Exhibit 10.15
Employment
Agreement
This Employment Agreement (this
“ Agreement ”) is dated as of July 14,
2009, and is made by and between InfrastruX Group, Inc., a
Washington corporation (“ Employer ”) and
Stanley B. Klimberg (“ Employee ”).
W I T N E S
S E T H :
WHEREAS, Employer has extended an
offer of employment to Employee; and
WHEREAS, Employer and Employee each
have determined that it is desirable to enter into this Agreement
pursuant to which Employer agrees to employ the Employee and
Employee agrees to provide services to the Employer upon the terms
and conditions set forth herein; and
A G R E E M
E N T S :
NOW, THEREFORE, for and in
consideration of the foregoing premises and for other good and
valuable consideration, the sufficiency and receipt of which are
hereby acknowledged, Employer and Employee hereby agree as
follows:
This agreement shall be effective as
of the start date of employment of July 14, 2009.
Employer will employ Employee and
Employee agrees to employment with Employer as its Senior Vice
President and General Counsel. Employee will have the authority and
will perform the duties customarily performed by the General
Counsel of a corporation which is similar to Employer and such
other executive duties as may be reasonably assigned from time to
time by the Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors of
Employer (the “Board”), which relate to the business of
Employer, its subsidiaries, or any business ventures in which
Employer or its subsidiaries may participate. Employee shall report
directly to the Chief Executive Officer and the Board.
Employee will devote his full
business time, ability, attention and effort to Employer’s
business and will skillfully serve its interests during the term of
this Agreement; provided , however , that Employee
may devote reasonable periods of time to (a) engaging in
personal investment activities that do not involve Employee
providing advice or services to the business in which the
investments are made, (b) serving on the Board of Directors of
other corporations, or engaging in other business activities, if
such service would not otherwise be prohibited by Section 9 or
10 hereof, and (c) engaging in charitable or community service
activities, so long as none of the foregoing additional activities
in (a) through (c) materially interfere with
Employee’s duties under this Agreement.
Unless otherwise terminated pursuant
to Section 7, Employee’s term of employment under this
Agreement shall expire on the second anniversary of the date of
this Agreement (“ Expiration Date ”). This
Agreement shall automatically be renewed for successive one-year
terms unless the party wishing to terminate this Agreement does so
by providing written notice to the other party no less than six
(6) months prior to the Expiration Date. Upon renewal of this
Agreement, the term “Expiration Date” will refer to the
end of the one-year renewal period.
During the term of this Agreement,
Employer agrees to pay or cause to be paid to Employee, and
Employee agrees to accept in exchange for the services rendered
hereunder by him, the following compensation:
Employee’s compensation shall
consist, in part, of an annual base salary of $275,000 (the “
Base Salary ”) before all customary payroll
deductions. Such annual base salary shall be paid in substantially
equal installments and at the same intervals as other officers of
Employer are paid. The Board (or a committee thereof) shall review
the Employee’s Base Salary annually and will determine any
increases in the amount of the annual base salary in future
years.
Employee shall be eligible to earn,
in addition to the Base Salary, an annual cash bonus in an amount
to be determined by the Employer each year, which bonus shall be
based upon performance criteria and corporate objectives to be
established from time to time by the Board. The target bonus for
achieving target objectives will be 40% of Employee’s annual
Base Salary.
The Board shall grant Employee, in
its normal course, 100,000 stock appreciation rights of the
Employer on a fully diluted basis on the date of this Agreement
under the terms of Employer’s 2007 Equity Incentive Plan.
Such grants shall be subject to the vesting and exercise provisions
set forth in the 2007 Equity Incentive Plan and the award
document.
During the term of this Agreement,
Employee will be entitled to participate in all benefit programs as
shall be provided or offered from time to time to senior
executive-level employees of Employer, subject to and in accordance
with applicable eligibility requirements.
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Employment of Employee pursuant to
this Agreement may be terminated as follows:
With or without Cause (as defined
below), Employer may terminate the employment of Employee at any
time during the term of employment by giving written notice to
Employee. The notice shall be effective immediately if termination
is for Cause and sixty (60) days later if termination is not
for Cause.
Employee may terminate his
employment at any time, for any reason, upon giving sixty
(60) days’ prior written notice.
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7.3
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Automatic
Termination
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Employee’s employment
hereunder shall terminate automatically upon the death or total
disability of Employee. The term “ total disability
” as used herein shall mean a long-term disability that
entitles Employee to receive long-term disability benefits under
the Employer’s long-term disability plan or policy applicable
to Employee, or in the absence of such a plan or policy the
Employee’s inability to perform the duties set forth in
Section 2 hereof for a period or periods constituting ninety
(90) consecutive calendar days as a result of physical or
mental illness, loss of legal capacity or any other cause beyond
Employee’s control, unless Employee is granted a leave of
absence by the Board. Termination hereunder shall be deemed to be
effective (a) at the end of the calendar month in which
Employee’s death occurs or (b) immediately upon a
determination by the Board of Employee’s total disability, as
defined herein.
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In the event of termination of the
employment of Employee, all compensation and benefits set forth in
this Agreement shall terminate except as specifically provided in
this Section 8:
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8.1
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Termination
by Employer
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If Employer terminates
Employee’s employment without Cause prior to the Expiration
Date, Employee shall be entitled to receive Termination Payments
(a) equal to one year of Base Salary, (b) any unpaid Base
Salary which has accrued for services already performed as of the
date of termination (“Termination Date”) and any
accrued, unused vacation, and (c) unpaid bonus from prior year
and unpaid bonus for current year equal to target bonus amount pro
rata to the date of termination. If Employee is terminated by
Employer for Cause (as defined in Section 8.4 below), Employee
shall not be entitled to receive any of the foregoing benefits,
other than those set forth in clause (b) above.
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8.2
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Termination
by Employee
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(a) If Employee resigns for Good
Reason prior to the Expiration Date, Employee shall be entitled to
receive the same termination payments and unpaid annual base salary
as provided for in Section 8.1 for a termination without
Cause. “ Good Reason ” means only any one or
more of the following: (1) material breach by Employer of this
Agreement, and its failure to cure such breach within thirty
(30) days after written notice from Employee to Employer
specifying in reasonable detail the alleged breach;
(2) reduction, without Employee’s consent, of
Employee’s salary or reduction or elimination of any
compensation or benefit plan benefiting Employee, unless the
reduction or elimination of such benefit plan is generally
applicable to all senior executive-level employees (or employees of
a successor or controlling entity of Employer) and unless Employer
reinstates the compensation or benefit within thirty (30) days
after written notice from Employee; (3) assignment to
Employee, without his consent, of duties materially inconsistent
with Employee’s position, authority, duties or
responsibilities as contemplated by Sections 2 and 3 hereof (or
such higher level of position, authority, duties or
responsibilities as are subsequently assigned to Employee), which
results in a material diminution in such position, authority,
duties or responsibilities; or (4) involuntary relocation of
Employee’s primary work location by more than forty-five
(45) miles from Employee’s current work
location.
(b) In the case of the termination
of Employee’s employment by Employee for other than Good
Reason, Employee shall not be entitled to any payments hereunder,
other than those set forth in clause (b) of Section 8.1
hereof.
All payments under this
Section 8 shall be made to Employee at the same interval as
payments of salary were made to Employee immediately prior to
termination.
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Wherever reference is made in this
Agreement to termination being with or without Cause, “
Cause ” shall mean:
(a) willful misconduct on the part
of Employee that has a material adverse effect on Employer and its
subsidiaries, taken as a whole;
(b) Employee’s engaging in
(i) conduct which could reasonably result in his conviction of
a felony or a crime against Employer (ii) conduct involving
fraud or moral turpitude, or (iii) substance abuse or other
misconduct which would materially compromise Employer’s
reputation or Employee’s ability to perform his
duties;
(c) unreasonable refusal by Employee
to perform the duties and responsibilities of his position in any
material respect, unless Employee cures the refusal within thirty
(30) days after receipt of written notice specifying in reasonable
detail the duties and responsibilities not being performed;
or
(d) violation of the covenants set
forth in Section 10 hereof.
No action, or failure to act, shall
be considered willful or unreasonable if the Employee did it in
good faith and with the reasonable belief that his action or
omission was in the best interests of Employer as determined by
Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors.
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9.
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RECORDS AND
CONFIDENTIAL DATA
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The Employee acknowledges that, in
connection with the performance of his duties for the Employer as
an employee under the terms of this Agreement, that the Employer
has made and will make available to the Employee, or the Employee
will have access to, certain Confidential Information of the
Employer and its affiliates. The Employee acknowledges and agrees
that any and all Confidential Information learned or obtained by
the Employee during the course of the Employee’s employment
by the Employer or otherwise (including, without limitation,
information that the Employee obtained through or in connection
with the Employee’s employment with the Employer prior to the
date hereof) whether developed by the Employee alone or in
conjunction with others or otherwise, shall be and is the property
of the Employer and its affiliates.
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9.2
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Confidentiality Obligations.
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The Employee shall at all times keep
all Confidential Information confidential and will not use such
Confidential Information other than in connection with the
Employee’s discharge of the Employee’s duties
hereunder, and will use reasonable efforts to safeguard the
Confidential Information from unauthorized disclosure. This
covenant is not intended to, and does not limit in any way the
Employee’s duties and obligations to the Employer under
statutory and common law not to disclose or make personal use of
the Confidential Information or trade secrets.
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9.3
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Return of
Confidential Information
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Prom