A legal tug-of-war over Microsoft Canada’s stock agreement has resulted in a victory for employers, but may still result in changes over how share-purchase agreements are communicated with employees.
In October, the Ontario Court of Appeal threw out a previous decision requiring companies to clearly highlight termination language in their stock agreements or risk having to pay out damages to ex-employees.
Microsoft has won out in a legal fight with a former employee about whether it adequately warned him about the fate of his stock award before firing him. The closely watched employment lawsuit has put both workers and employers on guard when discussing stock agreements.
While that earlier decision had been considered a win for workers, the latest ruling may “kill” the cases of workers who tried to challenge their own stock plans and terminations over the past year, according to Rishi Bandhu, the principal lawyer at Bandhu Law Professional Corporation.
The lawsuit focused on the severance package of nearly 23-year Microsoft veteran employee Fransic Battiston. About 30 per cent of his pay came out of merit increases, cash bonuses and stock awards under Microsoft’s rewards policy.
According to court filings, Battiston was considered a good performer by his managers and moved up the ranks in the company up until 2017, when over the course of the next year, a new manager based in Germany got some negative feedback that Battiston wasn’t taking...
Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe LLP reminds Five9, Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVN) investors that the firm is investigating potential wrongdoing at the company following a 26% stock drop and court ruling that ...