Employee Share Plans in Europe and the USA - Sorainen

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Employee Share Plans in Europe and the USAGermany7. Employee benefit trustsThe tax status of a foreign trust is determined on a case-by-case basis, andspecific advice should be sought in relation to a plan that involves a trust.8. Data protectionDepending on the structure of the employee share plan administration, employeeconsent may be necessary for the collection, processing and transfer of personaldata. 22 In most cases, the requirement to obtain consent can be avoided if allrecipients of employee data are located in the EU or there is an adequate levelof data protection as further defined in EC Directive 95/46. In any event, thedata collection should be limited to the extent necessary for the planadministration and employee data should only be shared on a need-to-knowbasis.9. Employment law9.1 Please refer to paragraph 4 on pages 5-6 of this guide. This explains theemployment law issues which are generally applicable to a greater or lesserdegree in all the countries covered by this guide.9.2 There is a risk that employees may claim a right to initial or continuedparticipation in an employee share plan or that rights under a plan may beincluded in compensation on termination or may be considered pensionableincome. However, following a decision of the Federal Labour Court, anyentitlements under an employee share plan are, as a rule, not considered part ofthe employment relationship with the employing company where its parentcompany grants the share rights to the employees and the employing companyis not (directly or indirectly) involved in the grant of the rights or the provision ofbenefits and the operation of the plan and the costs of the plan are notrecharged by the parent company to the employing company. If the entitlements22German data protection law imposes certain duties on the employing company in relation to itsemployees. For example, most employing companies must have a data protection officer, whomust be informed in advance about any data processing that is required. A registration of theemployer as a data processor is not required if a data protection officer has been appointed. Foran employee's consent to be valid under German data protection law, it has to be obtained inadvance and should be given in writing once the employee has been informed about the planneddata processing and data transfer. The employees should be informed of the purpose of the dataprocessing and data transfer, the categories of data processed and/or transferred and the identityof all parties to whom their data will be transferred and the country where each party is located. Ifemployee data is collected for the first time without the knowledge of the employee, then there canbe an obligation to inform the employee of the collection. Employee data is not per se regarded assensitive data, but care should be taken not to collect or process sensitive types of data as definedin EC Directive 95/46 without the explicit consent of the employee.UK/1729295/03 85 September 2010
Employee Share Plans in Europe and the USAGermanyunder an employee share plan are deemed to be part of the employmentrelationship with the employing company, then the share plan rules will beconsidered "general terms" (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen) falling withinthe scope of terms that may be reviewed by the Labour courts. Companiesshould seek specific advice on these issues and other employment law issueswhich may be applicable.9.3 Under the "German Act on the Adequacy of Directors' Remuneration", theminimum vesting period for share options granted by a German public companyto its directors and employees has been increased from two to four years. Theremuneration of directors of German public companies must be oriented towardslong-term success and be based on long-term incentives for sustainablebusiness development. Consequently, shares granted to such directors shouldbe conditional upon a holding period of at least four years, and phantom optionsor similar awards should also only reward directors based on comparably longtermstock-exchange rate increases.10. Consumer Protection LawIn accordance with German consumer protection law, consumers have a right ofrevocation in relation to contracts concluded in certain situations where theconsumer is "taken by surprise" or where the consumer may make imprudentdecisions (e.g. doorstep transactions, distance selling transactions). Inaccordance with general case law, employees qualify as consumers, and if theyenter into transactions at their place of work, this may, depending on thecircumstances, qualify as a doorstep transaction leading to right to revocation forthe employee/consumer.The general revocation period is two weeks. However, if the consumers are notinformed that they have this right to revocation, then such right will not expire. Ifrevocation occurs then the whole transaction would have to be unwound.Although it is arguable that participation in an employee share plan would not fallwithin the scope of consumer protection law, it is considered advisable to provideinformation on the right of revocation so as to avoid the possibility of the right ofrevocation lasting beyond the two week period.UK/1729295/03 86 September 2010
Page 1 and 2:
Employee Share Plansin Europe and t
Page 3 and 4:
Employee Share Plans in Europe and
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27:
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42: Employee Share Plans in Europe and
Page 91: Employee Share Plans in Europe and
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
show all

Employee Share Plans in Europe and the USA - Sorainen

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?