

 

(d) Confidentiality. Employee shall not, except as required by any court or administrative agency, without the written consent of the Board, or the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, or a person authorized thereby, disclose to any person, other than an employee of the Company or a person to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary or appropriate in connection with the performance by the Employee or his duties to the Company, any confidential information obtained by him while in the employ of the Company with respect to any of the Company’s inventions, processes, customers, methods of distribution, methods of manufacturing, attorney-client communications, pending or contemplated acquisitions, other trade secrets, or any other material which the Company is obliged to keep confidential pursuant to any confidentiality agreement or protective order; provided, however, that confidential information shall not include any information now known or which becomes known generally to the public (other than as a result of an unauthorized disclosure by the Employee) or any information of a type not otherwise considered confidential by a person engaged in the same business or a business similar to that conducted by the Company. Employee acknowledges that he also continues to be bound by the Inventions and Confidential Information agreement with the Company that Employee previously executed.

 

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(e) Remedy for Breach. The parties hereto agree that, in the event of breach or threatened breach of any covenants herein, the damage or imminent damage shall be inestimable, and that therefore any remedy at law or in damages shall be inadequate. Accordingly, the parties hereto agree that the Company and Employee shall be entitled to apply for injunctive relief in the event of any breach or threatened breach of any of such provisions by Employee or the Company, in addition to any other relief (including damages) available to the Company or Employee under this Agreement or under law. If the Employee materially breaches the Release Agreement then within thirty days of the Company’s notice to the Employee regarding such breach, the Employee must repay to the Company in cash all of the payments and benefits previously provided to the Employee under Section 2 and the Company will owe no further obligations to Employee under this Agreement.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused this Agreement to be duly executed and delivered as of the Effective Date.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORPORATION

 

 

By:

 

 

 

Lawrence A. Michlovich

 

Assistant Secretary

 

EMPLOYEE:

 

 

 

 

Donald R. Dancer

 

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EX-10.2 3 a07-28138_1ex10d2.htm EX-10.2

Exhibit 10.2

 

SEVERANCE AGREEMENT

 

THIS SEVERANCE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), dated as of October 29, 2007, (the “Effective Date”) is made by and between International Rectifier Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and Linda J. Pahl (“Employee”).  This term of this Agreement extends from the Effective Date through the End Date.

 

WITNESSETH:

 

WHEREAS, Employee is a senior level employee of the Company and is currently serving as its acting Chief Financial Officer;

 

WHEREAS, Employee has made and is expected to continue to make major contributions to the short- and long-term profitability, growth and financial strength of the Company;

 

WHEREAS, the Company desires to assure itself of both present and future continuity of management and desires to establish certain severance benefits for Employee, applicable in the event of a Change in Control; and

 

WHEREAS, on October 29, 2007 the Board authorized the Company to enter into this Agreement.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, the Company and Employee agree as follows:

 

1. Certain Defined Terms.  In addition to terms defined elsewhere herein, the following terms have the following meanings when used in this Agreement with initial capital letters:

 

(a) “Base Amount” has the same meaning provided to it under the Code Section 280G final regulations.

 

(b) “Base Pay” means Employee’s annual rate of base salary as in effect from time to time.

 

(c) “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company.

 

(d) “Cause” means any one or more of the following committed (or omitted) by Employee:

 

(i) conviction of, or guilty plea or plea of nolo contendre to, a felony crime; or (ii) gross misconduct that is materially injurious to the Company and/or any of its Subsidiaries or affiliates; or

(iii) repeated failure to follow the reasonable and lawful directions of the Company after the Employee has received at least one written warning from the Company; or

(iv) any willful and/or intentional material violation of any written Company policy or procedure; or

(v) a material breach of this Agreement

 

Whether or not Cause exists in clauses (ii) through (v) shall in each case be determined in good faith by the Board.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Employee shall not be deemed to have been terminated for “Cause” under clauses (ii) through (v) unless and until there shall have been delivered to the Employee a copy of a resolution duly adopted by the affirmative vote of not less than a majority of the Board then in office at a meeting of the Board.  In addition, before such termination for Cause is effective, the Company shall

 

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provide the Employee with written notice detailing why the Company believes a Cause event has occurred and specifying the particulars thereof in detail.  The Board shall also provide the Employee with ten days after his/her receipt of such notice to cure the Cause event(s)(if curable) and the opportunity, together with the Employee’s counsel (if the Employee chooses to have counsel present at such meeting), to be heard before the Board (or, in the Board’s discretion, the Committee or their delegates) during such ten day period.  Nothing herein will limit the right of the Employee to contest the validity or propriety of any such determination.

 

(e) “Change in Control” means the occurrence of any one or more of the following events:

 

(1) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of the dissolution or liquidation of the Company, except to the extent the dissolution is in connection with a sale of assets which would not constitute a Change in Control Event under subsection (2) below.

 

(2) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of an agreement to merge, consolidate or otherwise reorganize, with or into, sell or transfer substantially all of the Company’s business and/or assets as an entirety to one or more entities that are not Subsidiaries, as a result of which 50% or less of the outstanding voting securities of the surviving or resulting entities immediately after the reorganization are, or are to be, owned by former stockholders of the Company immediately before such reorganization (assuming for purposes of such determination that there is no change in the record ownership of the Company’s securities from the record date for such approval until such reorganization, but including in such determination any securities of the other parties to such reorganization held by such affiliates of the Company).

 

(3) The occurrence of any of the following:

 

Any “person,” alone or with “affiliates” and “associates” of such person, without the prior approval of the Board, becomes the “beneficial owner” of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Company (the terms “person,” “affiliates,” “associates” and “beneficial owner” are used as such terms are used in the Exchange Act and the General Rules and Regulations thereunder); provided, however, that a “Change in Control Event” shall not be deemed to have occurred if such “person” is/are:

(A) the Company,

(B) any Subsidiary, or

(C) any employee benefit plan or employee stock plan of the Company, or any trust or other entity organized, established or holding shares of such voting securities by, for, or pursuant to the terms of any such plan.

 

(4) Individuals who at the beginning of any period of two consecutive calendar years constitute a majority of the Board cease for any reason, during such period, to constitute at least a majority thereof, unless the election, or the nomination for election by the Company’s stockholders, of each new Board member was approved by a vote of at least two-thirds of the Board members then still in office who were Board members at the beginning of such period.

 

(5) If, on or before the second anniversary of the Effective Date, the individual serving as the Company’s Acting Chief Executive Officer or Chief Executive Officer as of the Effective Date is no longer serving in such position as a result of any reason other than due to such individual’s death or disability.

 

(f) “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

 

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(g) “Committee” means the Compensation and Stock Options Committee of the Board.

 

(h) “Disability” means disability as defined in the Company’s long-term disability plan in which the Employee participates at the relevant time or, if the Employee does not participate in a Company long-term disability plan at the relevant time, as such term is defined in the Company’s principal long-term disability plan that generally covers the Company’s senior-level employees at that time, or, if neither of the foregoing applies, as defined in Code Section 22(e)(3).

 

(i) “Employee Benefits” means any Company group health or dental benefit plan; provided, however, that Employee Benefits shall not include contributions made by the Company to any retirement plan, pension plan or profit sharing plan for the benefit of the Employee.

 

(j) “Employee Benefits Continuation Period” means the 18 month period commencing as of the first day of the month following a Qualifying Termination.

 

(k) “End Date” means the earlier of: (i) the effective date that the Company and Employee mutually agree in writing to terminate this Agreement, (ii) the date, following a Qualifying Termination, when the Company has fulfilled all of its obligations to Employee under this Agreement, (iii) the Termination Date arising from a non-Qualifying Termination of Employee’s employment, or (iv) the date that is two years after the date when the Company provided written notice to the Employee that it is terminating this Agreement provided, however, that the End Date under this clause (iv) can be no earlier than the date that is two years after a Change in Control that occurred during the term of the Agreement or the date determined under clause (ii) if there is a Qualifying Termination.

 

(l) “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

 

(m) “Good Reason” means that any one or more of the following have occurred without the Employee’s prior written consent either in connection with a Change in Control or during the Protected Period:

 

(i) Employee has, except in connection with termination of employment for Cause or due to Employee’s death or Disability, suffered a material and substantial diminution in Employee’s job responsibilities as in effect immediately prior to the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur), provided, however, that neither mere changes in title and/or reporting relationship, nor reassignment following a Change in Control to a position that is similar to the position held immediately prior to such public announcement of the contemplated Change in Control shall constitute a material and substantial diminution in job responsibilities.  In addition, if Employee’s job title as of the Effective Date (as specified in the above recitals) is denoted as or is in effect an “Interim” or “Acting” position, then a subsequent reassignment to a position of the same level which Employee held immediately prior to assuming such Interim or Acting position or to a higher level shall not constitute a Good Reason event; or

(ii) Employee has incurred a reduction in his or her Base Pay or his/her Target Bonus opportunity; or

(iii) Employee has been notified that his or her principal place of work will be relocated to a new location that is twenty miles or more from Employee’s principal work location as of immediately before the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur); or

(iv) The Company has materially breached this Agreement including without limitation the failure to timely comply with Section 3(a).

 

Before “Good Reason” has been deemed to have occurred, Employee must give the Company written notice detailing why the Employee believes a Good Reason event has occurred and such notice must be provided to the Company within sixty days of the initial occurrence of such alleged Good Reason

 

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event(s) or else such Good Reason event(s) will be deemed to have been irrevocably waived by Employee.  The Company shall then have thirty days after its receipt of written notice to cure or remedy the items cited in the written notice so that “Good Reason” will not have formally occurred with respect to the event(s) in question.  If the Company does not timely remedy or cure the Good Reason events, then Employee’s employment shall be terminated for Good Reason as of the end of the thirty day cure period.

 

(n) “Protected Period” means the two year period immediately following (and commencing on) a Change in Control.

 

(o) “Qualifying Termination” means termination of the Employee’s employment either by the Company without Cause or by the Employee for Good Reason, in each case occurring either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period.  For avoidance of doubt, termination of employment due to Employee’s death or Disability is not a Qualifying Termination.

 

(p) “Release Agreement” means a separation agreement containing the release of all employment related claims against the Company and its affiliates along with Employee’s covenant not to sue the Company or its affiliates in substantially the following form and where such separation agreement will also contain only those covenants expressed in Section 12 below.

 

The release of claims will provide that in exchange for good and valuable consideration, the “Employee hereby covenants not to sue and releases and forever discharges the Company, its parents, subsidiaries, attorneys, insurers, agents, employees, shareholders, directors, officers, affiliates, predecessors and successors of and from any and all employment related rights, claims, actions, demands, causes of action, obligations, attorneys’ fees, costs, damages, and liabilities of whatever kind or nature arising from his service with the Company, in law or in equity, that Employee may have (whether known or not known) (collectively, “Claims”), accruing to Employee as of the Termination Date, that Employee has ever had, including but not limited to Claims based on and/or arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Family Medical Leave Act, The Equal Pay Act, The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, The Fair Labor Standards Act, and/or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act; The California Constitution, The California Government Code, The California Labor Code, The Industrial Welfare Commission’s Orders, The Securities Act of 1933, The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, California Labor Code sections 1400-1408, and any and all other Claims Employee may have under any other federal, state or local Constitution, Statute, Ordinance and/or Regulation; and all other Claims arising under common law including but not limited to tort, express and/or implied contract and/or quasi-contract, arising out of or, in any way, related to Employee’s previous relationship with the Company as an employee, consultant and/ or director.  Furthermore, Employee acknowledges that Employee is waiving and releasing any rights Employee may have under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (“ADEA”), as amended, and that this waiver and release is knowing and voluntary.  Employee acknowledges that the consideration given for this waiver and release is in addition to anything of value to which Employee was already entitled.  Employee further acknowledges that Employee has been advised by this writing that:

 

(a)           Employee should consult with an attorney prior to executing this Agreement;

(b)           Employee has at least twenty-one (21) days within which to consider this Agreement;

(c)           Employee has up to seven (7) days following the execution of this Agreement by the Parties to revoke the Agreement; and

(d)           this Agreement shall not be effective until the revocation period in subsection

(c) has expired without revocation by Employee.

 

The Company and Employee agree that this release shall be and remain in effect in all respects as a complete general release as to the matters released.”

 

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Such Release Agreement will not require a release of the Employee’s rights to indemnification and contribution by the Company or to coverage under the Company’s directors and officers liability insurance coverage if applicable or any claims that may not be released as a matter of law.

 

(q) “Subsidiary” means any corporation or other entity a majority of whose outstanding voting stock or voting power is beneficially owned directly or indirectly by the Company.

 

(r) “Target Bonus” means the targeted annualized cash-based incentive compensation opportunity for the Employee during each Company fiscal year.  Solely for the purposes of determining whether Good Reason applies, this Target Bonus amount can not be reduced from any prior fiscal year without the Employee’s express prior written consent, although the actual amount of any bonus earned and paid to Employee for any year shall be determined pursuant to the terms of each year’s bonus arrangement.

 

(s) “Termination Date” means the last date of Employee’s employment with the Company (and any Subsidiary).

 

2. Qualifying Termination Consequences.  If a Qualifying Termination occurs during the term of this Agreement and also occurs either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period, then the following subsections in this Section 2 shall apply (with Sections 2(b) through 2(g) being subject to the effectiveness of the Release Agreement referenced in Section 2(h) below):

 

(a) Within ten days of his/her Termination Date (or such earlier time required by applicable law), Employee shall be paid for (i) his/her unpaid salary and paid time off and vacation pay that are accrued through the Termination Date, (ii) earned but unpaid bonuses for performance periods completed on or prior to the Termination Date, and (iii) unreimbursed valid business expenses that were submitted in accordance with Company policies and procedures.  Employee is also eligible for other vested benefits pursuant to the express terms of any applicable Company employee benefit plan.

 

(b) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to two (2) times the sum of the Employee’s Base Pay and Target Bonus as in effect on the Termination Date (the “Cash Severance”).  The Board shall determine in good faith whether such Qualifying Termination is occurring in connection with an impending Change in Control.  However, such a Qualifying Termination shall in any event be deemed to be in connection with an impending Change in Control if such Qualifying Termination (i) is required by the merger agreement or other instrument relating to such Change in Control, or (ii) is made at the express request of the other party (or parties) to the transaction constituting such Change in Control, or (iii) occurs after the public announcement of an impending Change in Control.  The Cash Severance shall be paid to Employee in a cash lump sum within ten days after the effectiveness of the Release Agreement.

 

(c) For the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Company shall continue to provide to Employee the Employee Benefits which were received by, or with respect to, Employee as of the date of the Qualifying Termination, at the same expense to Employee as before the Qualifying Termination subject to immediate cessation (other than as to any pre-existing condition not covered by the new benefits coverage) if Employee is offered employee benefits coverage in connection with new employment.  From the Termination Date through the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, Employee shall provide advance written notice to the Company informing the Company when the Employee is offered or becomes eligible for other employee benefits in connection with new employment.  In addition, if periodically requested by the Company during the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Employee will provide the Company with written confirmation that he/she has not been offered other employee benefits.

 

(d) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to a pro-rata portion (based on the number of whole months Employee served as a Company employee during the fiscal year of the Qualifying Termination divided by twelve) of the Target Bonus for such year.  Any amounts payable to Employee under this Section 2(d) will be paid to Employee at the same time that the Cash Severance is paid.  The Company shall also provide, at Company expense and not to exceed $50,000 in the aggregate, job outplacement services for the Employee until the earlier of nine months after the Termination Date or the

 

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date when Employee accepts an offer of new employment.  The Company shall select the outplacement service provider and provide any compensation benefit hereunder directly with and to the service provider.

 

(e) In the event that the Employee is entitled to receive payment of the Cash Severance, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any restricted stock, stock option or other equity compensation plan or agreement or deferred compensation or retirement plan or agreement, upon the Termination Date the Employee shall become immediately fully vested (and all vesting restrictions and Company repurchase rights removed) in all of his/her then outstanding stock options, stock appreciation rights, warrants, restricted stock, phantom stock, nonqualified deferred compensation, nonqualified retirement agreement or similar nonqualified plans or agreements with the Company.  In addition, subject to the terms of any applicable Company equity compensation plan or merger agreement or other instrument relating to the Change in Control that provides that all Company stock options will be canceled and not continued upon a Change in Control, the Employee shall have at least until the earlier of (i) the scheduled expiration date of the stock option term or (ii) six months after the Termination Date to exercise his/her vested then-outstanding stock options.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, any award that is subject to a performance condition will vest only to the extent the performance condition has been satisfied on or prior to the Termination Date.

 

(f) In the event that it is determined that any payment or distribution of any type to or for the benefit of the Employee made by the Company, by any of its affiliates, by any person who acquires ownership or effective control of the Company or ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code, and the regulations thereunder or by any affiliate of such person, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise (the “Total Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by section 4999 of the Code or any interest or penalties with respect to such excise tax (such excise tax, together with any such interest or penalties, are collectively referred to as the “Excise Tax”), then either paragraphs (1) or (2) of this Section 2(f) below shall occur as applicable:

 

(1) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is less than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then such Total Payments shall be reduced to the smaller amount that is equal to $1.00 less than 300% of the Employee’s Base Amount.

 

(2) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is equal to or greater than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then, subject to the maximum dollar limit expressed in Section 2(g), the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any excise taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Sections 280G and 4999 (the “Excise Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the Excise Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such excise tax with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates.  Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are excise taxes owed and will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

(3) All mathematical determinations and all determinations of whether any of the Total Payments are “parachute payments” (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code) that are required to be made under this Section 2(f), shall be made by a nationally recognized independent registered public accounting firm not currently retained by the Company immediately prior to the Change in Control (the “Accountants”), who shall provide their determination, together with detailed supporting calculations regarding the amount of any relevant matters, both to the Company and to the Employee within seven (7) business days of the Change in Control or Termination Date, as applicable, or such earlier time as is requested by the Company.  Such determination shall be made by the Accountants using reasonable good faith interpretations of the Code.  Any determination by the Accountants shall be binding upon the Company and the Employee, absent manifest error.  The Company shall pay the fees and costs of the Accountants which are incurred in connection with this Section 2(f).

 

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(g) In the event the Employee is subject to additional taxes imposed by Code Section 409A with respect to any payments or benefits due to the Employee under this Agreement, the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Section 409A (the “409A Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the 409A Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such Code Section 409A taxes with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates.  Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are Code Section 409A taxes owed and will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no Code Section 409A taxes, excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, the maximum aggregate amount of payments that the Company will be required to make under Sections 2(f)(2) and 2(g) is $3,000,000.

 

(h) All payments and benefits provided under Sections 2(b) through 2(g) are conditioned on and subject to the Employee’s continuing compliance with this Agreement and the Employee’s timely execution (and non-revocation and effectiveness) of the Release Agreement on or after the Termination Date and the Employee’s on-going compliance with the terms of the Release Agreement.  The Company will provide the Release Agreement to the Employee for his/her review and execution within three days of the Termination Date.  There is no entitlement to any payments or benefits unless and until such Release Agreement is effective and the Release Agreement must become effective within sixty days after the Termination Date or else no payments or benefits will be provided to Employee under Sections 2(b) through 2(g).  In addition, to the extent Employee receives severance or similar payments and/or benefits under any other Company plan, program, agreement, policy, practice, or the like, or under the WARN Act or similar state law, the payments and benefits due to Employee under this Agreement will be correspondingly reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis (or vice-versa).

 

3. Successors and Binding Agreement.

 

(a) The Company will require any successor (whether direct or indirect, by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise) to all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company, by written agreement in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Employee, expressly to assume and agree to perform this Agreement in the same manner and to the same extent the Company would be required to perform if no such succession had taken place.  This Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Company and any successor to the Company, including without limitation any persons acquiring directly or indirectly all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company whether by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise (and such successor shall thereafter be deemed the “Company” for the purposes of this Agreement), but will not otherwise be assignable, transferable or delegable by the Company.

 

(b) This Agreement will inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the Employee’s personal or legal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, heirs, distributees and legatees.

 

(c) This Agreement is personal in nature and neither of the parties hereto shall, without the consent of the other, assign, transfer or delegate this Agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder except as expressly provided in Sections 3(a) and 3(b).  Without limiting the generality or effect of the foregoing, the Employee’s right to receive payments hereunder will not be assignable, transferable or delegable, whether by pledge, creation of a security interest, or otherwise, other than by a transfer by Employee’s will or by the laws of descent and distribution and, in the event of any attempted assignment or transfer contrary to this Section 3(c), the Company shall have no liability to pay any amount so attempted to be assigned, transferred or delegated.

 

4. No Retention Rights.  This Agreement is not an employment agreement and does not give the Employee the right to be retained by the Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) and the Employee agrees that he/she is an employee-at-will subject to any effective employment agreement between the parties. The Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) reserves the right to terminate the Employee’s service at any time and for any reason.

 

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5. Notices.  For all purposes of this Agreement, all communications, including without limitation notices, consents, requests or approvals, required or permitted to be given hereunder will be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly given when hand delivered or dispatched by electronic facsimile transmission (with receipt thereof orally confirmed), or five business days after having been mailed by United States registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, or three business days after having been sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL, addressed to the Company (to the attention of the Secretary of the Company) at its principal executive office and to the Employee at his/her principal residence, or to such other address as any party may have furnished to the other in writing and in accordance herewith, except that notices of changes of address shall be effective only upon receipt.

 

6. Validity.  If any provision of this Agreement or the application of any provision hereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal, the remainder of this Agreement and the application of such provision to any other person or circumstances will not be affected, and the provision so held to be invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal will be reformed to the extent (and only to the extent) necessary to make it enforceable, valid or legal.

 

7. Arbitration; Governing Law.  Any dispute between the parties under this Agreement shall be resolved (except as provided below) in Los Angeles, California through informal arbitration by an arbitrator selected under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator shall have the right only to interpret and apply the provisions of this Agreement and may not change its provisions. The arbitrator shall permit reasonable pre-hearing discovery of facts, to the extent necessary to establish a claim or a defense to a claim, subject to supervision by the arbitrator.  The determination of the arbitrator shall be conclusive and binding upon the parties and judgment upon the same may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.  The arbitrator shall give written notice to the parties stating his determination and shall furnish to each party a signed copy of such written decision.  To the extent required by applicable law, the expenses of the arbitration shall be borne by the Company, otherwise the arbitration expenses shall be borne equally by the Company and the Employee provided, however, that each party shall be responsible for their own legal fees and expenses (except that the Company shall reimburse the Employee for the Employee’s legal fees within thirty days of the arbitration decision if the Employee is forced to successfully enforce at least one material claim of his Section 2 entitlements under this Section 7). The validity, interpretation, construction and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

 

8. Miscellaneous.  No provision of this Agreement may be modified, waived or discharged unless such waiver, modification or discharge is agreed to in writing signed by the Employee and the Company. No waiver by either party hereto at any time of any breach by the other party hereto any condition or provision of this Agreement to be performed by such other party will be deemed a waiver of similar or dissimilar provisions or conditions at the same or at any prior or subsequent time. This Agreement and the Compensation Agreement constitute the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter thereof and supersede any and all prior agreements of the parties with respect to such subject matter.  No agreements or representations, oral or otherwise, expressed or implied with respect to the subject matter thereof have been made by either party which are not set forth expressly in this Agreement and/or the Compensation Agreement.

 

9. Counterparts.  This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original but all of which together will constitute one and the same agreement.

 

10. Section 409A.  The Agreement is not intended to constitute a “nonqualified deferred compensation plan” within the meaning of section 409A of the Code.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event this Agreement or any benefit paid under this Agreement to Employee is deemed to be subject to section 409A of the Code, the Employee consents to the Company’s adoption of such conforming amendments as the Company deems advisable or necessary, in its sole discretion, to comply with section 409A of the Code (including without limit delaying the timing of payments).  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, if, upon Employee’s separation from service, Employee is then a Company “specified

 

8



 

employee” (as defined in Section 409A of the Code), then to the extent necessary to comply with Code Section 409A, the Company will defer payment (without interest) of certain of the amounts owed to Employee under this Agreement until the earlier of the Employee’s death or the first business day of the seventh month following Employee’s separation from service.

 

11. Withholding.  All payments and benefits made under this Agreement shall be subject to reduction to reflect any withholding taxes or other amounts required by applicable law or regulation.

 

12. Restrictive Covenants.  The provisions of this Section 12 shall survive termination of this Agreement and/or termination of Employee’s employment for any reason.

 

(a) Nondisparagement.  The Employee will not disparage the Company, its directors, officers, employees, affiliates, Subsidiaries, predecessors, successors or assigns in any written or oral communications to any third party.  The Employee further agrees that he/she will not direct anyone to make any disparaging oral or written remarks to any third parties, provided, however, that the Employee may testify or otherwise provide information truthfully in connection with any (i) governmental and/or regulatory proceeding, (ii) required governmental or regulatory filing, or (iii) any subpoena for testimony served upon the Employee.

 

(b) Nonsolicit.  During the Employee’s employment with Company and for 12 months after the Termination Date, the Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, either as an individual or as an employee, agent, consultant, advisor, independent contractor, general partner, officer, director, stockholder, investor, lender, or in any other capacity whatsoever, of any person, firm, corporation or partnership: (i) solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or attempt to solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or (ii) attempt to negatively influence any of the Company’s clients or customers from purchasing Company products or services.

 

(c) Nondisclosure.  Notwithstanding any requirement that the Company may have to publicly disclose the terms of this Agreement pursuant to applicable law or regulations, the Employee agrees to use reasonable efforts to maintain in confidence the existence of this Agreement, the contents and terms of this Agreement, and the consideration for this Agreement (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Agreement Information”).  The Employee also agrees to take every reasonable precaution to prevent disclosure of any Agreement Information to third parties, except for disclosures required by law or reasonably necessary with respect to Employee’s immediate family members or personal advisors who shall also agree to maintain confidentiality of the Agreement Information.

 

(d) Confidentiality.  Employee shall not, except as required by any court or administrative agency, without the written consent of the Board, or the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, or a person authorized thereby, disclose to any person, other than an employee of the Company or a person to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary or appropriate in connection with the performance by the Employee or his duties to the Company, any confidential information obtained by him while in the employ of the Company with respect to any of the Company’s inventions, processes, customers, methods of distribution, methods of manufacturing, attorney-client communications, pending or contemplated acquisitions, other trade secrets, or any other material which the Company is obliged to keep confidential pursuant to any confidentiality agreement or protective order; provided, however, that confidential information shall not include any information now known or which becomes known generally to the public (other than as a result of an unauthorized disclosure by the Employee) or any information of a type not otherwise considered confidential by a person engaged in the same business or a business similar to that conducted by the Company.  Employee acknowledges that he also continues to be bound by the Inventions and Confidential Information agreement with the Company that Employee previously executed.

 

(e) Remedy for Breach.  The parties hereto agree that, in the event of breach or threatened breach of any covenants herein, the damage or imminent damage shall be inestimable, and that therefore any remedy at law or in damages shall be inadequate. Accordingly, the parties hereto agree that the Company and Employee shall be entitled to apply for injunctive relief in the event of any breach or threatened breach

 

9



 

of any of such provisions by Employee or the Company, in addition to any other relief (including damages) available to the Company or Employee under this Agreement or under law.  If the Employee materially breaches the Release Agreement then within thirty days of the Company’s notice to the Employee regarding such breach, the Employee must repay to the Company in cash all of the payments and benefits previously provided to the Employee under Section 2 and the Company will owe no further obligations to Employee under this Agreement.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused this Agreement to be duly executed and delivered as of the Effective Date.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORPORATION

 

 

By:

 

 

Its:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda J. Pahl

 

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EX-10.3 4 a07-28138_1ex10d3.htm EX-10.3

Exhibit 10.3

 

SEVERANCE AGREEMENT

 

THIS SEVERANCE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), dated as of [DATE], (the “Effective Date”) is made by and between International Rectifier Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and [NAME] (“Employee”). This term of this Agreement extends from the Effective Date through the End Date.

 

WITNESSETH:

 

WHEREAS, Employee is a senior level employee of the Company and is currently serving as its [JOB TITLE];

 

WHEREAS, Employee has made and is expected to continue to make major contributions to the short- and long-term profitability, growth and financial strength of the Company;

 

WHEREAS, the Company desires to assure itself of both present and future continuity of management and desires to establish certain severance benefits for Employee, applicable in the event of a Change in Control; and

 

WHEREAS, on October 29, 2007 the Board authorized the Company to enter into this Agreement.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, the Company and Employee agree as follows:

 

1. Certain Defined Terms. In addition to terms defined elsewhere herein, the following terms have the following meanings when used in this Agreement with initial capital letters:

 

(a) “Base Amount” has the same meaning provided to it under the Code Section 280G final regulations.

 

(b) “Base Pay” means Employee’s annual rate of base salary as in effect from time to time.

 

(c) “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company.

 

(d) “Cause” means any one or more of the following committed (or omitted) by Employee:

 

(i) conviction of, or guilty plea or plea of nolo contendre to, a felony crime; or (ii) gross misconduct that is materially injurious to the Company and/or any of its Subsidiaries or affiliates; or

(iii) repeated failure to follow the reasonable and lawful directions of the Company after the Employee has received at least one written warning from the Company; or

(iv) any willful and/or intentional material violation of any written Company policy or procedure; or

(v) a material breach of this Agreement

 

Whether or not Cause exists in clauses (ii) through (v) shall in each case be determined in good faith by the Board.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Employee shall not be deemed to have been terminated for “Cause” under clauses (ii) through (v) unless and until there shall have been delivered to the Employee a copy of a resolution duly adopted by the affirmative vote of not less than a majority of the Board then in office at a meeting of the Board. In addition, before such termination for Cause is effective, the Company shall

 

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provide the Employee with written notice detailing why the Company believes a Cause event has occurred and specifying the particulars thereof in detail. The Board shall also provide the Employee with ten days after his/her receipt of such notice to cure the Cause event(s)(if curable) and the opportunity, together with the Employee’s counsel (if the Employee chooses to have counsel present at such meeting), to be heard before the Board (or, in the Board’s discretion, the Committee or their delegates) during such ten day period. Nothing herein will limit the right of the Employee to contest the validity or propriety of any such determination.

 

(e) “Change in Control” means the occurrence of any one or more of the following events:

 

(1) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of the dissolution or liquidation of the Company, except to the extent the dissolution is in connection with a sale of assets which would not constitute a Change in Control Event under subsection (2) below.

 

(2) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of an agreement to merge, consolidate or otherwise reorganize, with or into, sell or transfer substantially all of the Company’s business and/or assets as an entirety to one or more entities that are not Subsidiaries, as a result of which 50% or less of the outstanding voting securities of the surviving or resulting entities immediately after the reorganization are, or are to be, owned by former stockholders of the Company immediately before such reorganization (assuming for purposes of such determination that there is no change in the record ownership of the Company’s securities from the record date for such approval until such reorganization, but including in such determination any securities of the other parties to such reorganization held by such affiliates of the Company).

 

(3) The occurrence of any of the following:

 

Any “person,” alone or with “affiliates” and “associates” of such person, without the prior approval of the Board, becomes the “beneficial owner” of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Company (the terms “person,” “affiliates,” “associates” and “beneficial owner” are used as such terms are used in the Exchange Act and the General Rules and Regulations thereunder); provided, however, that a “Change in Control Event” shall not be deemed to have occurred if such “person” is/are:

(A) the Company,

(B) any Subsidiary, or

(C) any employee benefit plan or employee stock plan of the Company, or any trust or other entity organized, established or holding shares of such voting securities by, for, or pursuant to the terms of any such plan.

 

(4) Individuals who at the beginning of any period of two consecutive calendar years constitute a majority of the Board cease for any reason, during such period, to constitute at least a majority thereof, unless the election, or the nomination for election by the Company’s stockholders, of each new Board member was approved by a vote of at least two-thirds of the Board members then still in office who were Board members at the beginning of such period.

 

(f) “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

 

(g) “Committee” means the Compensation and Stock Options Committee of the Board.

 

(h) “Disability” means disability as defined in the Company’s long-term disability plan in which the Employee participates at the relevant time or, if the Employee does not participate in a Company long-term

 

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disability plan at the relevant time, as such term is defined in the Company’s principal long-term disability plan that generally covers the Company’s senior-level employees at that time, or, if neither of the foregoing applies, as defined in Code Section 22(e)(3).

 

(i) “Employee Benefits” means any Company group health or dental benefit plan; provided, however, that Employee Benefits shall not include contributions made by the Company to any retirement plan, pension plan or profit sharing plan for the benefit of the Employee.

 

(j) “Employee Benefits Continuation Period” means the 18 month period commencing as of the first day of the month following a Qualifying Termination.

 

(k) “End Date” means the earlier of: (i) the effective date that the Company and Employee mutually agree in writing to terminate this Agreement, (ii) the date, following a Qualifying Termination, when the Company has fulfilled all of its obligations to Employee under this Agreement, (iii) the Termination Date arising from a non-Qualifying Termination of Employee’s employment, or (iv) the date that is two years after the date when the Company provided written notice to the Employee that it is terminating this Agreement provided, however, that the End Date under this clause (iv) can be no earlier than the date that is two years after a Change in Control that occurred during the term of the Agreement or the date determined under clause (ii) if there is a Qualifying Termination.

 

(l) “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

 

(m) “Good Reason” means that any one or more of the following have occurred without the Employee’s prior written consent either in connection with a Change in Control or during the Protected Period:

 

(i) Employee has, except in connection with termination of employment for Cause or due to Employee’s death or Disability, suffered a material and substantial diminution in Employee’s job responsibilities as in effect immediately prior to the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur), provided, however, that neither mere changes in title and/or reporting relationship, nor reassignment following a Change in Control to a position that is similar to the position held immediately prior to such public announcement of the contemplated Change in Control shall constitute a material and substantial diminution in job responsibilities. In addition, if Employee’s job title as of the Effective Date (as specified in the above recitals) is denoted as or is in effect an “Interim” or “Acting” position, then a subsequent reassignment to a position of the same level which Employee held immediately prior to assuming such Interim or Acting position or to a higher level shall not constitute a Good Reason event; or

(ii) Employee has incurred a reduction in his or her Base Pay or his/her Target Bonus opportunity; or

(iii) Employee has been notified that his or her principal place of work will be relocated to a new location that is twenty miles or more from Employee’s principal work location as of immediately before the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur); or

(iv) The Company has materially breached this Agreement including without limitation the failure to timely comply with Section 3(a).

 

Before “Good Reason” has been deemed to have occurred, Employee must give the Company written notice detailing why the Employee believes a Good Reason event has occurred and such notice must be provided to the Company within sixty days of the initial occurrence of such alleged Good Reason event(s) or else such Good Reason event(s) will be deemed to have been irrevocably waived by Employee. The Company shall then have thirty days after its receipt of written notice to cure or remedy the items cited in the written notice so that “Good Reason” will not have formally occurred with respect to the event(s) in question. If the Company does not timely remedy or cure the Good Reason events, then Employee’s employment shall be terminated for Good Reason as of the end of the thirty day cure period.

 

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(n) “Protected Period” means the two year period immediately following (and commencing on) a Change in Control.

 

(o) “Qualifying Termination” means termination of the Employee’s employment either by the Company without Cause or by the Employee for Good Reason, in each case occurring either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period. For avoidance of doubt, termination of employment due to Employee’s death or Disability is not a Qualifying Termination.

 

(p) “Release Agreement” means a separation agreement containing the release of all employment related claims against the Company and its affiliates along with Employee’s covenant not to sue the Company or its affiliates in substantially the following form and where such separation agreement will also contain only those covenants expressed in Section 12 below.

 

The release of claims will provide that in exchange for good and valuable consideration, the “Employee hereby covenants not to sue and releases and forever discharges the Company, its parents, subsidiaries, attorneys, insurers, agents, employees, shareholders, directors, officers, affiliates, predecessors and successors of and from any and all employment related rights, claims, actions, demands, causes of action, obligations, attorneys’ fees, costs, damages, and liabilities of whatever kind or nature arising from his service with the Company, in law or in equity, that Employee may have (whether known or not known) (collectively, “Claims”), accruing to Employee as of the Termination Date, that Employee has ever had, including but not limited to Claims based on and/or arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Family Medical Leave Act, The Equal Pay Act, The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, The Fair Labor Standards Act, and/or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act; The California Constitution, The California Government Code, The California Labor Code, The Industrial Welfare Commission’s Orders, The Securities Act of 1933, The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, California Labor Code sections 1400-1408, and any and all other Claims Employee may have under any other federal, state or local Constitution, Statute, Ordinance and/or Regulation; and all other Claims arising under common law including but not limited to tort, express and/or implied contract and/or quasi-contract, arising out of or, in any way, related to Employee’s previous relationship with the Company as an employee, consultant and/ or director. Furthermore, Employee acknowledges that Employee is waiving and releasing any rights Employee may have under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (“ADEA”), as amended, and that this waiver and release is knowing and voluntary. Employee acknowledges that the consideration given for this waiver and release is in addition to anything of value to which Employee was already entitled. Employee further acknowledges that Employee has been advised by this writing that:

 

(a)           Employee should consult with an attorney prior to executing this Agreement;

(b)           Employee has at least twenty-one (21) days within which to consider this Agreement;

(c)           Employee has up to seven (7) days following the execution of this Agreement by the Parties to revoke the Agreement; and

(d)           this Agreement shall not be effective until the revocation period in subsection

(c) has expired without revocation by Employee.

 

The Company and Employee agree that this release shall be and remain in effect in all respects as a complete general release as to the matters released.”

 

Such Release Agreement will not require a release of the Employee’s rights to indemnification and contribution by the Company or to coverage under the Company’s directors and officers liability insurance coverage if applicable or any claims that may not be released as a matter of law.

 

(q) “Subsidiary” means any corporation or other entity a majority of whose outstanding voting stock or voting power is beneficially owned directly or indirectly by the Company.

 

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(r) “Target Bonus” means the targeted annualized cash-based incentive compensation opportunity for the Employee during each Company fiscal year. Solely for the purposes of determining whether Good Reason applies, this Target Bonus amount can not be reduced from any prior fiscal year without the Employee’s express prior written consent, although the actual amount of any bonus earned and paid to Employee for any year shall be determined pursuant to the terms of each year’s bonus arrangement.

 

(s) “Termination Date” means the last date of Employee’s employment with the Company (and any Subsidiary).

 

2. Qualifying Termination Consequences. If a Qualifying Termination occurs during the term of this Agreement and also occurs either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period, then the following subsections in this Section 2 shall apply (with Sections 2(b) through 2(g) being subject to the effectiveness of the Release Agreement referenced in Section 2(h) below):

 

(a) Within ten days of his/her Termination Date (or such earlier time required by applicable law), Employee shall be paid for (i) his/her unpaid salary and paid time off and vacation pay that are accrued through the Termination Date, (ii) earned but unpaid bonuses for performance periods completed on or prior to the Termination Date, and (iii) unreimbursed valid business expenses that were submitted in accordance with Company policies and procedures. Employee is also eligible for other vested benefits pursuant to the express terms of any applicable Company employee benefit plan.

 

(b) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to two (2) times the sum of the Employee’s Base Pay and Target Bonus as in effect on the Termination Date (the “Cash Severance”). The Board shall determine in good faith whether such Qualifying Termination is occurring in connection with an impending Change in Control. However, such a Qualifying Termination shall in any event be deemed to be in connection with an impending Change in Control if such Qualifying Termination (i) is required by the merger agreement or other instrument relating to such Change in Control, or (ii) is made at the express request of the other party (or parties) to the transaction constituting such Change in Control, or (iii) occurs after the public announcement of an impending Change in Control. The Cash Severance shall be paid to Employee in a cash lump sum within ten days after the effectiveness of the Release Agreement.

 

(c) For the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Company shall continue to provide to Employee the Employee Benefits which were received by, or with respect to, Employee as of the date of the Qualifying Termination, at the same expense to Employee as before the Qualifying Termination subject to immediate cessation (other than as to any pre-existing condition not covered by the new benefits coverage) if Employee is offered employee benefits coverage in connection with new employment. From the Termination Date through the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, Employee shall provide advance written notice to the Company informing the Company when the Employee is offered or becomes eligible for other employee benefits in connection with new employment. In addition, if periodically requested by the Company during the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Employee will provide the Company with written confirmation that he/she has not been offered other employee benefits.

 

(d) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to a pro-rata portion (based on the number of whole months Employee served as a Company employee during the fiscal year of the Qualifying Termination divided by twelve) of the Target Bonus for such year. Any amounts payable to Employee under this Section 2(d) will be paid to Employee at the same time that the Cash Severance is paid. The Company shall also provide, at Company expense and not to exceed $50,000 in the aggregate, job outplacement services for the Employee until the earlier of nine months after the Termination Date or the date when Employee accepts an offer of new employment. The Company shall select the outplacement service provider and provide any compensation benefit hereunder directly with and to the service provider.

 

(e) In the event that the Employee is entitled to receive payment of the Cash Severance, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any restricted stock, stock option or other equity compensation plan or agreement or deferred compensation or retirement plan or agreement, upon the Termination Date

 

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the Employee shall become immediately fully vested (and all vesting restrictions and Company repurchase rights removed) in all of his/her then outstanding stock options, stock appreciation rights, warrants, restricted stock, phantom stock, nonqualified deferred compensation, nonqualified retirement agreement or similar nonqualified plans or agreements with the Company. In addition, subject to the terms of any applicable Company equity compensation plan or merger agreement or other instrument relating to the Change in Control that provides that all Company stock options will be canceled and not continued upon a Change in Control, the Employee shall have at least until the earlier of (i) the scheduled expiration date of the stock option term or (ii) six months after the Termination Date to exercise his/her vested then-outstanding stock options. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any award that is subject to a performance condition will vest only to the extent the performance condition has been satisfied on or prior to the Termination Date.

 

(f) In the event that it is determined that any payment or distribution of any type to or for the benefit of the Employee made by the Company, by any of its affiliates, by any person who acquires ownership or effective control of the Company or ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code, and the regulations thereunder or by any affiliate of such person, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise (the “Total Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by section 4999 of the Code or any interest or penalties with respect to such excise tax (such excise tax, together with any such interest or penalties, are collectively referred to as the “Excise Tax”), then either paragraphs (1) or (2) of this Section 2(f) below shall occur as applicable:

 

(1) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is less than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then such Total Payments shall be reduced to the smaller amount that is equal to $1.00 less than 300% of the Employee’s Base Amount.

 

(2) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is equal to or greater than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then, subject to the maximum dollar limit expressed in Section 2(g), the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any excise taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Sections 280G and 4999 (the “Excise Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the Excise Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such excise tax with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates. Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are excise taxes owed and will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

(3) All mathematical determinations and all determinations of whether any of the Total Payments are “parachute payments” (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code) that are required to be made under this Section 2(f), shall be made by a nationally recognized independent registered public accounting firm not currently retained by the Company immediately prior to the Change in Control (the “Accountants”), who shall provide their determination, together with detailed supporting calculations regarding the amount of any relevant matters, both to the Company and to the Employee within seven (7) business days of the Change in Control or Termination Date, as applicable, or such earlier time as is requested by the Company. Such determination shall be made by the Accountants using reasonable good faith interpretations of the Code. Any determination by the Accountants shall be binding upon the Company and the Employee, absent manifest error. The Company shall pay the fees and costs of the Accountants which are incurred in connection with this Section 2(f).

 

(g) In the event the Employee is subject to additional taxes imposed by Code Section 409A with respect to any payments or benefits due to the Employee under this Agreement, the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Section 409A (the “409A Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the 409A Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such Code Section 409A taxes with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates. Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are Code Section 409A taxes owed and

 

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will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no Code Section 409A taxes, excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, the maximum aggregate amount of payments that the Company will be required to make under Sections 2(f)(2) and 2(g) is $3,000,000.

 

(h) All payments and benefits provided under Sections 2(b) through 2(g) are conditioned on and subject to the Employee’s continuing compliance with this Agreement and the Employee’s timely execution (and non-revocation and effectiveness) of the Release Agreement on or after the Termination Date and the Employee’s on-going compliance with the terms of the Release Agreement. The Company will provide the Release Agreement to the Employee for his/her review and execution within three days of the Termination Date. There is no entitlement to any payments or benefits unless and until such Release Agreement is effective and the Release Agreement must become effective within sixty days after the Termination Date or else no payments or benefits will be provided to Employee under Sections 2(b) through 2(g). In addition, to the extent Employee receives severance or similar payments and/or benefits under any other Company plan, program, agreement, policy, practice, or the like, or under the WARN Act or similar state law, the payments and benefits due to Employee under this Agreement will be correspondingly reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis (or vice-versa).

 

3. Successors and Binding Agreement.

 

(a) The Company will require any successor (whether direct or indirect, by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise) to all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company, by written agreement in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Employee, expressly to assume and agree to perform this Agreement in the same manner and to the same extent the Company would be required to perform if no such succession had taken place. This Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Company and any successor to the Company, including without limitation any persons acquiring directly or indirectly all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company whether by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise (and such successor shall thereafter be deemed the “Company” for the purposes of this Agreement), but will not otherwise be assignable, transferable or delegable by the Company.

 

(b) This Agreement will inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the Employee’s personal or legal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, heirs, distributees and legatees.

 

(c) This Agreement is personal in nature and neither of the parties hereto shall, without the consent of the other, assign, transfer or delegate this Agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder except as expressly provided in Sections 3(a) and 3(b). Without limiting the generality or effect of the foregoing, the Employee’s right to receive payments hereunder will not be assignable, transferable or delegable, whether by pledge, creation of a security interest, or otherwise, other than by a transfer by Employee’s will or by the laws of descent and distribution and, in the event of any attempted assignment or transfer contrary to this Section 3(c), the Company shall have no liability to pay any amount so attempted to be assigned, transferred or delegated.

 

4. No Retention Rights. This Agreement is not an employment agreement and does not give the Employee the right to be retained by the Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) and the Employee agrees that he/she is an employee-at-will subject to any effective employment agreement between the parties. The Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) reserves the right to terminate the Employee’s service at any time and for any reason.

 

5. Notices. For all purposes of this Agreement, all communications, including without limitation notices, consents, requests or approvals, required or permitted to be given hereunder will be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly given when hand delivered or dispatched by electronic facsimile transmission (with receipt thereof orally confirmed), or five business days after having been mailed by United States registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, or three business days after having been sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL,

 

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addressed to the Company (to the attention of the Secretary of the Company) at its principal executive office and to the Employee at his/her principal residence, or to such other address as any party may have furnished to the other in writing and in accordance herewith, except that notices of changes of address shall be effective only upon receipt.

 

6. Validity. If any provision of this Agreement or the application of any provision hereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal, the remainder of this Agreement and the application of such provision to any other person or circumstances will not be affected, and the provision so held to be invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal will be reformed to the extent (and only to the extent) necessary to make it enforceable, valid or legal.

 

7. Arbitration; Governing Law. Any dispute between the parties under this Agreement shall be resolved (except as provided below) in Los Angeles, California through informal arbitration by an arbitrator selected under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator shall have the right only to interpret and apply the provisions of this Agreement and may not change its provisions. The arbitrator shall permit reasonable pre-hearing discovery of facts, to the extent necessary to establish a claim or a defense to a claim, subject to supervision by the arbitrator. The determination of the arbitrator shall be conclusive and binding upon the parties and judgment upon the same may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrator shall give written notice to the parties stating his determination and shall furnish to each party a signed copy of such written decision. To the extent required by applicable law, the expenses of the arbitration shall be borne by the Company, otherwise the arbitration expenses shall be borne equally by the Company and the Employee provided, however, that each party shall be responsible for their own legal fees and expenses (except that the Company shall reimburse the Employee for the Employee’s legal fees within thirty days of the arbitration decision if the Employee is forced to successfully enforce at least one material claim of his Section 2 entitlements under this Section 7). The validity, interpretation, construction and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

 

8. Miscellaneous. No provision of this Agreement may be modified, waived or discharged unless such waiver, modification or discharge is agreed to in writing signed by the Employee and the Company. No waiver by either party hereto at any time of any breach by the other party hereto any condition or provision of this Agreement to be performed by such other party will be deemed a waiver of similar or dissimilar provisions or conditions at the same or at any prior or subsequent time. This Agreement and the Compensation Agreement constitute the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter thereof and supersede any and all prior agreements of the parties with respect to such subject matter. No agreements or representations, oral or otherwise, expressed or implied with respect to the subject matter thereof have been made by either party which are not set forth expressly in this Agreement and/or the Compensation Agreement.

 

9. Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original but all of which together will constitute one and the same agreement.

 

10. Section 409A. The Agreement is not intended to constitute a “nonqualified deferred compensation plan” within the meaning of section 409A of the Code. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event this Agreement or any benefit paid under this Agreement to Employee is deemed to be subject to section 409A of the Code, the Employee consents to the Company’s adoption of such conforming amendments as the Company deems advisable or necessary, in its sole discretion, to comply with section 409A of the Code (including without limit delaying the timing of payments). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, if, upon Employee’s separation from service, Employee is then a Company “specified employee” (as defined in Section 409A of the Code), then to the extent necessary to comply with Code Section 409A, the Company will defer payment (without interest) of certain of the amounts owed to Employee under this Agreement until the earlier of the Employee’s death or the first business day of the seventh month following Employee’s separation from service.

 

11. Withholding. All payments and benefits made under this Agreement shall be subject to reduction to reflect any withholding taxes or other amounts required by applicable law or regulation.

 

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12. Restrictive Covenants. The provisions of this Section 12 shall survive termination of this Agreement and/or termination of Employee’s employment for any reason.

 

(a) Nondisparagement. The Employee will not disparage the Company, its directors, officers, employees, affiliates, Subsidiaries, predecessors, successors or assigns in any written or oral communications to any third party. The Employee further agrees that he/she will not direct anyone to make any disparaging oral or written remarks to any third parties, provided, however, that the Employee may testify or otherwise provide information truthfully in connection with any (i) governmental and/or regulatory proceeding, (ii) required governmental or regulatory filing, or (iii) any subpoena for testimony served upon the Employee.

 

(b) Nonsolicit. During the Employee’s employment with Company and for 12 months after the Termination Date, the Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, either as an individual or as an employee, agent, consultant, advisor, independent contractor, general partner, officer, director, stockholder, investor, lender, or in any other capacity whatsoever, of any person, firm, corporation or partnership: (i) solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or attempt to solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or (ii) attempt to negatively influence any of the Company’s clients or customers from purchasing Company products or services.

 

(c) Nondisclosure. Notwithstanding any requirement that the Company may have to publicly disclose the terms of this Agreement pursuant to applicable law or regulations, the Employee agrees to use reasonable efforts to maintain in confidence the existence of this Agreement, the contents and terms of this Agreement, and the consideration for this Agreement (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Agreement Information”). The Employee also agrees to take every reasonable precaution to prevent disclosure of any Agreement Information to third parties, except for disclosures required by law or reasonably necessary with respect to Employee’s immediate family members or personal advisors who shall also agree to maintain confidentiality of the Agreement Information.

 

(d) Confidentiality. Employee shall not, except as required by any court or administrative agency, without the written consent of the Board, or the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, or a person authorized thereby, disclose to any person, other than an employee of the Company or a person to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary or appropriate in connection with the performance by the Employee or his duties to the Company, any confidential information obtained by him while in the employ of the Company with respect to any of the Company’s inventions, processes, customers, methods of distribution, methods of manufacturing, attorney-client communications, pending or contemplated acquisitions, other trade secrets, or any other material which the Company is obliged to keep confidential pursuant to any confidentiality agreement or protective order; provided, however, that confidential information shall not include any information now known or which becomes known generally to the public (other than as a result of an unauthorized disclosure by the Employee) or any information of a type not otherwise considered confidential by a person engaged in the same business or a business similar to that conducted by the Company. Employee acknowledges that he also continues to be bound by the Inventions and Confidential Information agreement with the Company that Employee previously executed.

 

(e) Remedy for Breach. The parties hereto agree that, in the event of breach or threatened breach of any covenants herein, the damage or imminent damage shall be inestimable, and that therefore any remedy at law or in damages shall be inadequate. Accordingly, the parties hereto agree that the Company and Employee shall be entitled to apply for injunctive relief in the event of any breach or threatened breach of any of such provisions by Employee or the Company, in addition to any other relief (including damages) available to the Company or Employee under this Agreement or under law. If the Employee materially breaches the Release Agreement then within thirty days of the Company’s notice to the Employee regarding such breach, the Employee must repay to the Company in cash all of the payments and benefits previously provided to the Employee under Section 2 and the Company will owe no further obligations to Employee under this Agreement.

 

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused this Agreement to be duly executed and delivered as of the Effective Date.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORPORATION

 

 

By:

 

 

Its:

 

 

 

 

 

 

EMPLOYEE

 

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EX-10.4 5 a07-28138_1ex10d4.htm EX-10.4

Exhibit 10.4

 

SEVERANCE AGREEMENT

 

THIS SEVERANCE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), dated as of [DATE], (the “Effective Date”) is made by and between International Rectifier Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and [NAME] (“Employee”). This term of this Agreement extends from the Effective Date through the End Date.

 

WITNESSETH:

 

WHEREAS, Employee is a senior level employee of the Company and is currently serving as its [JOB TITLE];

 

WHEREAS, Employee has made and is expected to continue to make major contributions to the short- and long-term profitability, growth and financial strength of the Company;

 

WHEREAS, the Company desires to assure itself of both present and future continuity of management and desires to establish certain severance benefits for Employee, applicable in the event of a Change in Control; and

 

WHEREAS, on October 29, 2007 the Board authorized the Company to enter into this Agreement.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, the Company and Employee agree as follows:

 

1. Certain Defined Terms. In addition to terms defined elsewhere herein, the following terms have the following meanings when used in this Agreement with initial capital letters:

 

(a) “Base Amount” has the same meaning provided to it under the Code Section 280G final regulations.

 

(b) “Base Pay” means Employee’s annual rate of base salary as in effect from time to time.

 

(c) “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company.

 

(d) “Cause” means any one or more of the following committed (or omitted) by Employee:

 

(i) conviction of, or guilty plea or plea of nolo contendre to, a felony crime; or (ii) gross misconduct that is materially injurious to the Company and/or any of its Subsidiaries or affiliates; or

(iii) repeated failure to follow the reasonable and lawful directions of the Company after the Employee has received at least one written warning from the Company; or

(iv) any willful and/or intentional material violation of any written Company policy or procedure; or

(v) a material breach of this Agreement

 

Whether or not Cause exists in clauses (ii) through (v) shall in each case be determined in good faith by the Board.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Employee shall not be deemed to have been terminated for “Cause” under clauses (ii) through (v) unless and until there shall have been delivered to the Employee a copy of a resolution duly adopted by the affirmative vote of not less than a majority of the Board then in office at a meeting of the Board. In addition, before such termination for Cause is effective, the Company shall provide the Employee with written notice detailing why the Company believes a Cause event has occurred

 

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and specifying the particulars thereof in detail. The Board shall also provide the Employee with ten days after his/her receipt of such notice to cure the Cause event(s)(if curable) and the opportunity, together with the Employee’s counsel (if the Employee chooses to have counsel present at such meeting), to be heard before the Board (or, in the Board’s discretion, the Committee or their delegates) during such ten day period. Nothing herein will limit the right of the Employee to contest the validity or propriety of any such determination.

 

(e) “Change in Control” means the occurrence of any one or more of the following events:

 

(1) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of the dissolution or liquidation of the Company, except to the extent the dissolution is in connection with a sale of assets which would not constitute a Change in Control Event under subsection (2) below.

 

(2) Approval by the stockholders of the Company of an agreement to merge, consolidate or otherwise reorganize, with or into, sell or transfer substantially all of the Company’s business and/or assets as an entirety to one or more entities that are not Subsidiaries, as a result of which 50% or less of the outstanding voting securities of the surviving or resulting entities immediately after the reorganization are, or are to be, owned by former stockholders of the Company immediately before such reorganization (assuming for purposes of such determination that there is no change in the record ownership of the Company’s securities from the record date for such approval until such reorganization, but including in such determination any securities of the other parties to such reorganization held by such affiliates of the Company).

 

(3) The occurrence of any of the following:

 

Any “person,” alone or with “affiliates” and “associates” of such person, without the prior approval of the Board, becomes the “beneficial  owner” of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Company (the terms “person,” “affiliates,” “associates” and “beneficial owner” are used as such terms are used in the Exchange Act and the General Rules and Regulations thereunder); provided, however, that a “Change in Control Event” shall not be deemed to have occurred if such “person” is/are:

 

(A) the Company,

(B) any Subsidiary, or

(C) any employee benefit plan or employee stock plan of the Company, or any trust or other entity organized, established or holding shares of such voting securities by, for, or pursuant to the  terms of any such plan.

 

(4) Individuals who at the beginning of any period of two consecutive calendar years constitute a majority of the Board cease for any reason, during such period, to constitute at least a  majority thereof, unless the election, or the nomination for election by the Company’s stockholders, of each new Board member was approved by a vote of at least two-thirds of the Board members then still in office who were Board members at the beginning of such period.

 

(f) “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

 

(g) “Committee” means the Compensation and Stock Options Committee of the Board.

 

(h) “Disability” means disability as defined in the Company’s long-term disability plan in which the Employee participates at the relevant time or, if the Employee does not participate in a Company long-term disability plan at the relevant time, as such term is defined in the Company’s principal long-term disability

 

2



plan that generally covers the Company’s senior-level employees at that time, or, if neither of the foregoing applies, as defined in Code Section 22(e)(3).

 

(i) “Employee Benefits” means any Company group health or dental benefit plan; provided, however, that Employee Benefits shall not include contributions made by the Company to any retirement plan, pension plan or profit sharing plan for the benefit of the Employee.

 

(j) “Employee Benefits Continuation Period” means the 18 month period commencing as of the first day of the month following a Qualifying Termination.

 

(k) “End Date” means the earlier of: (i) the effective date that the Company and Employee mutually agree in writing to terminate this Agreement, (ii) the date, following a Qualifying Termination, when the Company has fulfilled all of its obligations to Employee under this Agreement, (iii) the Termination Date arising from a non-Qualifying Termination of Employee’s employment, or (iv) the date that is two years after the date when the Company provided written notice to the Employee that it is terminating this Agreement provided, however, that the End Date under this clause (iv) can be no earlier than the date that is two years after a Change in Control that occurred during the term of the Agreement or the date determined under clause (ii) if there is a Qualifying Termination.

 

(l) “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

 

(m) “Good Reason” means that any one or more of the following have occurred without the Employee’s prior written consent either in connection with a Change in Control or during the Protected Period:

 

(i) Employee has, except in connection with termination of employment for Cause or due to Employee’s death or Disability, suffered a material and substantial diminution in Employee’s job responsibilities as in effect immediately prior to the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur), provided, however, that neither mere changes in title and/or reporting relationship, nor reassignment following a Change in Control to a position that is similar to the position held immediately prior to such public announcement of the contemplated Change in Control shall constitute a material and substantial diminution in job responsibilities. In addition, if Employee’s job title as of the Effective Date (as specified in the above recitals) is denoted as or is in effect an “Interim” or “Acting” position, then a subsequent reassignment to a position of the same level which Employee held immediately prior to assuming such Interim or Acting position or to a higher level shall not constitute a Good Reason event; or

(ii) Employee has incurred a reduction in his or her Base Pay or his/her Target Bonus opportunity; or

(iii) Employee has been notified that his or her principal place of work will be relocated to a new location that is twenty miles or more from Employee’s principal work location as of immediately before the public announcement of a contemplated Change in Control (and where such Change in Control does occur); or

(iv) The Company has materially breached this Agreement including without limitation the failure to timely comply with Section 3(a).

 

Before “Good Reason” has been deemed to have occurred, Employee must give the Company written notice detailing why the Employee believes a Good Reason event has occurred and such notice must be provided to the Company within sixty days of the initial occurrence of such alleged Good Reason event(s) or else such Good Reason event(s) will be deemed to have been irrevocably waived by Employee. The Company shall then have thirty days after its receipt of written notice to cure or remedy the items cited in the written notice so that “Good Reason” will not have formally occurred with respect to the event(s) in question. If the Company does not timely remedy or cure the Good Reason events, then Employee’s employment shall be terminated for Good Reason as of the end of the thirty day cure period.

 

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(n) “Protected Period” means the two year period immediately following (and commencing on) a Change in Control.

 

(o) “Qualifying Termination” means termination of the Employee’s employment either by the Company without Cause or by the Employee for Good Reason, in each case occurring either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period. For avoidance of doubt, termination of employment due to Employee’s death or Disability is not a Qualifying Termination.

 

(p) “Release Agreement” means a separation agreement containing the release of all employment related claims against the Company and its affiliates along with Employee’s covenant not to sue the Company or its affiliates in substantially the following form and where such separation agreement will also contain only those covenants expressed in Section 12 below.

 

The release of claims will provide that in exchange for good and valuable consideration, the “Employee hereby covenants not to sue and releases and forever discharges the Company, its parents, subsidiaries, attorneys, insurers, agents, employees, shareholders, directors, officers, affiliates, predecessors and successors of and from any and all employment related rights, claims, actions, demands, causes of action, obligations, attorneys’ fees, costs, damages, and liabilities of whatever kind or nature arising from his service with the Company, in law or in equity, that Employee may have (whether known or not known) (collectively, “Claims”), accruing to Employee as of the Termination Date, that Employee has ever had, including but not limited to Claims based on and/or arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Family Medical Leave Act, The Equal Pay Act, The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, The Fair Labor Standards Act, and/or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act; The California Constitution, The California Government Code, The California Labor Code, The Industrial Welfare Commission’s Orders, The Securities Act of 1933, The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, California Labor Code sections 1400-1408, and any and all other Claims Employee may have under any other federal, state or local Constitution, Statute, Ordinance and/or Regulation; and all other Claims arising under common law including but not limited to tort, express and/or implied contract and/or quasi-contract, arising out of or, in any way, related to Employee’s previous relationship with the Company as an employee, consultant and/ or director. Furthermore, Employee acknowledges that Employee is waiving and releasing any rights Employee may have under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (“ADEA”), as amended, and that this waiver and release is knowing and voluntary. Employee acknowledges that the consideration given for this waiver and release is in addition to anything of value to which Employee was already entitled. Employee further acknowledges that Employee has been advised by this writing that:

 

(a)   Employee should consult with an attorney prior to executing this Agreement;

(b)   Employee has at least twenty-one (21) days within which to consider this Agreement;

(c)   Employee has up to seven (7) days following the execution of this Agreement by the Parties to revoke the Agreement; and

(d)   this Agreement shall not be effective until the revocation period in subsection

(c)   has expired without revocation by Employee.

 

The Company and Employee agree that this release shall be and remain in effect in all respects as a complete general release as to the matters released.”

 

Such Release Agreement will not require a release of the Employee’s rights to indemnification and contribution by the Company or to coverage under the Company’s directors and officers liability insurance coverage if applicable or any claims that may not be released as a matter of law.

 

(q) “Subsidiary” means any corporation or other entity a majority of whose outstanding voting stock or voting power is beneficially owned directly or indirectly by the Company.

 

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(r) “Target Bonus” means the targeted annualized cash-based incentive compensation opportunity for the Employee during each Company fiscal year. Solely for the purposes of determining whether Good Reason applies, this Target Bonus amount can not be reduced from any prior fiscal year without the Employee’s express prior written consent, although the actual amount of any bonus earned and paid to Employee for any year shall be determined pursuant to the terms of each year’s bonus arrangement.

 

(s) “Termination Date” means the last date of Employee’s employment with the Company (and any Subsidiary).

 

2. Qualifying Termination Consequences. If a Qualifying Termination occurs during the term of this Agreement and also occurs either in connection with a Change in Control (or an impending Change in Control) and/or during the Protected Period, then the following subsections in this Section 2 shall apply (with Sections 2(b) through 2(g) being subject to the effectiveness of the Release Agreement referenced in Section 2(h) below):

 

(a) Within ten days of his/her Termination Date (or such earlier time required by applicable law), Employee shall be paid for (i) his/her unpaid salary and paid time off and vacation pay that are accrued through the Termination Date, (ii) earned but unpaid bonuses for performance periods completed on or prior to the Termination Date, and (iii) unreimbursed valid business expenses that were submitted in accordance with Company policies and procedures. Employee is also eligible for other vested benefits pursuant to the express terms of any applicable Company employee benefit plan.

 

(b) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to one (1) times the sum of the Employee’s Base Pay and Target Bonus as in effect on the Termination Date (the “Cash Severance”). The Board shall determine in good faith whether such Qualifying Termination is occurring in connection with an impending Change in Control. However, such a Qualifying Termination shall in any event be deemed to be in connection with an impending Change in Control if such Qualifying Termination (i) is required by the merger agreement or other instrument relating to such Change in Control, or (ii) is made at the express request of the other party (or parties) to the transaction constituting such Change in Control, or (iii) occurs after the public announcement of an impending Change in Control. The Cash Severance shall be paid to Employee in a cash lump sum within ten days after the effectiveness of the Release Agreement.

 

(c) For the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Company shall continue to provide to Employee the Employee Benefits which were received by, or with respect to, Employee as of the date of the Qualifying Termination, at the same expense to Employee as before the Qualifying Termination subject to immediate cessation (other than as to any pre-existing condition not covered by the new benefits coverage) if Employee is offered employee benefits coverage in connection with new employment. From the Termination Date through the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, Employee shall provide advance written notice to the Company informing the Company when the Employee is offered or becomes eligible for other employee benefits in connection with new employment. In addition, if periodically requested by the Company during the Employee Benefits Continuation Period, the Employee will provide the Company with written confirmation that he/she has not been offered other employee benefits.

 

(d) The Company shall pay in cash to Employee an amount equal to a pro-rata portion (based on the number of whole months Employee served as a Company employee during the fiscal year of the Qualifying Termination divided by twelve) of the Target Bonus for such year. Any amounts payable to Employee under this Section 2(d) will be paid to Employee at the same time that the Cash Severance is paid. The Company shall also provide, at Company expense and not to exceed $50,000 in the aggregate, job outplacement services for the Employee until the earlier of nine months after the Termination Date or the date when Employee accepts an offer of new employment. The Company shall select the outplacement service provider and provide any compensation benefit hereunder directly with and to the service provider.

 

(e) In the event that the Employee is entitled to receive payment of the Cash Severance, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any restricted stock, stock option or other equity compensation plan or agreement or deferred compensation or retirement plan or agreement, upon the Termination Date the Employee shall become immediately fully vested (and all vesting restrictions and Company repurchase

 

5



 

rights removed) in all of his/her then outstanding stock options, stock appreciation rights, warrants, restricted stock, phantom stock, nonqualified deferred compensation, nonqualified retirement agreement or similar nonqualified plans or agreements with the Company. In addition, subject to the terms of any applicable Company equity compensation plan or merger agreement or other instrument relating to the Change in Control that provides that all Company stock options will be canceled and not continued upon a Change in Control, the Employee shall have at least until the earlier of (i) the scheduled expiration date of the stock option term or (ii) six months after the Termination Date to exercise his/her vested then-outstanding stock options. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any award that is subject to a performance condition will vest only to the extent the performance condition has been satisfied on or prior to the Termination Date.

 

(f) In the event that it is determined that any payment or distribution of any type to or for the benefit of the Employee made by the Company, by any of its affiliates, by any person who acquires ownership or effective control of the Company or ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code, and the regulations thereunder or by any affiliate of such person, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise (the “Total Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by section 4999 of the Code or any interest or penalties with respect to such excise tax (such excise tax, together with any such interest or penalties, are collectively referred to as the “Excise Tax”), then either paragraphs (1) or (2) of this Section 2(f) below shall occur as applicable:

 

(1) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is less than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then such Total Payments shall be reduced to the smaller amount that is equal to $1.00 less than 300% of the Employee’s Base Amount.

 

(2) If the aggregate present value of the Total Payments (as calculated pursuant to the Code Section 280G final regulations) is equal to or greater than 345% of the Employee’s Base Amount, then, subject to the maximum dollar limit expressed in Section 2(g), the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any excise taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Sections 280G and 4999 (the “Excise Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the Excise Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such excise tax with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates. Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are excise taxes owed and will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

(3) All mathematical determinations and all determinations of whether any of the Total Payments are “parachute payments” (within the meaning of section 280G of the Code) that are required to be made under this Section 2(f), shall be made by a nationally recognized independent registered public accounting firm not currently retained by the Company immediately prior to the Change in Control (the “Accountants”), who shall provide their determination, together with detailed supporting calculations regarding the amount of any relevant matters, both to the Company and to the Employee within seven (7) business days of the Change in Control or Termination Date, as applicable, or such earlier time as is requested by the Company. Such determination shall be made by the Accountants using reasonable good faith interpretations of the Code. Any determination by the Accountants shall be binding upon the Company and the Employee, absent manifest error. The Company shall pay the fees and costs of the Accountants which are incurred in connection with this Section 2(f).

 

(g) In the event the Employee is subject to additional taxes imposed by Code Section 409A with respect to any payments or benefits due to the Employee under this Agreement, the Company shall pay Employee a cash amount equal to the sum of: (i) any taxes that may be imposed on Employee under Code Section 409A (the “409A Tax Restoration”) and (ii) for any taxes (including excise taxes) imposed on the 409A Tax Restoration payment, and for any interest or penalties related to such Code Section 409A taxes with all such computations performed applying the then highest marginal tax rates. Such payment shall be made to Employee within thirty days of the determination that there are Code Section 409A taxes owed and

 

6



 

will be in an amount so that Employee will be in the same position on an after-tax basis that he would have been if no Code Section 409A taxes, excise taxes, interest and/or penalties had been imposed.

 

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, the maximum aggregate amount of payments that the Company will be required to make under Sections 2(f)(2) and 2(g) is $3,000,000.

 

(h) All payments and benefits provided under Sections 2(b) through 2(g) are conditioned on and subject to the Employee’s continuing compliance with this Agreement and the Employee’s timely execution (and non-revocation and effectiveness) of the Release Agreement on or after the Termination Date and the Employee’s on-going compliance with the terms of the Release Agreement. The Company will provide the Release Agreement to the Employee for his/her review and execution within three days of the Termination Date. There is no entitlement to any payments or benefits unless and until such Release Agreement is effective and the Release Agreement must become effective within sixty days after the Termination Date or else no payments or benefits will be provided to Employee under Sections 2(b) through 2(g). In addition, to the extent Employee receives severance or similar payments and/or benefits under any other Company plan, program, agreement, policy, practice, or the like, or under the WARN Act or similar state law, the payments and benefits due to Employee under this Agreement will be correspondingly reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis (or vice-versa).

 

3. Successors and Binding Agreement.

 

(a) The Company will require any successor (whether direct or indirect, by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise) to all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company, by written agreement in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Employee, expressly to assume and agree to perform this Agreement in the same manner and to the same extent the Company would be required to perform if no such succession had taken place. This Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Company and any successor to the Company, including without limitation any persons acquiring directly or indirectly all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company whether by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise (and such successor shall thereafter be deemed the “Company” for the purposes of this Agreement), but will not otherwise be assignable, transferable or delegable by the Company.

 

(b) This Agreement will inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the Employee’s personal or legal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, heirs, distributees and legatees.

 

(c) This Agreement is personal in nature and neither of the parties hereto shall, without the consent of the other, assign, transfer or delegate this Agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder except as expressly provided in Sections 3(a) and 3(b). Without limiting the generality or effect of the foregoing, the Employee’s right to receive payments hereunder will not be assignable, transferable or delegable, whether by pledge, creation of a security interest, or otherwise, other than by a transfer by Employee’s will or by the laws of descent and distribution and, in the event of any attempted assignment or transfer contrary to this Section 3(c), the Company shall have no liability to pay any amount so attempted to be assigned, transferred or delegated.

 

4. No Retention Rights. This Agreement is not an employment agreement and does not give the Employee the right to be retained by the Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) and the Employee agrees that he/she is an employee-at-will subject to any effective employment agreement between the parties. The Company (or its Subsidiaries or affiliates) reserves the right to terminate the Employee’s service at any time and for any reason.

 

5. Notices. For all purposes of this Agreement, all communications, including without limitation notices, consents, requests or approvals, required or permitted to be given hereunder will be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly given when hand delivered or dispatched by electronic facsimile transmission (with receipt thereof orally confirmed), or five business days after having been mailed by United States registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, or three business days after having been sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL,

 

7



 

addressed to the Company (to the attention of the Secretary of the Company) at its principal executive office and to the Employee at his/her principal residence, or to such other address as any party may have furnished to the other in writing and in accordance herewith, except that notices of changes of address shall be effective only upon receipt.

 

6. Validity. If any provision of this Agreement or the application of any provision hereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal, the remainder of this Agreement and the application of such provision to any other person or circumstances will not be affected, and the provision so held to be invalid, unenforceable or otherwise illegal will be reformed to the extent (and only to the extent) necessary to make it enforceable, valid or legal.

 

7. Arbitration; Governing Law. Any dispute between the parties under this Agreement shall be resolved (except as provided below) in Los Angeles, California through informal arbitration by an arbitrator selected under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator shall have the right only to interpret and apply the provisions of this Agreement and may not change its provisions. The arbitrator shall permit reasonable pre-hearing discovery of facts, to the extent necessary to establish a claim or a defense to a claim, subject to supervision by the arbitrator. The determination of the arbitrator shall be conclusive and binding upon the parties and judgment upon the same may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrator shall give written notice to the parties stating his determination and shall furnish to each party a signed copy of such written decision. To the extent required by applicable law, the expenses of the arbitration shall be borne by the Company, otherwise the arbitration expenses shall be borne equally by the Company and the Employee provided, however, that each party shall be responsible for their own legal fees and expenses (except that the Company shall reimburse the Employee for the Employee’s legal fees within thirty days of the arbitration decision if the Employee is forced to successfully enforce at least one material claim of his Section 2 entitlements under this Section 7). The validity, interpretation, construction and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

 

8. Miscellaneous. No provision of this Agreement may be modified, waived or discharged unless such waiver, modification or discharge is agreed to in writing signed by the Employee and the Company. No waiver by either party hereto at any time of any breach by the other party hereto any condition or provision of this Agreement to be performed by such other party will be deemed a waiver of similar or dissimilar provisions or conditions at the same or at any prior or subsequent time. This Agreement and the Compensation Agreement constitute the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter thereof and supersede any and all prior agreements of the parties with respect to such subject matter. No agreements or representations, oral or otherwise, expressed or implied with respect to the subject matter thereof have been made by either party which are not set forth expressly in this Agreement and/or the Compensation Agreement.

 

9. Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original but all of which together will constitute one and the same agreement.

 

10. Section 409A. The Agreement is not intended to constitute a “nonqualified deferred compensation plan” within the meaning of section 409A of the Code. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event this Agreement or any benefit paid under this Agreement to Employee is deemed to be subject to section 409A of the Code, the Employee consents to the Company’s adoption of such conforming amendments as the Company deems advisable or necessary, in its sole discretion, to comply with section 409A of the Code (including without limit delaying the timing of payments). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, if, upon Employee’s separation from service, Employee is then a Company “specified employee” (as defined in Section 409A of the Code), then to the extent necessary to comply with Code Section 409A, the Company will defer payment (without interest) of certain of the amounts owed to Employee under this Agreement until the earlier of the Employee’s death or the first business day of the seventh month following Employee’s separation from service.

 

11. Withholding. All payments and benefits made under this Agreement shall be subject to reduction to reflect any withholding taxes or other amounts required by applicable law or regulation.

 

8



 

12. Restrictive Covenants. The provisions of this Section 12 shall survive termination of this Agreement and/or termination of Employee’s employment for any reason.

 

(a) Nondisparagement. The Employee will not disparage the Company, its directors, officers, employees, affiliates, Subsidiaries, predecessors, successors or assigns in any written or oral communications to any third party. The Employee further agrees that he/she will not direct anyone to make any disparaging oral or written remarks to any third parties, provided, however, that the Employee may testify or otherwise provide information truthfully in connection with any (i) governmental and/or regulatory proceeding, (ii) required governmental or regulatory filing, or (iii) any subpoena for testimony served upon the Employee.

 

(b) Nonsolicit. During the Employee’s employment with Company and for 12 months after the Termination Date, the Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, either as an individual or as an employee, agent, consultant, advisor, independent contractor, general partner, officer, director, stockholder, investor, lender, or in any other capacity whatsoever, of any person, firm, corporation or partnership: (i) solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or attempt to solicit, induce, recruit or encourage any of the Company’s employees or consultants to terminate their relationship with the Company, or (ii) attempt to negatively influence any of the Company’s clients or customers from purchasing Company products or services.

 

(c) Nondisclosure. Notwithstanding any requirement that the Company may have to publicly disclose the terms of this Agreement pursuant to applicable law or regulations, the Employee agrees to use reasonable efforts to maintain in confidence the existence of this Agreement, the contents and terms of this Agreement, and the consideration for this Agreement (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Agreement Information”). The Employee also agrees to take every reasonable precaution to prevent disclosure of any Agreement Information to third parties, except for disclosures required by law or reasonably necessary with respect to Employee’s immediate family members or personal advisors who shall also agree to maintain confidentiality of the Agreement Information.

 

(d) Confidentiality. Employee shall not, except as required by any court or administrative agency, without the written consent of the Board, or the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, or a person authorized thereby, disclose to any person, other than an employee of the Company or a person to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary or appropriate in connection with the performance by the Employee or his duties to the Company, any confidential information obtained by him while in the employ of the Company with respect to any of the Company’s inventions, processes, customers, methods of distribution, methods of manufacturing, attorney-client communications, pending or contemplated acquisitions, other trade secrets, or any other material which the Company is obliged to keep confidential pursuant to any confidentiality agreement or protective order; provided, however, that confidential information shall not include any information now known or which becomes known generally to the public (other than as a result of an unauthorized disclosure by the Employee) or any information of a type not otherwise considered confidential by a person engaged in the same business or a business similar to that conducted by the Company. Employee acknowledges that he also continues to be bound by the Inventions and Confidential Information agreement with the Company that Employee previously executed.

 

(e) Remedy for Breach. The parties hereto agree that, in the event of breach or threatened breach of any covenants herein, the damage or imminent damage shall be inestimable, and that therefore any remedy at law or in damages shall be inadequate. Accordingly, the parties hereto agree that the Company and Employee shall be entitled to apply for injunctive relief in the event of any breach or threatened breach of any of such provisions by Employee or the Company, in addition to any other relief (including damages) available to the Company or Employee under this Agreement or under law. If the Employee materially breaches the Release Agreement then within thirty days of the Company’s notice to the Employee regarding such breach, the Employee must repay to the Company in cash all of the payments and benefits previously provided to the Employee under Section 2 and the Company will owe no further obligations to Employee under this Agreement.

 

9



 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused this Agreement to be duly executed and delivered as of the Effective Date.

 

INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORPORATION

 

 

By:

 

 

Its:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EMPLOYEE

 

 

10


EX-10.5 6 a07-28138_1ex10d5.htm EX-10.5

Exhibit 10.5

 

October 29, 2007

 

Donald R. Dancer

 

Re:  Compensation Agreement

 

Dear Don:

 

This letter agreement (this “agreement”) confirms the terms of your employment with International Rectifier Corporation (the “Company”), during and after your service as acting Chief Executive Officer, as approved by the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Company.

 

You will be offered a Severance Agreement with the Company, on terms substantially as set forth in the form of Severance Agreement delivered to you in connection with this agreement, which will take effect promptly (and in all cases while you are still acting Chief Executive Officer of the Company). Your Employee Benefits Continuation Period under your Severance Agreement will be 18 months and your severance multiplier for purposes of Section 2(b) of your Severance Agreement will be two times (2.0). Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, the following provisions supplement and do not supersede or replace your Severance Agreement or any portion thereof. Similarly, your Severance Agreement will supplement and will not supersede or replace this agreement or any portion hereof.

 

You will receive a salary at an annualized rate of $450,000 while you are employed by the Company. Not more than ten (10) business days after executing this agreement, the Company will pay you, in a single lump sum payment, an amount equal to the difference between the base salary you have been paid for the period of time you have acted as Chief Executive Officer and the amount to which you would have otherwise been entitled for the corresponding period of time at the base salary rate set forth above. You will also participate in the Company’s annual bonus program while you are employed by the Company with a target annual bonus of 75% of your base salary for the year to which the bonus opportunity relates. Your participation in the annual bonus program will be on terms and conditions that are not less favorable than those applicable to the Company’s other executive officers generally. In the future the Company may increase, but it will not decrease (regardless of whether or not you continue as Chief Executive Officer) your base salary rate or your annual target bonus percentage from the rate or percentage, respectively, set forth above.

 

In addition to your base salary and annual bonus opportunities, you will receive (i) a one-time cash incentive award of $100,000 upon executing this agreement (payable within ten (10) business days after executing this agreement), and (ii) a one-time special cash bonus of $400,000 payable on (or within ten (10) business days after) March 1, 2008.

 

For purposes of clarity (and without duplicating the contemplated option grant), the Company will grant you options to purchase 75,000 shares of Company common stock (subject to customary adjustments for any stock splits, reverse stock splits, stock dividends or any similar changes in capitalization that may occur) as set forth, and on the other terms and conditions referred to, in the commitment letter to you from the Company dated on or about October 29, 2007. When granted, the vesting period of such options shall be set so that you receive vesting credit for your services with the Company on and after October 29, 2007.

 

In addition, the Company will grant you a special award of restricted stock units (the “RSU Award”). The RSU Award will be granted on the third New York Stock Exchange trading day that follows the day on which the Company is current in its financial statement reporting obligations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), or, if such date is within fifteen (15) days prior to the end of a Company fiscal quarter or prior to the filing with the SEC of the periodic report on Form 10-Q for a completed Company fiscal quarter, then on the third New York Stock Exchange trading day that follows the day on which such report on Form 10-Q is filed with the SEC (the “Grant Date”).The number of units subject to

 

1



 

the RSU Award will be determined by dividing $500,000 by the Fair Market Value (as such term is defined in the Company’s 2000 Incentive Plan, as amended) of a share of the Company’s common stock as of the Grant Date, with such result rounded up to the nearest whole share increment. The RSU Award will be granted under the Company’s 2000 Incentive Plan, as amended, and will be vested immediately upon grant, subject to applicable federal and state income tax withholdings.

 

In the event that you incur a Qualifying Termination on or before March 1, 2008, then, in addition to any other severance you may be entitled to in the circumstances, the Company will pay you on (or within ten (10) business days after) the date you incur a separation from service with the Company the one-time $400,000 cash bonus referred to above. (The term “separation from service” is used in this agreement as that term is applied for purposes of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended (the “Code”).) Without limiting the preceding sentence and in addition to any other severance you may be entitled to in the circumstances, the Company will pay you $500,000 in lieu of your RSU Award if either of the following occur prior to the Grant Date: (1) you incur a Qualifying Termination (the term “Qualifying Termination” is used in this agreement as defined in your Severance Agreement),. or (2) a Change in Control (as that term is defined in your Severance Agreement) of the Company occurs which constitutes a “change in the ownership or effective control” of the Company or a change “in the ownership of a substantial portion of the assets” of the Company (as such terms are applied for purposes of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code and the published regulations and other guidance of the Internal Revenue Service thereunder (collectively, “Section 409A”)). If you are entitled to the payment described in the preceding sentence, the payment will be made to you on (or within ten (10) business days after) the date of your separation from service with the Company that relates to your Qualifying Termination or the date of such Change in Control, whichever gave rise to your entitlement. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, in the event that you are a “specified employee” of the Company for purposes of Section 409A of the Code, the amounts otherwise payable to you pursuant to this paragraph in connection with your separation from service shall not be paid until the date that is six months and one day after the date you have a separation from service with the Company (or, if earlier, the date of your death), and shall be paid (without interest) on or within ten (10) business days after that date, to the extent such six-month delay is required to avoid the imputation of any tax, penalty, or interest under Section 409A of the Code. If all or any portion of the payments made pursuant to this agreement, when taken together with payments made under your Severance Agreement create an excise tax liability under Internal Revenue Code Sections 280G and 4999, the payments under this agreement shall be entitled to the benefits of Section 2(f) of your Severance Agreement upon your furnishing the release contemplated by Section 2(h) of your Severance Agreement.

 

All payments contemplated by this agreement will be subject to all applicable withholdings and other authorized deductions. Your base salary will be paid in regular installments (not less frequently than monthly) in accordance with the Company’s normal payroll procedures.

 

Your employment with the Company is entirely voluntary for both parties and either you or the Company may terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason (or for no reason at all).

 

The Company will require any successor (whether direct or indirect, by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise) to all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company, by written agreement in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to you, expressly to assume and agree to perform this agreement in the same manner and to the same extent the Company would be required to perform if no such succession had taken place. This agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Company and any successor to the Company, including without limitation any persons acquiring directly or indirectly all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Company whether by purchase, merger, consolidation, reorganization or otherwise (and such successor shall thereafter be deemed the “Company” for the purposes of this agreement), but will not otherwise be assignable, transferable or delegable by the Company. This agreement will inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by your personal or legal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, heirs, distributees and legatees. This agreement is personal in nature and neither of the parties hereto shall, without the consent of the other, assign, transfer or delegate this agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder except as expressly provided above. Without limiting the generality or effect of the foregoing, your right to receive payments hereunder will not be assignable, transferable or delegable, whether by pledge, creation of a security interest, or otherwise,

 

2



 

other than by a transfer by your will or by the laws of descent and distribution and, in the event of any attempted assignment or transfer contrary to this paragraph, the Company shall have no liability to pay any amount so attempted to be assigned, transferred or delegated.

 

Any dispute between the parties under this agreement shall be resolved in accordance with the arbitration provisions set forth in your Severance Agreement. The validity, interpretation, construction and performance of this agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

 

No provision of this agreement may be modified, waived or discharged unless such waiver, modification or discharge is agreed to in writing signed by the party against whom such modification, waiver or discharge is sought to be enforced. No waiver by either party hereto at any time of any breach by the other party hereto or compliance with any condition or provision of this agreement to be performed by such other party will be deemed a waiver of similar or dissimilar provisions or conditions at the same or at any prior or subsequent time. This agreement (along with the documents referred to herein) constitutes the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes any and all prior agreements of the parties with respect to such subject matter. No agreements or representations, oral or otherwise, expressed or implied with respect to the subject matter hereof have been made by either party which are not set forth expressly in this agreement (or the documents referred to herein).

 

This agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original but all of which together will constitute one and the same agreement.

 

If this agreement accurately reflects our understanding regarding these matters, please indicate your acceptance by signing this agreement below and returning it to me. A duplicate copy of this agreement is included for your records.

 

 

 

International Rectifier Corporation

 

 

 

 

 

By:

 

 

 

 

 

Print Name:

 

 

 

 

 

Title:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accepted and Agreed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donald R. Dancer

 

 

 

Date:

 

 

 

3


EX-99.1 7 a07-28138_1ex99d1.htm EX-99.1

Exhibit 99.1

 

International Rectifier Announces Promotion to Operations Team

Marc Rougee Promoted to Executive Vice President, Operations

 

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—November 2, 2007—International Rectifier Corporation (“IR”) (NYSE:IRF) today announced a promotion to the company's leadership team.

 

Marc Rougee, 53, has been promoted to executive vice president, operations. Mr. Rougee will report directly to Don Dancer, the company’s acting chief executive officer. Mr. Rougee's responsibilities include wafer fab and assembly operations and planning and logistics. He will also focus on improving integrated sales and operations planning and inventory management. Mr. Rougee joined IR in 2003, when he was appointed vice president and general manager of IR Newport Ltd. (Wales). In this role he was responsible for integrating the Newport acquisition and driving the ramp up of the facility. He was then promoted to vice president, worldwide wafer fab operations, where he oversaw supply strategy, cost programs and integration of the Epi operation in Mesa, AZ.

 

With over 25 years of semiconductor industry experience, Mr. Rougee previously held positions at Motorola, Silicon Manufacturing Partners, and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. He holds a Diplome d’Etudes Approfondies in Electronics and Instrumentation from the Paris VI University, and a MS in Physics from Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie in Paris.

 

Don Dancer, IR’s acting chief executive officer, said, “Marc has a wealth of global semiconductor operations experience that he brings to the senior management team. He has a proven record in planning, supply chain strategies and implementing a global operations strategy that has led to increased efficiency and greater productivity. We believe Marc is a tremendous asset and will contribute strongly to our strategic growth objectives.”

 

About International Rectifier

 

International Rectifier Corporation (NYSE:IRF) is a world leader in power management technology. IR’s analog, digital, and mixed signal ICs, and other advanced power management products, enable high performance computing and save energy in a wide variety of business and consumer applications.  Leading manufacturers of computers, energy efficient appliances, lighting, automobiles, satellites, aircraft, and defense systems rely on IR’s power management solutions to power their next generation products. For more information, go to www.irf.com.

 

Note: Statements made or implied in this release that are in the future tense or that are accompanied by words such as “build,” “improve,” “drive,” “continue,” “create,” “will” or variations of such words are “forward-looking” and involve risks and uncertainties that are not within International Rectifier’s control. A fuller explanation of these risks and

 

1



 

uncertainties and those issues and uncertainties related to the ongoing investigation conducted by independent legal counsel retained by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, and the changes to the company’s internal controls and governance policies, is contained in International Rectifier’s periodic and other filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

# # #

 

Company contact:

Investors

Portia Switzer

310.726.8254

 

Chris Toth

310.252.7731

 

Media

Graham Robertson

310.726.8512

 

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