Lowenstein Sandler LLP

COVID-19: Focus on Executive Compensation
Lowenstein Sandler LLP, May 2020

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business community is unprecedented. Every company and executive is questioning the effects the disease will have on their business, employees, customers, and local and global economies. While it is still too early to know the long-term ramifications of the disease, the more immediate implications for businesses are already evident, including a lockdown of large swaths of the U.S...

Cares Act Guidance: Overview of IRS Guidance Regarding Deferral of Employment Tax Deposits and Payments
Lowenstein Sandler LLP, April 2020

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allows employers to defer the employer’s portion of the Social Security payroll tax (6.2 percent) (and certain railroad retirement taxes) on wages paid from March 27, 2020, through December 31, 2020. The amounts deferred must be 50 percent repaid by no later than December 31, 2021, and the remainder by no later than December 31, 2022. The deferral is interest free...

IRS Allows High-Deductible Health Plans to Cover the Full Costs of Coronavirus Testing and Treatment
Lowenstein Sandler LLP, March 2020

  On March 11, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-15 to clear up concerns about whether high-deductible health plans (HDHP) could cover all costs for testing and treatment of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). In general, HDHPs are subject to strict requirements under Section 223(c)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) that require covered individuals to be responsible for all medical expenses up to the applicable deductible...

Additional Articles

While stock options may be the typical “go-to” form of employee incentive, a company may have reason to seek alternatives. Many employers provide employees with equity-based compensation such as stock options or restricted shares, but often employees are not receiving the value these incentives were intended to provide. In other cases, a company may want to avoid granting actual equity or supplement equity awards with additional incentives. For any of these reasons, employers should consider new approaches to help retain employees and reward performance.

Generally, employees only see benefits from stock-based compensation when their companies go public or are sold. Many employees, however, never exercise stock options, a February report by Schwab Stock Plan Services noted. Only half of stock compensation program participants were confident about making the right decisions about their plan, Schwab found. Employers’ concerns about whether employees value stock options could be a reason that their use has declined in recent years, according to a 2017 report from FW Cook.

This article first appeared in Law360 on October 29, 2018. (subscription required to access article)

“Titanic.” We’ve all seen it and enjoyed watching the ill-fated love affair between Rose and Jack develop during the course of an over-length movie. We watched Rose grapple with the tough decisions between living up to others’ expectations and following her heart. We rooted Rose on as she decided to spurn her high-society fiancé and defy her mother to be with her true love. And, in a true Hollywood twist of fate (spoiler alert!), we watched in horror as Rose’s happiness is shattered when Jack slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

However, the most compelling scene of the movie takes place at the very end, when the camera pans Rose’s room and we see that, after she survived the Titanic and lost the love of her life, Rose went on to live a full life. She married and had children, who gave her beautiful grandchildren. She learned to ride a horse even though Jack was not there to teach her. And Rose likely refined her spitting technique to be truly award worthy (and note, we did not say “like a man”). In other words, Rose experienced a number of highs and lows in her life. She faced many difficult decisions and things didn’t always work out the way she expected or wanted, but she kept moving forward.