Happy New Year from California.  As a reminder, starting January 1, 2024, changes to California’s state disability insurance (SDI) program will effectively increase taxes for employees working in California by 1.1% on income over $153,164. This is the result of both the elimination of the taxable wage limit (which was $153,164 in 2023) and an…

The United States Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), as implemented by Section 10D of the US Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10D-1 thereunder, and applicable stock exchange listing standards, requires US listed companies, by December 1, 2023, to adopt a clawback policy applicable to executive officers in…

On June 9, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved listing standards proposed by the NYSE and Nasdaq to implement its final Rule 10D-1 regarding recoupment of erroneously awarded compensation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”). Pursuant to this approval, the effective date of the listing standards is October…

In welcome news for U.S. listed companies, both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ have extended the effective date of their proposed listing standards to implement the Dodd-Frank clawback requirement to October 2, 2023 (see the NYSE Amendment and Nasdaq Amendment, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 5,…

On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) into law. One of the new provisions the IRA introduced is the stock buyback excise tax under Code section 4501, which applies as of January 1, 2023 and was designed to target large corporations that implement stock buybacks.

Background

Code section 4501 imposes…

On February 10, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations (CDIs) regarding the pay versus performance (PVP) disclosure rules under Item 402(v) of Regulation S-K[1]. 

The PVP disclosure rules apply to covered companies beginning with proxy statements or information statements filed for fiscal years ending on or after…

The short answer is “no.”

Typically the enforceability of non-compete clauses has been subject to state law and more recently, many states have imposed limitations on the enforceability of non-competes. Some states, like California, South Dakota and Oklahoma, ban them entirely. However, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on January 5, 2023 issued a proposed rule…