Search for:

Read publication

Highlights

Tom Asmar Joins Baker McKenzie
We are excited to announce that Thomas (Tom) Asmar has joined our Compensation Group, based in our Palo Alto office. He joins the Firm from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP bringing nearly 20 years of experience advising companies and private equity funds on all employee benefits and compensation issues related to corporate transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions, IPOs and financings. Tom counsels companies in a variety of industries on the design and implementation of compensation arrangements, including employment agreements, equity compensation plans, incentive compensation, deferred compensation, severance agreements and change-in-control arrangements.

Global Equity Compensation Practice Note by Brian Wydajewski
Brian has recently authored a Practice Note for Practical Law. The seven-page Practice Note provides a basic primer of the various legal, regulatory, and tax-related issues that US public companies must typically address when considering whether to provide stock-based compensation internationally. View the article.

COVID-19 Resilience, Recovery and Renewal Hub
While we been focused on the impact of the pandemic and related stock market volatility on compensation and benefit plans, we did want to highlight that our Firm has extensive resources on various COVID-19 issues globally and across practice areas. For example, our employment colleagues have globally addressed issues related to reopening and these are summarized in “The Reopening Playbook – Guidance for Multinational Employers.” The resources can be downloaded from our COVID-19 Resilience, Recovery and Renewal hub.

Annual Share Plan Reporting Obligations – Australia and the UK
As a final introductory comment, please keep in mind that the annual share plan reporting obligations for Australia and the UK will be due (and as of the date of this newsletter, there has not been any announcement extending the respective deadlines). Please see our alerts for more details.

In this issue

Canada

      • Recent Litigation Involving Terminated Employee’s Claims for Equity Awards

European Union

      • EU Prospectus Exemption Requirements: The Devil is in the Details

Russia

      • Foreign Account Reporting Requirements Expanded to Cover Foreign Brokerage Accounts
      • Different Repatriation Requirement for Foreign Bank Accounts versus Foreign Brokerage Accounts

Sweden

      • Tax Withholding Considerations

United Kingdom

      • UK Budget 2020: Employee Tax Highlights
      • Update on Completion of Brexit

United States

      • Important Retirement Plan Implications from the CARES Act

United States

      • Increased Flexibility for Taxpayers in Section 125 Cafeteria Plans in Response to COVID-19
Author

Nicole Calabro is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment & Compensation Practice, with a focus on global equity services. She advises multinational companies on all facets of employee equity plans. She regularly assists public and private companies in offering their employee equity plans around the world. Nicole is currently a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals and the Global Equity Organization. Prior to joining the Firm, Nicole was a senior associate in the Global Equity Group at Mercer Human Resource Consulting LLC. Previously, she was a manager in the New York office of Deloitte Tax LLP.

Author

Victor Flores is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment & Compensation Practice, with a focus on Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits.

Author

Denise Glagau is a partner in the Firm's North America Employment and Compensation practice where she advises multinational companies on the tax and legal issues related to offering employee share plans and other incentive compensation programs in their home countries and on a global basis. Denise has authored several articles and frequently speaks on topics of interest for legal and other professionals dealing with share plan issues. She serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) San Francisco Chapter and she is on the Advisory Board of the Certified Equity Professionals Institute (CEPI) of Santa Clara University. She is a recognized practitioner by Chambers USA 2019 in the area of Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation. She is also a member of the Firm's Financial Institutions and Healthcare & Lifesciences industry groups.

Author

Christopher G. Guldberg has been practicing in the employee benefits and executive compensation areas since 1992 and is a senior member of the Firm’s benefits practice. He is a member of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee, and serves as a volunteer advising attorney for the Center for Disability and Elderly Law. Mr. Guldberg is a regular contributing author to Corporate Taxation and is a co-editor of the Firm's Compensation & Benefits Quarterly Newsletter. Mr. Guldberg has spoken on numerous benefit topics including executive compensation, retirement and health plans and health care reform, employee benefits in mergers and acquisitions and employee benefit issues for multinational corporations.

Author

Sinead Kelly is a partner in the Firm's Compensation practice. She advises on US executive compensation and global equity and has practiced in the compensation field since 2005. She regularly speaks and publishes on compensation-related topics and is a contributing author to Lexis Practice Advisor and Wolters Kluwer’s “Practical Guide to SEC Proxy and Compensation Rules,” as well as a founder of the Firm's Compensation Connection blog. She is on the Advisory Board of the Certified Equity Professionals Institute (CEPI) of Santa Clara University and is a member of the Firm's Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain working groups. Sinead has been recognized by Chambers USA for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, most recently in 2024, where Chambers states that she is “extremely intelligent, responsive and solution-oriented.” She is a Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer for 2024, and is ranked by Legal 500 as a "Leading Lawyer" for Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plan Design.

Author

Jennifer Kirk is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment & Compensation Practice, with a focus on global equity services. Jennifer is currently Secretary and Board member of the Global Equity Organization, as well as a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals. She is a frequent speaker on global equity plan issues.Prior to re-joining the Firm, Jennifer was Director of Global Equity Management at Alphabet, Inc./Google Inc. for almost 8 years. She previously had been a partner in Baker McKenzie's Global Equity Services group.

Author

Maura Ann McBreen is a partner in the Firm’s Chicago office and has over 30 years' experience in executive compensation and employee benefits. Maura Ann is widely recognized as a leading advisor to both C-suite executives and employers on compensation arrangements and has been recognized in her field by both Chambers USA (2019) and Chambers Global (2019) noting she is “renowned in the market for her work on a broad range of employee benefits and executive compensation matters.” She is particularly noted for her deft handling of such issues as part of large corporate transactions. Sources praise her "immediate and substantive advice on highly technical and nuanced issues." She was named one of 2017’s “Most Influential Women Lawyers in Chicago” by Crain’s Chicago and one of 2018’s “Most Notable Women Lawyers in Chicago.” She was also named Best Lawyers’ Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law “Lawyer of the Year” for both 2016 and 2017 for Chicago. She authors a quarterly column in Corporate Taxation and is a member of its Board of Contributing Editors and Advisors. She was instrumental in launching The Compensation Connection blog and in organizing the Firm’s 2017 Third Annual Global Pensions Conference in Chicago.

Author

Lindsay Minnis is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Global Equity Services Practice in New York. She routinely advises multinationals on international equity plans, executive compensation and employment benefits.

Author

Aimee Soodan has experience in all areas of compensation and benefits with a concentration in US and international equity and executive compensation and provides holistic advice and counseling on all compensation and incentive arrangements, both for employees in and outside the United States. She is exceptionally well-versed with respect to the tax, legal and administrative aspects of global equity programs. Ms. Soodan is Director of the Global Equity Organization's US Midwest Chapter, serves on the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals’ Executive Advisory Committee and is an adjunct professor at the Center for Tax Law & Employee Benefits at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

Author

Brian K. Wydajewski practices in the area of compensation and employment. He also heads the Chicago Office’s Global Equity Services Practice which assists multinational corporations with the design, implementation and operation of global equity compensation plans. Mr. Wydajewski has authored numerous articles, and is a frequent speaker on employee benefits, executive compensation and global equity compensation issues. In addition, Mr. Wydajewski is past chair of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Employee Benefits Section Council, and is an adjunct professor at the Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits at the John Marshall Law School.