How Can Our Employment Law Solicitors Help?
If you are a senior executive director who requires a review of your service agreement/contract of employment, and/or shareholder’s agreement, or you require help negotiating incentive plans, advice on understanding your legal responsibilities as a director or support with negotiating your departure from the business, we can help.
As a senior executive it is likely you have been offered enhanced benefits and incentives to join the Senior Management Team, usually as a statutory director at Companies House under the Companies Act 2006. This may comprise of enhanced salary and pension terms, performance and non-performance related bonuses, share incentives, private medical and health insurance, life assurance, directors and officers insurance and a company car or car allowance.
Once an agreement has been signed and you commence work under these terms it can be difficult to amend the terms and any variation requires the agreement of your employer.
In return for the enhanced benefits offered, it is likely you will be required to provide a number of warranties and agree to additional duties and responsibilities, including your legal responsibilities as a director under the Companies Act 2006. These duties will be required both during your employment, and also after it comes to an end (such as post termination restrictions and confidentiality clauses).
If you are a senior executive and have recently been offered a service agreement we strongly advise that you have it checked to ensure it is a true reflection of what has been verbally agreed, and to review the post termination restrictions to ensure they are not too onerous before signing the formal, written contract.
A further benefit of becoming a senior executive director can also include the offer of owning a percentage of your employer’s business via shares. As a shareholder you should be issued with a separate shareholder’s agreement which governs your relationship with the business as a shareholder – which is a completely different to your relationship with the business as an employee or director. Even though this is a different relationship, a shareholder’s agreement will usually also contain circumstances of when you can be removed from the Company. It is vital that legal advice is sought on the terms of the shareholder’s agreement and it is reviewed in line with your service agreement as an employee / director. Failure to do this could provide your employer with an opportunity to potentially dismiss you and demand the return of your shares without any recourse available to you. Unfortunately, this is something our specialist solicitors have seen on many occasions.
Why choose Banner Jones Emplyment Law Solicitors?
At Banner Jones we have also have considerable experience in assisting senior executives who are leaving their employment, and we are frequently able to negotiate favourable terms, usually under a settlement agreement, to ensure that our client’s contractual terms and benefits, as well as any share ownership is protected; and advising on the impact of any post termination restrictions on their future employment, including trying to reduce or remove the impact of such restrictions.
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