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We Provide Counsel on the Full Range of Executive Compensation Options

Providing worldwide advice for companies who want the best management team and the most highly sought after executives

In today’s competitive world, the top companies need the most innovative, experienced, and savvy executives to help manage the company, expand operations, obtain new customers, and conduct quality research. The difference between the right officers and directors and the wrong ones can mean millions, even billions of dollars. Companies need to hire the smartest corporate officers and the best board of directors. This includes financial, administrative, marketing, information technology, and security officers as well as officers across every part of the business.

The best way to get and keep premier executives is to give them the best compensation packages the company can reasonably afford – provided that compensation is tied to improving the value and status of the company. At Gertsburg Licata our lawyers understand the full range of executive benefits. We advise national and worldwide companies, banks, telecommunication companies, and the top businesses in Ohio and beyond. Our Cleveland executive compensation lawyers help companies do much more than just identify the kinds of benefits that can be offered. We review complex laws that now highly regulate executive compensation. We understand the market and what other companies are offering. We draft compensation packages that minimize the tax consequences to the company. And we represent executives who have been denied the compensatory packages for unjust reasons.

Common executive compensation packages

The right talent can turn a small company into a nationwide brand, and a national company into a global corporation. In order to attract that type of talent, however, you need to offer compensation that makes it worth their while. Some of the benefit options we analyze for our business and even non-profit clients include:

  • Salary and company benefits. Top-talent executives are paid hundreds of thousands, even tens of millions of dollars. These executives deserve, at a minimum, the standard health, pension, 401K, and other benefits that are offered to non-executives in the company.
  • Business interests in the company. This can include stock options, restricted stock, and other equity arrangements.
  • Deferred compensation. Deferring executive compensation can have tax benefits for both the employer and the employee and can also benefit the employer by encouraging the employee to stay with the company for a long time until the benefits mature.
  • Long-term incentive plans. Our executive pay attorneys review financial incentives that are directly or indirectly tied to performance.
  • Pension plans. Our advice on pension plans includes the requirements to comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). ERISA regulates standards for pensions, including the federal income tax on various transactions.
  • Retirement packages. They say you’re only as good as your last act, and many executives are looking for that “golden parachute” when they retire. We help businesses plan for corporate retirement packages that are both enticing and financially secure.
  • Severance packages. This type of compensation may provide a financial benefit for executives who agree to accept an offer to leave the company earlier than the contract requires. Severance packages can also be used to give the person financial compensation in return for agreeing not to sue the company, or simply for his or her time in service.

Our lawyers understand that public companies must file executive compensation forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission so the compensation can be publicly viewed. At Gertsburg Licata, we also advise employers and executives on international executive compensation issues.

Litigation on behalf of executives denied fair compensation

When executives are not paid according to the terms of the employment contract, or have been denied the expected severance packages, our attorneys can litigate on their behalf, provided there is not a conflict of interest. We also represent clients in arbitration panels when it is mandated through their contracts.

Get help with executive compensation packages today

Your company needs the most talented management team it can afford. At Gertsburg Licata, executive compensation attorneys guide employers through the complexities of employment pay laws, explain and analyze all the compensation options that apply, and understand what the competition is paying. For immediate help with executive compensation packages and laws, call our firm at 216-573-6000 or fill out our contact form to schedule an appointment.