EXHIBIT 10.1
EMPLOYMENT
AGREEMENT
Coreen Sawdon
THIS EMPLOYMENT
AGREEMENT (the
“Agreement”) is made and entered into as of the 10th
day of August, 2009, by and between Shuffle Master, Inc., a
Minnesota corporation (the “Company”), and Coreen
Sawdon (the “Employee”), a resident of the State of
Nevada.
RECITALS:
A. The
Company is in the business of developing, manufacturing,
distributing and otherwise commercializing gaming equipment, games
(live, electronic and simulated), operating systems for gaming
equipment, and related products and services throughout the United
States and in Canada and other countries (the
“Business”).
B. Company
and Employee want to create an at-will employment relationship that
protects the Company with appropriate confidentiality and
non-compete covenants, and compensates the Employee for performing
her obligations appropriately.
C. The
Company and Employee desire that Employee be employed by the
Company on the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
AGREEMENT
In consideration of the mutual
promises contained herein, Employee and the Company agree as
follows:
1.
Employment . The Company hereby employs Employee
as its Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer
(“CAO) reporting to the Chief Financial Officer of the
Company or his designee and indirectly to the Chair of the Board of
Director’s Audit Committee. Employee shall perform
the normal duties of that position and as otherwise directed as
contained in Exhibit A. Subject to the other terms and
conditions hereof, Employee’s employment under this Agreement
with the Company is for a term of two (2) years (the
“Term”), beginning on August 1, 2009 (the
“Commencement Date”), through July 31, 2011.
2.
Salary, Bonus and Benefits . Subject to each of
the terms and conditions in this Agreement, and while employed as
the CAO:
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From the
Commencement Date through July 31, 2010, Employee shall be paid an
annual base salary of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000.00),
paid in the same intervals as other Employees of the Company; and
if employed through October 31, 2009, Employee will be eligible to
receive an executive bonus in accordance with the terms and
conditions of the executive bonus program and/or the individual
performance bonus program authorized by the Board of Directors of
the Company (the “Board”) for other comparable senior
vice president-level employees of the Company for fiscal year
2009, with a bonus in a range of
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percentages,
but with a target bonus of 50% of Employee’s base
salary.
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During the
second fiscal year of this Agreement, Employee will receive an
annualized base salary of no less than Two Hundred Thousand Dollars
($200,000), and will also be eligible to participate in an
executive bonus program and/or in an individual performance bonus
program that applies to all of the other senior vice-president
level employees of the Company as authorized by the Board, up to a
target bonus of 50% of Employee’s base
salary. Employee will not, however, be eligible to
participate in the Company’s non-executive bonus
program. Employee acknowledges receipt of any bonuses or
incentives promised to Employee at any time through the date of
execution hereof.
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Any stock
options or restricted stock units granted at any time to Employee
shall vest in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in
the applicable grant by the Board and, as otherwise may be
applicable, with any relevant terms and conditions of the 2004
Equity Incentive Plan as amended (the
“Plan”). Employee acknowledges that any
option grants are at the sole discretion of the Board.
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Except as
otherwise set forth herein, Employee’s salary is set in the
expectation that (except for vacation days and holidays)
Employee’s full time will be devoted to Employee’s
duties hereunder.
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During
Employee’s employment with the Company, the Company will
promptly pay or reimburse Employee for reasonable travel,
entertainment and other expenses incurred by Employee in the
furtherance of or in connection with the performance of
Employee’s duties. Such reimbursement will be in
accordance with Company policies in existence from time to
time.
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For as long as
the Company makes the following benefits available to all other
senior vice president-level employees of the Company, Company
agrees to provide Employee with:
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Club Sport
Family membership;
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Premiere Care
medical services.
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Notwithstanding
any other provision contained herein, Employee shall be and is an
employee “at will,” terminable at any time, with or
without just cause or notice.
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3 .
Outside Services or Consulting. Employee shall
devote Employee’s full professional time and best
professional efforts to the Company. Employee may render
other professional or consulting services to other persons or
businesses from time to time during the Term, only if Employee
meets all of the following requirements:
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The services do
not interfere in any manner with the Employee’s ability to
fulfill all of her duties and obligations to the
Company.
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The services
are not rendered to any business that may compete with the Company
in any area of the Business or do not otherwise violate paragraph 4
hereof.
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The services do
not relate to any products or services, which form part of the
Business.
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Employee
informs and obtains the consent of the Chief Executive Officer of
the Company.
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4.
Non-competition. In consideration of the
provisions of this Agreement, Employee hereby agrees that she shall
not, during the term of her full-time employment and for a period
of six (6) months thereafter:
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Directly or
indirectly own, manage, operate, participate in, consult with or
work for any business, which is engaged in the Business anywhere in
the United States or Canada.
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Either alone or
in conjunction with any other person, partnership or business,
directly or indirectly, solicit, hire, or divert or attempt to
solicit, hire or divert any of the Employees, independent
contractors, or agents of the Company (or its affiliates or
successors) to work for or represent any competitor of the Company
(or its affiliates or successors), or to call upon any of the
customers of the Company (or its affiliates or
successors).
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Directly or
indirectly provide any services to any person, company or entity,
which is engaged in the Business anywhere in the United States or
Canada.
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5.
Confidentiality; Inventions.
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Employee shall
fully and promptly disclose to the Company all inventions,
discoveries, software and writings that Employee may make,
conceive, discover, develop or reduce to practice either solely or
jointly with others during Employee’s employment with the
Company, whether or not during usual work
hours. Employee agrees that all such inventions,
discoveries, software and writing shall be and remain the sole and
exclusive property of the Company, and Employee hereby agrees to
assign, and hereby assigns all of Employee’s right, title and
interest in and to any such inventions, discoveries, software and
writings to the Company. Employee agrees to keep
complete records of such inventions, discoveries, software and
writings, which records shall be and remain the sole property of
the Company, and to execute and deliver, either during or after
Employee’s employment with the Company, such documents as the
Company shall deem necessary or desirable to obtain such letters
patent, utility models, inventor’s certificates, copyrights,
trademarks or other appropriate legal rights of the United States
and foreign countries as the Company may, in its sole discretion,
elect, and to vest title thereto in the Company, its successors,
assigns, or nominees.
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“Inventions,” as used herein, shall
include inventions, discoveries, improvements, ideas and
conceptions, developments and designs, whether or not patentable,
tested, reduced to practice, subject to copyright or
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other rights or
forms of protection, or relating to data processing,
communications, computer software systems, programs and
procedures.
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Employee
understands that all copyrightable work that Employee may create
while employed by the Company is a “work made for
hire,” and that the Company is the owner of the copyright
therein. Employee hereby assigns all right, title and
interest to the copyright therein to the Company.
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Employee has no
inventions, improvements, discoveries, software or writings useful
to the Company or its subsidiaries or affiliates in the normal
course of business, which were conceived, made or written prior to
the date of this Agreement.
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Employee will
not publish or otherwise disclose, either during or after
Employee’s employment with the Company, any published or
proprietary or confidential information or secret relating to the
Company, the Business, the Company’s operations or the
Company’s products or services. Employee will not
publish or otherwise disclose proprietary or confidential
information of others to which Employee has had access or obtained
knowledge in the course of Employee’s employment with the
Company. Upon termination of Employee’s employment
with the Company, Employee will not, without the prior written
consent of the Company, retain or take with Employee any drawing,
writing or other record in any form or nature which relates to any
of the foregoing.
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Employee
understands that Employee’s employment with the Company
creates a relationship of trust and confidence between Employee and
the Company. Employee understands that Employee may
encounter information in the performance of Employee’s duties
that is confidential to the Company or its
customers. For the Term hereof, and until the
information falls into the public domain, Employee agrees to
maintain in confidence all information pertaining to the Business
or the Company to which Employee has access including, but not
limited to, information relating to the Company’s products,
inventions, trade secrets, know how, systems, formulas, processes,
compositions, customer information and lists, research projects,
data processing and computer software techniques, programs and
systems, costs, sales volume or strategy, pricing, profitability,
plans, marketing strategy, expansion or acquisition or divestiture
plans or strategy and information of similar nature received from
others with whom the Company does business. Employee
agrees not to use, communicate or disclose or authorize any other
person to use, communicate or disclose such information orally, in
writing, or by publication, either during Employee’s
employment with the Company or thereafter except as expressly
authorized in writing by the Company unless and until such
information becomes generally known in the relevant trade to which
it relates without fault on Employee’s part, or as required
by law.
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6.
Termination or Non-Extension by Company Without Just
Cause
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Employee’s employment by the Company is
“at will” with no guaranteed length of time; therefore,
notwithstanding any other provision hereof, the Company may
terminate Employee’s full-time employment at any time either
with or without just cause. In the event of any termination of
Employee’s full-time employment with the Company without just
cause, or in the event that Employee’s full-time employment
is not
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extended or
renewed beyond the Term on terms at least as favorable to Employee
as Employee is receiving during the last year of the Term, then
Employee will remain bound to the covenants not to compete and
confidentiality obligations of paragraphs 4 and 5 of this
Agreement, according to their terms, and, subject to Section 25,
each one of the following shall apply:
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i. Employee
shall be paid a severance amount equal to six (6) months of her
then monthly base salary, paid equally over a period of six (6)
months from such termination, in equal monthly installments and at
the same intervals as other Employees of the Company are then being
paid their base salaries;
ii. Employee
shall continue to receive, during the twelve (12) months from such
termination, all medical insurance and any other benefits (except
for the benefit in paragraph 2(f)(i)) or insurance coverages which
Employee would have received had her employment not been so
terminated, or not extended, provided however, if the Employee is
not eligible for said medical insurance, the Company shall pay the
COBRA premiums for continuation coverage during the said twelve
(12) month period;
iii. Employee
shall receive additional compensation for her covenant not to
compete equal to the average annual bonus which Employee has
received for the three most recent fiscal years during which
Employee was employed, provided however that if Employee has not
been employed for three full fiscal years, then the Company shall
use the actual number of full fiscal years that the Employee was
employed; and if the Employee has not been employed for a full
fiscal year, than the Company shall use the bonus amount, if any,
paid to Employee (but annualized for a full fiscal year) from the
most recent partial fiscal year for which the Employee
was entitled to a bonus under this Agreement, and the amount due
under this paragraph 6(a)(iii) shall be paid in the same intervals
as other Employees of the Company are then being paid their base
salaries;
iv. Notwithstanding
anything else contained herein to the contrary, during the 12-month
period referred to in paragraph 6(a)(ii), Employee shall be
available to perform services as a part-time employee of the
Company and, subject to Employee’s other professional duties,
shall be available to the Chief Financial Officer of the Company,
provided, however, that, for the avoidance of doubt, the Employee
shall perform services during such 12 month period at a level of no
more than 20 percent of the average level of bona fide services the
Employee performed over the immediately preceding 36 month period
such that the Employee shall have incurred
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