Exhibit 10.05c
PRAXAIR, INC.
EQUALIZATION BENEFIT PLAN
(AS AMENDED AND RESTATED EFFECTIVE
DECEMBER 31, 2007)
PRAXAIR, INC.
EQUALIZATION BENEFIT PLAN
General
This Equalization Benefit Plan (the
“Plan”) is maintained by Praxair, Inc. (the
“Corporation”), is completely separate from the Praxair
Pension Plan (the “Pension Plan”), and is not funded or
qualified for special tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The purpose of this
Plan is to restore retirement benefits to those Pension Plan
participants, and to the spouses or beneficiaries of such
participants, whose retirement benefits under the Pension Plan are,
or will be, reduced by the limitations imposed by Section 415
of the Code, as from time to time amended (collectively referred to
herein as “Participants”). At its inception, this Plan
assumed the liabilities under the Equalization Benefit Plan for
Participants of the Retirement Program Plan for Employees of Union
Carbide Corporation and its Participating Subsidiary Companies,
with respect to employees of the Corporation.
This Plan operates in conjunction
with the Pension Plan, the Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement
Income Plan A (the “SRIP A”) and the Praxair, Inc.
Supplemental Retirement Income Plan B (the “SRIP B”) to
provide retirement benefits to Participants. Each of these four
plans must be read together in the following order to determine the
total Praxair retirement benefit payable to, or on behalf of, a
Participant:
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Praxair, Inc. Equalization
Benefit Plan
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Praxair, Inc. Supplemental
Retirement Income Plan A
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Praxair, Inc. Supplemental
Retirement Income Plan B
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In no event shall any benefit payable to or on
behalf of a Participant under this Plan duplicate the benefit
payable to or on behalf of such Participant under the Pension Plan,
the SRIP A and/or the SRIP B.
This Plan has been amended and
restated in its entirety effective as of December 31,
2007.
ARTICLE I
EBP Benefits
Section 1
. Beginning as of January 1,
2002, each Participant shall be designated as either an
Account-Based Participant or a Traditional-Design Participant. This
designation shall be consistent with such Participant’s
method of benefit accrual under the Pension Plan.
Any Participant in the Pension Plan,
or such Participant’s surviving spouse or beneficiary, shall
be entitled to a benefit, payable hereunder in accordance with this
Plan, calculated under either A or B below (referred to herein as
the “EBP Benefit”).
A. Amount of EBP Benefit for
Traditional-Design Participants . The EBP Benefit hereunder
payable to a Traditional-Design Participant or his or her surviving
spouse shall be equal to the excess of (a) minus (b), if any,
determined as of termination of employment, where (a) and
(b) are defined as follows:
(a) equals the amount of such
Participant’s or surviving spouse’s annual benefit
under the Pension Plan computed under the provisions of the Pension
Plan without regard to the limitations of Code Section 415;
and
(b) equals the amount of such
Participant’s or surviving spouse’s annual benefit
actually payable under the Pension Plan.
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B. Amount of EBP Benefit for
Account-Based Participants . The EBP Benefit hereunder payable
to or on behalf of an Account-Based Participant shall be equal to
the excess of (a) minus (b), if any, determined as of
termination of employment, where (a) and (b) are defined
as follows:
(a) equals the Account-Based Account
(as defined in the Pension Plan) which the Participant would have
had at such time under the Pension Plan as if such amounts had been
determined without applying the limitations of Code
Section 415; and
(b) equals the actual Account-Based
Account which the Participant has at such time under the Pension
Plan.
C. Provisions Common to All
Participants
(a) If a Participant satisfies the
requirements for a survivor’s benefit, the amount of EBP
Benefit which such Participant would otherwise have received shall
be reduced by applying the same factor used in the Pension Plan in
connection with survivor’s benefits.
(b) The amount of EBP Benefit
payable to the eligible survivor of a Participant shall be
calculated in the same manner that such survivor’s benefit is
calculated under the Pension Plan.
(c) With respect to any benefit
hereunder payable to a “spouse,” the determination of
whether a person constitutes an eligible spouse shall be made under
the same criteria as apply under the Pension Plan.
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ARTICLE II
Vesting
Section 1
. Except as otherwise provided
herein, a Participant will be vested in such Participant’s
right to receive EBP Benefits in the same manner and to the same
extent as provided under the Pension Plan.
ARTICLE III
EBP Benefit
Payments
Section 1
. For Traditional-Design
Participants, payments shall be made as follows:
(a) For Traditional-Design
Participants who terminate employment at a time when they would be
immediately eligible to commence a benefit under the Pension Plan,
a single life annuity (or a 50% joint and survivor annuity for such
Participants who are married at the time of their termination of
employment) will commence to be paid as of the first of the month
coincident with or next following such termination, and a lump sum
payment of all remaining EBP Benefits due hereunder shall be made
on or about July 1 of the year immediately following the year
of such termination (the year of termination is hereinafter
referred to as the “Termination Year”). Where such
Participant has commenced a 50% joint and survivor annuity, and
such Participant’s spouse dies during the annuity payment
period, the Participant’s EBP Benefit will be increased to
eliminate the cost of the survivor benefit. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, if such Participant is a Specified Employee (as such
term is defined in Code Section 409A) no annuity benefits
shall be paid during the six month period after the
Participant’s termination of employment (the “Delay
Period”), and at the conclusion of the Delay Period any
annuity benefits which would otherwise have been paid during the
Delay Period shall be paid in a single sum which shall include
interest at the interest rate used for determining Actuarial
Equivalence, as then in effect under the Pension Plan. Annuity
benefits shall then commence and continue until a lump sum payment
is due pursuant to the first sentence of this paragraph.
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(b) For Traditional-Design
Participants who terminate employment at a time when they would not
be immediately eligible to commence a benefit under the Pension
Plan, a lump sum payment of all EBP Benefits due hereunder, (taking
into account the value of the 50% joint and survivor form of
benefit if the Participant is married at the time of termination of
employment), shall be made on or about July 1 of the year
immediately following the Termination Year. If such
Participant’s spouse dies prior to the date of such lump sum
payment, the Participant’s benefit shall not be reduced to
reflect the cost of the survivor benefit.
(c) Lump sum payments shall be
calculated using a discount rate equal to the 10 year Aaa municipal
bond rate as published by Moody’s or a similar rating service
for the third month prior to the month payments
commence.
(d) Notwithstanding the foregoing, a
Traditional-Design Participant described in Article III,
Section 1(a) may elect to receive a lump sum payment of such
Participant’s remaining unpaid EBP Benefit in January of the
year following the Termination Year, provided that such election
must either:
(i) be made during 2007 by a
Participant who terminates employment in 2007, and relate to a lump
sum benefit otherwise not scheduled to be paid in 2007;
or
(ii) be made during 2008 by a
Participant who terminates employment on or after January 1,
2008 but before July 1, 2008, and relate to a lump sum benefit
otherwise not scheduled to be paid in 2008.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of
this Plan to the contrary, a Traditional-Design Participant (or the
surviving spouse of such Participant) who terminated employment
prior to
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January 1, 2009 and who has not previously
commenced payment of his or her vested EBP Benefit, shall receive a
lump sum payment of all vested EBP Benefits (taking into account
the value of the 50% joint and survivor form of benefit, if
applicable) as soon as administratively practicable after
January 1, 2009, but in no event later than December 31,
2009.
Section 2
. (a) For Account-Based
Participants who terminate employment on or after November 1
of a year and prior to May 1 of the following year, a lump sum
of their EBP Benefit shall be paid on or about July 1 of that
following year. For Account-Based Participants who terminate
employment on or after May 1 and prior to November 1 of a
year, a lump sum of their EBP Benefit shall be paid on or about
January 1 of the following year. (By way of example, an
Account-Based Participant who terminates employment in December,
2008, and an Account-Based Participant who terminates employment in
April, 2009, would each receive a lump sum in July, 2009. An
Account-Based Participant who terminates employment in June, 2009,
would receive a lump sum in January, 2010.) Notwithstanding the
foregoing, if such Participant is a Specified Employee (as such
term is defined in Code Section 409A) no payment shall be made
until the later of the date determined above and the date which is
six months after the Participant’s termination of
employment.
(b) Such lump sum payment shall be
calculated utilizing the factors described for lump sum payments
under Section 5.7(b) (or any successor provision governing
calculations of Account-Based lump sums) of the Pension
Plan.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of
this Plan to the contrary, an Account-Based Participant (or the
surviving spouse of such Participant) who terminated employment
prior to January 1, 2009 and who has not previously commenced
payment of his or her vested EBP Benefit, shall receive a lump sum
payment of all vested EBP Benefits (taking into account the value
of the 50% joint and survivor form of benefit, if applicable) as
soon as administratively practicable after January 1, 2009,
but in no event later than December 31, 2009.
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Section 3
. In the event of a Change in
Control, all EBP Benefits not yet paid under this Plan shall become
immediately vested and shall be paid in a lump sum payment,
calculated as otherwise described herein, as soon as
administratively possible following the date of such Change in
Control, but no later than 90 days after such date. For this
purpose, Change in Control shall mean the occurrence of any one of
the following events with respect to the Corporation:
(a) during a 12-month period, a
majority of the individuals who constitute the Corporation’s
Board of Directors are replaced by directors whose appointment or
election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board
before the date of the appointment or election;
(b) any one person, or more than one
person acting as a group, becomes owner as defined in
Section 318(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the
“Code”) (or has become owner during the 12-month period
ending on the date of the most recent acquisition by such person or
group), of stock of the Corporation possessing 30 percent or more
of the total voting power of the stock of the Corporation;
provided, however, that the event described in this paragraph
(ii) shall not be deemed to be a Change in Control by virtue
of any of the following acquisitions: (A) by the Corporation
or any of its subsidiaries, (B) by any employee benefit plan
sponsored or maintained by the Corporation or any of its
subsidiaries, or (C) by any underwriter temporarily holding
securities pursuant to an offering of such securities.
(c) any one person, or more than one
person acting as a group, acquires (or has acquired during the
12-month period ending on the date of the most recent acquisition
by such person or group) assets from the Corporation that have a
total gross fair market value equal to or
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more than 80 percent of the total gross fair
market value of all of the assets of the Corporation immediately
prior to such acquisition(s); provided, however, that a transfer of
assets by the Corporation is not treated as a Change in Control if
the assets are transferred to: (A) a shareholder of the
Corporation (immediately before the asset transfer) in exchange for
or with respect to its stock; (B) an entity, 50 percent or
more of the total value or voting power of which is owned, directly
or indirectly, by the Corporation; (C) a person, or more than
one person acting as a group, that o