The Obama administration has appointed Kenneth R. Feinberg Compensation Czar; giving him the responsibility of setting the salaries for 175 executives at the nation’s seven largest companies who received government bailout funds.

As one of the main clauses in an executive employment agreement, having the salary set by a government official will affect negotiations for both the employees and employers in these top companies. Many of these corporations are wondering just how far into their executive employment agreements and workings the government intends to intrude upon.

An Executive Employment Agreement is a legal document entered into between an employer and an employee at the commencement of the period of employment and stating the exact nature of their business relationship, specifically what compensation the employee will receive in exchange for specific work performed.

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Italy’s largest car manufacturer, Fiat, has purchased a commanding share of the Chrysler Group LLC utilizing an asset purchase agreement. Retaining the largest percentage of the Chrysler Group LLC over Fiat is the United Auto Workers’ retiree healthcare trust fund. The completion of the asset purchase agreement between Fiat and Chrysler makes the joint operation the sixth largest carmaker in the world.

An Asset Purchase Agreement is a legal document involved in the purchase of all or some of the assets of one entity by another.

RealDealDocs.com is the online legal document resource preferred by lawyers, deal professionals and entrepreneurs. The powerful search functionality is easy to use which is just one of the reasons 40 of the top 200 law firms in the world use it.

The contracts, agreements and clauses available at RealDealDocs.com are the actual legal documents used by both the smallest of small capital companies as well as Fortune 500 companies alike. RealDealDocs.com helps to cut drafting time in half and provides unprecedented insight into the deal structures of the world’s largest companies. The legal documents may be searched for by category, law firm, parties involved or by the state of the governing law. Visitors can search the extensive RealDealDocs.com database absolutely free and members of the site may also download, copy, edit and print unlimited legal documents for their own personal or business use. Visit RealDealDocs.com for more information, membership options, and free legal document searches.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com. SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

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Chances are, if you had never heard of an Employee Bonus Agreement before the beginning of 2009, you have now. The infamous bonus agreements dished out by AIG have been front page news, but what exactly is an employee bonus agreement and why are they sometimes so controversial?

The root of that explanation lies in the fact that bonus agreements are created, issued and signed at the time an employee is hired. In the case of AIG, a government bailout like the one that occurred was not foreseen so language specifically related to an outcome such as that was never written into the contract. AIG had their legal hands tied and the bonuses were, for the most part, still paid, although some were later returned by good-hearted employees.

In general, an employee bonus agreement is a straight forward and very brief document. They begin by stating the name of the company and the name of the individual employee (or group of employees) that the document covers. The first proper section of the agreement spells out what the bonuses are and under what circumstance they can be earned. This section can either be quite short, if the bonuses are straight forward and automatic, or it can be quite lengthy if there are several strings attached. Some bonus contracts than have sections that spell out how the bonuses are paid (cash, stock, other assets) and when they are paid. One section that every agreement like this has is a part on termination. In some cases, termination prior to the completion of the requirements to receive a bonus can result in a complete forfeit of any bonus monies, but other contracts are pro-rated and you receive a percentage of your bonus based on what percentage of your goal you obtained before your dismissal. There is also a separate section stating how the company in question is obligated to notify you of your termination.

The final part of the contract often spells out what sort of tax obligation the employee would have for their bonuses, what kind of severance package a terminated employee would receive and if amendments to the initial agreement are allowed or not. Overall, an agreement such as this is very straight forward and quite simple to write, read and follow. However, as was seen in the recent AIG bailout, these simple documents can make a huge impact on the way a company does business.

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The employee bonus policy that allowed $165 million in bailout funds to be doled out to AIG executives posed a legal quandry for the Obama Administration. The AIG employee bonus policies were indeed legall binding agreements and thus could not be taken away from the corporate executives.

In answer to the demands of government and taxpayer alike who were outraged at this prosectof employee bonus policy that could not be stopped, the Democratic-led House proposed and recently passed a vote to implement high taxes on those who benefited from the AIG employee bonus policy.

The Associated Press explains that the, “bill would impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses given to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at American International Group and other companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.”

It would appear under this taxation that the remainder of funds from the employee bonus policy will then be taken by local and state governments, thereby nullifying all of the bonus pay.

To read over what is pertained in a typical employee bonus policy and see why and how it is a legally binding contract, visit a legal document resource, like the RealDealDocs.com webiste, where actual execution copies of top corporations are available.

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The auto industry is in some serious trouble and bankruptcies are a definite possibility. Attorneys speculate that General Motors Corp. may be heading down that dark road, resulting in legal fights about union issues and consumer warranties.

“If a General Motors bankruptcy leads to manufacturing plant closings or a scaling back of production, a wave of bankruptcies is likely to follow,” reported lawyers.

According to Evan D. Flaschen, a Hartford, Conn., partner at Houston’s Bracewell & Giuliani, “the ripples will be profound.”

With the big auto industry financial disaster, small businesses will feel the effects. Those who sell products and services to the big guys including restaurants and corner stores will suffer greatly.

Stated The National Law Journal, “after the U.S. Senate on Dec. 11 failed to approve a $14 billion automobile industry bailout approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 10, the White House hinted that it may consider using the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which could funnel up to $700 billion to financial firms under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.”

Stay tuned…

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