ISS Expands List of Egregious Equity Plan Factors

Greg Gautam • November 19, 2019

As reported in prior blogs, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), a leading proxy advisory firm, uses a proprietary “Equity Plan Scorecard” approach to evaluate public company equity compensation plans and will recommend a “for” or “against” vote depending on a combination of plan features, plan cost, company grant practices, etc.  Last week ISS issued its Proxy Voting Guideline Updates for 2020, which are generally effective for meetings on or after February 1, 2020 (“2020 Update”).  The 2020 Update, among other things, makes changes to the current Equity Plan Scorecard.

Regardless of how a plan scores under the current Equity Plan Scorecard, ISS will generally recommend a vote against a plan proposal if any of the following egregious factors apply: (i) accelerated vesting pursuant to a liberal change in control definition; (ii) provisions that permit the repricing and/or cash out of underwater options or stock appreciation rights without shareholder approval, (iii) provisions that make a plan a vehicle for problematic pay practices or create a pay for performance disconnect, (iv) the plan is excessively dilutive to shareholder holdings, or (v) the plan contains other features that have a significant negative impact on shareholder interests.  The 2020 Update expands this list to include plans that contain evergreen or automatic share replenishment features.

ISS’ rationale for the change stems from the drop in the number of equity plans brought to a shareholder vote in 2018 and 2019 compared to prior years (from 2017 to 2018 alone ISS noted a 27% year over year drop) and ISS believes that the drop might perpetuate plans with features that are unfriendly to shareholders.  A link to the full 2020 Update can be found here .

 

Employee burnout: what it is and how to prevent it

By Mardy Gould • May 24, 2024
Employee burnout has become an epidemic in today’s modern workplace. So much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognizes it as an “occupational phenomenon.”1 While many used to consider mounting workplace stress an individual employee problem, these days, it’s become an employer’s responsibility to prevent burnout before it hurts productivity and business performance—not to mention your employees’ physical and mental health. Luckily, you can prevent burnout from affecting your workforce in several ways. This article will explore the causes and signs of employee burnout and the steps you can take to create a positive work environment where employees feel safe from toxic stress levels.

Form 720 and PCORI fee FAQs

By Mardy Gould • May 23, 2024
If you're a small business owner, you may have heard of the acronym PCORI and the fees that come with it. But what is PCORI, and how does it apply to your organization? Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sponsors of self-insured health plans must pay a fee to fund the federal Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). PCORI is an independent organization the ACA created to conduct research to help healthcare consumers make better decisions for their specific needs and outcomes. It also performs research related to clinical effectiveness. Employers offering a self-insured medical reimbursement health plan, such as a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), must pay this fee by July 31 each year via Form 7201. This fee was initially set to expire in 2019, but Congress extended it through September 30, 20292, due to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 20203.
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