Employment, Pensions and Benefits: Benefits and Reward Practice

The issue of how to properly reward and motivate management and staff at all levels whilst satisfying other key stakeholders is one which concerns most organisations, and market conditions may mean that people can make the difference between success and failure. With the increasing globalisation of business, and the consequent increasing international mobility of executives and staff, the issues can become particularly complex as a result of the different labour, tax, social security and regulatory environments which apply in different jurisdictions. DLA Piper offers an integrated, multi-disciplinary and business-orientated solution to these challenges.

Our international Benefits and Reward team comprises lawyers and tax advisers who have considerable experience in developing and implementing cost-efficient compensation arrangements and stock-based incentive schemes tailored to each client's unique human resource and corporate strategy.

We provide our clients, both national and multi-national, with advice on a range of cross-border issues which arise in relation to compensation and benefits, including:

• on executive and employee cross-border secondments including residency issues, split and dual contracts and equalisation and other expat arrangements
• on local tax and social security compliance, which can be particularly complex in relation to internationally mobile employees, and in respect of share incentives and pension schemes in particular
• where compensation takes the form of share-based remuneration, advising on local securities law compliance, including what registration and/or filing requirements apply in the relevant jurisdiction(s), whether any exemptions are available, and assistance with filing where this is necessary
• the tax, legal and regulatory aspects of extending employee incentive arrangements globally, including transfer pricing issues
• dealing with pensions issues, advising corporate and trustees in respect of pension scheme arrangements for locally based employees as well as for those who are internationally mobile
  assisting in the labour, tax and social security aspects of outsourcing and insourcing projects, and
• in relation to M&A activity (including restructurings and corporate relocations), carrying out national and international due diligence in relation to employment and compensation arrangements, advising on employment and pensions implications of different M&A transactions, and assisting in the post-transaction integration of different compensation arrangements.

Publications

Please see our:

• EMEA Benefits and Reward Tax Services Newsletter
• Global Equity Desk Reference series, designed to help multinational companies implement their equity compensation programs
• Global Equity Compensation Alerts
• UK Pensions Alerts

Awards

• EMEA tax team awarded 'Best Newcomer of the Year in Europe' award at the International Tax Review Awards 2010
• Shortlisted for the 'European Pensions Law Firm of the Year' Award 2010
• Awarded the 'Law Firm of the Year', Global Pensions Awards 2007