EXHIBIT 10.25
RIGEL PHARMACEUTICALS,
INC.
AMENDED AND RESTATED CHANGE OF
CONTROL SEVERANCE PLAN
Section 1.
INTRODUCTION.
The Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Change of Control Severance Plan (the “ Plan
”) was originally established effective December 19,
2007. The purpose of the Plan is to provide for the payment
of severance benefits to certain eligible executives of Rigel
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “ Company
”) who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in
Section 2(a) below. This Plan supersedes any
severance plan, policy or practice with respect to Qualifying
Terminations (as defined below), whether formal or informal,
written or unwritten, previously announced or maintained by the
Company. This Plan document also is the Summary Plan
Description for the Plan. The Company hereby amends and
restates the Plan in its entirety effective November 13, 2008
as set forth herein.
Section 2.
ELIGIBILITY FOR
BENEFITS.
(a)
General Rules.
Subject to the requirements
of the Plan, the Company will grant the severance benefits
described in Section 3 to Eligible Employees.
(1)
Definition of “Eligible
Employee.” For purposes of this Plan, an Eligible
Employee is an employee of the Company serving at or above the
level of Vice President (including non-officer Vice Presidents) at
the time he or she suffers a “Qualifying Termination”
(as defined below). The Plan Administrator shall make the
determination of whether an employee is an Eligible Employee, and
such determination shall be binding and conclusive on all persons.
Temporary employees and independent contractors are not
eligible for severance benefits under the Plan.
(2)
Obligations of Eligible
Employees. In
order to receive any benefits under the Plan:
(i)
the Eligible Employee must remain on
the job and satisfactorily provide services to the Company until
his or her date of termination;
(ii)
the Eligible Employee must execute
and return to the Company a general waiver and release in
substantially the form attached hereto as Exhibit A,
Exhibit B or Exhibit C, as applicable, within the time
frame set forth therein (the “ Release ”)
and such release must become effective in accordance with its terms
but not later than the 60th day following the termination of
employment (with the Company having the authority, in its
discretion, to modify the form of the required release to comply
with applicable law and to determine the form of the required
release, which may be incorporated into a termination agreement or
other agreement with the Eligible Employee) and notwithstanding the
payment schedules set forth in Appendix A, no benefits will be paid
prior to the effective date of the
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Release but rather on the first regular payroll
pay day following the effective date of the Release, the Company
will pay the Eligible Employee the benefits the Eligible Employee
would otherwise have received on or prior to such date but for the
delay in payment related to the effectiveness of the Release, with
the balance of the benefits being paid as originally scheduled;
and
(iii)
the Eligible Employee must remain in
compliance with his or her continuing obligations to the Company,
including obligations under his or her Employee Proprietary
Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement (such form, or any
similar form, the “ Proprietary Agreement
”).
(b)
Exceptions to Benefit
Entitlement. An
employee who otherwise is an Eligible Employee will not receive
benefits under the Plan (or will receive reduced benefits under the
Plan) in the following circumstances, as determined by the Company
in its sole discretion:
(1)
The employee is covered by any other
severance or separation pay plan, policy or practice of the Company
or has executed an individually negotiated employment contract or
agreement with the Company relating to severance benefits, in
either case with respect to severance benefits payable upon an
event that constitutes a Qualifying Termination (used herein as
defined herein), and such agreement, plan, policy or practice is in
effect on his or her termination date. In such case, the
employee’s severance benefit upon a Qualifying Termination,
if any, shall be governed by the terms of such agreement, plan,
policy or practice and shall be governed by this Plan only to the
extent that (i) the employee elects to waive and release all
claims and rights the employee has to severance pay or benefits
upon a Qualifying Termination under such agreement, plan, policy,
or practice or (ii) the reduction pursuant to
Section 3(c) below does not entirely eliminate benefits
under this Plan.
(2)
The employee’s employment
terminates other than as a result of a Qualifying Termination
(including a termination for Cause prior to the effective date of a
previously scheduled Qualifying Termination, a termination as a
result of death or disability, or the employee voluntarily
terminates employment with the Company other than as a Resignation
for Good Reason. Voluntary terminations include, but are not
limited to, resignation, retirement, failure to return from a leave
of absence on the scheduled date and/or termination in order to
accept employment with another entity (including but not limited to
any entity that is wholly or partly owned (directly or indirectly)
by the Company or an affiliate of the Company.)).
(3)
The employee has not signed an
enforceable Proprietary Agreement covering the employee’s
period of employment with the Company (and with any predecessor)
and does not confirm in writing that he or she is and shall remain
subject to the terms of that Proprietary Agreement.
(4)
Following notice of a Qualifying
Termination, the employee’s behavior rises to level of Cause
for termination.
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(c)
An involuntary termination without
“ Cause ” means an involuntary
termination of an employee’s employment by the Company other
than as a result of death or disability and other than for one of
the following reasons:
(1)
an intentional action or intentional
failure to act by the employee that was performed in bad faith and
to the material detriment of the business of the Company or an
Employer;
(2)
an employee’s intentional
refusal or intentional failure to act in accordance with any lawful
and reasonable order of his or her superiors that has not been
cured within ten (10) days after written notice from the
Company, or that has caused irreparable damage incapable of
cure;
(3)
an employee’s habitual or
gross neglect of the duties of employment that has not been cured
within ten (10) days after written notice from the Company, or
that has caused irreparable damage incapable of cure;
(4)
an employee’s indictment,
charge, or conviction of a felony or any crime involving moral
turpitude, or participation in any act of theft or dishonesty, in
each case, that has had or could reasonably be expected to have a
material detrimental effect on the business of the Company;
or
(5)
an employee’s violation of any
material provision of the Proprietary Agreement or violation of any
material provision of any other written Company policy or
procedure.
(d)
A “ Change of
Control ” means the consummation, in a single
transaction or in a series of related transactions, of any one or
more of the following events:
(1)
a sale, lease or other disposition
of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company, other
than a sale, lease or other disposition of all or substantially all
of the assets of the Company to an entity, more than fifty percent
(50%) of the combined voting power of the voting securities of
which are owned by stockholders of the Company in substantially the
same proportions as their ownership of the outstanding voting
securities of the Company immediately prior to such sale, lease or
other disposition;
(2)
a merger, consolidation or similar
transaction involving (directly or indirectly) the Company and,
immediately after the consummation of such merger, consolidation or
similar transaction, the stockholders of the Company immediately
prior thereto do not own, directly or indirectly, either
(A) outstanding voting securities representing more than fifty
percent (50%) of the combined outstanding voting power of the
surviving entity in such merger, consolidation or similar
transaction or (B) more than fifty percent (50%) of the
combined outstanding voting power of the parent of the surviving
entity in such merger, consolidation or similar transaction, in
each case in substantially the same proportions as their ownership
of the outstanding voting securities of the Company immediately
prior to such transaction; or
(3)
any “Exchange Act
Person” becomes the owner, directly or indirectly, of
securities of the Company representing more than fifty percent
(50%) of the
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combined voting power of the Company’s
then outstanding securities other than by virtue of a merger,
consolidation or similar transaction.
(e)
An “ Exchange Act
Person ” means any natural person, entity or
“group” (within the meaning of
Section 13(d) or 14(d) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended), except that “Exchange Act
Person” shall not include (1) the Company or any
subsidiary of the Company, (2) any employee benefit plan of
the Company or any subsidiary of the Company or any trustee or
other fiduciary holding securities under an employee benefit plan
of the Company or any subsidiary of the Company, (3) an
underwriter temporarily holding securities pursuant to an offering
of such securities, (4) an entity owned, directly or
indirectly, by the stockholders of the Company in substantially the
same proportions as their ownership of stock of the Company; or
(5) any natural person, entity or “group” (within
the meaning of Section 13(d) or 14(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) that, as of the
effective date of this Plan, is the owner, directly or indirectly,
of securities of the Company representing more than fifty percent
(50%) of the combined voting power of the Company’s then
outstanding securities.
(f)
A “ Qualifying
Termination ” means an involuntary termination
without Cause or a Resignation for Good Reason and in either case
provided such termination is a separation from service” (as
such term is defined in Section 1.409A-1(h) of the
Treasury Regulations) and such termination occurs on or within
eighteen (18) months following the effective date of the Change of
Control.
(g)
A “ Resignation for Good
Reason ” means the Eligible Employee has resigned
from all positions he or she then-holds with the Company (or any
successor thereto):
(1)
one of the following actions has
been taken:
(i)
there is a material diminution of
Eligible Employee’s authority , including but not limited to decision-making
authority , duties, or responsibilities;
(ii)
there is a material reduction in the
Eligible Employee’s annual base compensation (including the
base salary and target bonus opportunity), where material is considered greater than
5%;
(iii)
the Eligible Employee is required to
relocate his or her primary work location to a facility or location
that would increase the Eligible Employee’s one way commute
distance by more than
twenty (20) miles from the Eligible
Employee’s primary work location as of immediately prior to
such change;
(iv)
A material diminution in the
authority, duties, or responsibilities of the supervisor to whom
the Eligible Employee is required to report, including a
requirement that the Eligible Employee report to a corporate
officer or employee instead of reporting directly to the board of
directors of a corporation (or similar governing body with respect
to an entity other than a corporation);
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(v)
A material diminution in the
budget
over which the Eligible Employee retains authority;
(vi)
the Eligible Employee is required,
as a condition to continued service, to enter into any agreement
with the Company or a successor thereto regarding confidentiality,
non-competition, non-solicitation or other similar restrictive
covenant that is materially more restrictive than under the
Proprietary Agreement;
(vii)
the Company materially breaches its
obligations under this Plan or any then-effective written
employment agreement with the Eligible Employee; or
(viii)
any acquirer, successor or assign of
the Company fails to assume and perform, in all material respects,
the obligations of the Company hereunder; and
(2)
the Eligible Employee provides
written notice to the Company’s General Counsel within the
60-day period immediately following such action; and
(3)
such action is not remedied by the
Company within thirty (30) days following the Company’s
receipt of such written notice; and
(4)
the Eligible Employee’s
resignation is effective not later than sixty (60) days after the
expiration of such thirty (30) day cure period.
Section 3.
AMOUNT OF BENEFIT.
(a)
Severance Benefits.
Subject to the terms and
conditions of the Plan, the severance benefits that shall be
provided to Eligible Employees under the Plan are set forth in
Appendix A.
(b)
Additional
Benefits. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company may,
in its sole discretion, authorize benefits in an amount in addition
to those benefits set forth in Section 3(a) to an
Eligible Employee. The provision of any such benefits to an
Eligible Employee shall in no way obligate the Company to provide
such benefits to any other Eligible Employee or to any other
employee, even if similarly situated. Receipt of benefits
under this Plan pursuant to such exceptions may be subject to a
covenant of confidentiality and non-disclosure.
(c)
Certain
Reductions. The
Company shall reduce an Eligible Employee’s severance
benefits under this Plan, in whole or in part, by any other
severance benefits, pay in lieu of notice, or other similar
benefits payable to the Eligible Employee by the Company in
connection with the Eligible Employee’s Qualifying
Termination, including but not limited to any payments or benefits
that are due pursuant to (i) any other severance plan, policy
or practice, or any individually negotiated employment contract or
agreement with the Company relating to severance benefits, in each
case, as is in effect on the Eligible Employee’s termination
date, (ii) any applicable legal requirement, including,
without limitation, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act (the “ WARN Act ”), or
(iii) any Company policy or practice providing for the
Eligible Employee to remain on the payroll without being in active
service for a limited period of time after being given notice of
the termination of the Eligible Employee’s
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employment. The benefits provided under
this Plan are intended to satisfy, to the greatest extent possible,
any and all statutory obligations that may arise out of an Eligible
Employee’s termination of employment, and the Plan
Administrator shall so construe and implement the terms of the
Plan. In the Company’s sole discretion, such reductions
may be applied on a retroactive basis, with severance benefits
previously paid being recharacterized as payments pursuant to the
Company’s statutory obligation.
(d)
Parachute Payments.
If any payment or benefit (including
payments and benefits pursuant to this Plan) that an Eligible
Employee would receive in connection with a Change of Control from
the Company or otherwise (“ Payment ”)
would (1) constitute a “parachute payment” within
the meaning of Section 280G of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, as amended (the “ Code ”), and
(2) but for this sentence, be subject to the excise tax
imposed by Section 4999 of the Code (the “ Excise
Tax ”), then the Company shall cause to be
determined, before any amounts of the Payment are paid to the
Eligible Employee, which of the following two alternative forms of
payment shall be paid to the Eligible Employee: (i) payment in
full of the entire amount of the Payment (a “ Full
Payment ”), or (ii) payment of only a part of
the Payment so that the Eligible Employee receives the largest
payment possible without the imposition of the Excise Tax (a
“ Reduced Payment ”). The
determination shall be made as follows:
(1)
A Full Payment shall be made if the
quotient obtained by dividing (i) the Full Payment, less the
Reduced Payment, by (ii) the Reduced Payment (such quotient,
the “ Reduction Percentage ”), is greater
than fifteen percent (15%). If the Full Payment is made, the
Company shall pay, and the Eligible Employee shall be entitled to
receive, an additional payment (a “ Gross-Up
Payment ”) from the Company in an amount equal to
(A) the Excise Tax on the Full Payment, (B) any interest
or penalties imposed on the Eligible Employee with respect to the
Excise Tax on the Full Payment, and (C) an additional amount
sufficient to pay the Excise Tax and the federal and state income
and employment taxes arising from the payments made by the Company
to the Eligible Employee pursuant to (A), (B) and (C).
For purposes of determining the amount of the Gross-Up Payment, the
Eligible Employee shall be deemed to have: (x) paid federal
income taxes at the highest marginal rate of federal income and
employment taxation for the calendar year in which the Gross-Up
Payment is to be made, and (y) paid applicable state and local
income taxes at the highest rate of taxation for the calendar year
in which the Gross-Up Payment is to be made, net of the maximum
reduction in federal income taxes which could be obtained from
deduction of such state and local taxes. Except as otherwise
provided herein, the Eligible Employee shall not be entitled to any
additional payments or other indemnity arrangements in connection
with the Payment or the Gross-Up Payment.
(2)
A Reduced Payment shall be made in
the event that the Reduction Percentage is less than or equal to
fifteen percent (15%). If a Reduced Payment is made, the
Eligible Employee shall have no rights to any additional payments
and/or benefits constituting the Payment beyond the amount of the
Reduced Payment. The reduction in the Payment shall occur in
the following order: (i) reduction of cash payments;
(ii) cancellation of accelerated vesting of equity awards
other than stock options; (iii) cancellation of accelerated
vesting of stock options; and (iv) reduction of other benefits
paid to the Eligible Employee. In the event that acceleration
of compensation from the Eligible Employee’s equity awards is
to be reduced, such acceleration of vesting shall be canceled in
the reverse order of the date of grant.
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(3)
The independent professional firm
engaged by the Company for general tax audit purposes as of the day
prior to the effective date of the Change of Control shall make all
determinations required to be made under this
Section 3(d). If the independent professional firm so
engaged by the Company is serving as an advisor, accountant or
auditor for the individual, entity or group affecting the Change of
Control, the Company shall appoint a nationally recognized
professional firm to make the determinations required
hereunder. The Company shall bear all expenses with respect
to the determinations by such firm required to be made
hereunder. The firm engaged to make the determinations
hereunder shall provide its calculations, together with detailed
supporting documentation, to the Company and the Eligible Employee
within thirty (30) calendar days after the date on which the
Eligible Employee’s right to a Payment is triggered (if
requested at that time by the Company or the Eligible Employee) or
such other time as requested by the Company or the Eligible
Employee. If the firm determines that no Excise Tax is
payable with respect to a Payment, either before or after the
application of the Reduced Amount, it shall furnish the Company and
the Eligible Employee with an opinion reasonably acceptable to the
Eligible Employee that no Excise Tax will be imposed with respect
to such Payment. If the firm determines that an Excise Tax is
payable with respect to a Payment and that a Gross-Up Payment is
due to the Eligible Employee under Section 3(d)(1), the
Company shall pay the Gross-Up Payment not later than thirty (30)
days after the date on which the Eligible Employee remits the
Excise Tax to the appropriate taxing authorities. Any good
faith determinations of the firm made hereunder shall be final,
binding and conclusive upon the Company and the Eligible
Employee.
(e)
Code
Section 409A.
If the Company (or, if applicable, the successor entity thereto)
determines that the payments and benefits provided under the Plan
(the “ Plan Payments ”) constitute
“deferred compensation” under Code Section 409A
(together, with any state law of similar effect, “
Section 409A ”) and an Eligible Employee
is a “specified employee” of the Company or any
successor entity thereto, as such term is defined in
Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) (a “ Specified
Employee ”), then, solely to the extent necessary to
avoid the incurrence of the adverse personal tax consequences under
Section 409A, the timing of the Plan Payments shall be delayed
as follows: on the earliest to occur of (1) the date
that is six months and one day after a “separation from
service” (as such term is defined in
Section 1.409A-1(h) of the Treasury Regulations), and
(2) the date of the Eligible Employee’s death (such
earliest date, the “ Delayed Initial Payment
Date ”), and the Company (or the successor entity
thereto, as applicable) shall then (i) pay to the Eligible
Employee a lump sum amount equal to the sum of the Plan Payments
that the Eligible Employee would otherwise have received through
the Delayed Initial Payment Date if the commencement of the payment
of the Plan Payments had not been delayed pursuant to this
Section 3(e) and (ii) commence paying the balance of
the Plan Payments in accordance with the applicable payment
schedules set forth in on Appendix A. Prior to the imposition
of any delay on the Plan Payments as set forth above, it is
intended that (A) each installment of the Plan Payments
provided in Appendix A be regarded as a separate
“payment” for purposes of Treasury Regulations
Section 1.409A-2(b)(2)(i), (B) all Plan Payments provided
in Appendix A satisfy, to the greatest extent possible, the
exemptions from the application of Section 409A provided under
Treasury Regulations Sections 1.409A-1(b)(4) and
1.409A-1(b)(9)(iii), and (C) the Plan Payments consisting of
COBRA premiums also satisfy, to the greatest extent possible, the
exemption from the application of Section 409A provided under
Treasury Regulations Section 1.409A-1(b)(9)(v).
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Section 4.
COMPANY PROPERTY.
(a)
Return of Company
Property. An
Eligible Employee will not be entitled to any severance under the
Plan unless and until the Eligible Employee returns all Company
Property. For this purpose, “ Company
Property ” means all paper and electronic company
documents (and all copies thereof) created and/or received by the
Eligible Employee during his or her period of employment with the
Company and other Company Property which the Eligible Employee had
in his or her possession or control at any time, including, but not
limited to, Company and/or Employer files, notes, drawings records,
plans, forecasts, reports, studies, analyses, proposals,
agreements, financial information, research and development
information, sales and marketing information, operational and
personnel information, specifications, code, software, databases,
computer-recorded information, tangible property and equipment
(including, but not limited to, leased vehicles, computers,
computer equipment, software programs, facsimile machines, mobile
telephones, servers), credit and calling cards, entry cards,
identification badges and keys; and any materials of any kind which
contain or embody any proprietary or confidential information of
the Company and/or an Employer (and all reproductions thereof in
whole or in part). As a condition to receiving benefits under
the Plan, Eligible Employees must not make or retain copies,
reproductions or summaries of any such Company Property.
However, an Eligible Employee is not required to return his or her
personal copies of documents evidencing the Eligible
Employee’s hire, termination, compensation, benefits and
stock options and any other documentation received as a shareholder
of the Company.
(b)
Transition of Work.
An Eligible Employee will not
be entitled to any severance benefit under the Plan unless and
until the Eligible Employee (1) has satisfactorily
transitioned his or her work and information concerning his or her
work to the Company to the extent reasonably requested in writing
by the Company and (2) has provided the Company with all
logins, passwords, passcodes and similar information created by the
Eligible Employee for documents, email and electronic files that
the Eligible Employee created or used on Company
systems.
Section 5.
TIME OF PAYMENT AND FORM OF
BENEFIT.
Except as otherwise provided in
Section 3, all severance benefits under the Plan shall be paid
at the time and in the form provided in Appendix A following the
Eligible Employee’s satisfaction of all of the requirements
under the Plan. All payments under the Plan will be subject
to applicable withholding for federal, state and local taxes.
If an Eligible Employee is indebted to the Company at his or her
termination date, the Company reserves the right to offset any
severance payments under the Plan by the amount of such
indebtedness. Additionally, if an Eligible Employee is
subject to withholding for taxes related to any non-Plan benefits,
the Company may offset any severance payments under the Plan by the
amount of such withholding taxes. However, payments under the
Plan will not be subject to any other deductions such as, but not
limited to, 401(k) plan contributions and/or 401(k) loan
repayments or other employee benefit and benefit plan
contributions.
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Section 6.
RIGHT TO INTERPRET PLAN;
AMENDMENT AND TERMINATION.
(a)
Exclusive Discretion.
The Plan Administrator is the
Company. As Plan Administrator, the Company is the named
fiduciary charged with the responsibility for administering the
Plan. The Plan Administrator shall have the exclusive
discretion and authority to establish rules, forms, and procedures
for the administration of the Plan and to construe and interpret
the Plan and to decide any and all questions of fact,
interpretation, definition, computation or administration arising
in connection with the operation of the Plan, including, but not
limited to, the eligibility to participate in the Plan and amount
of benefits paid under the Plan. The Plan Administrator may
delegate any or all of its administrative duties to an officer of
the Company and any such delegation shall convey with it the full
discretionary authority of the Plan Administrator to carry out the
delegated duties. The Company or the Plan Administrator shall
indemnify and hold harmless any person to whom it delegated its
responsibilities; provided , however , such person
does not act with gross negligence or willful misconduct. The
rules, interpretations, computations