Comp/Flex Time

Q: Our company has been providing comp time (flex time) to research associates (even senior ones) who must work an extended work day for experiments. This is not by the employee's choice. However, these are exempt employees. How does your company handle these regularly occurring circumstances?

A: Share your comments!

Vacation/PTO Payouts

Q: We are re-evaluating our vacation policy for all California employees in an effort to be more consistent across the company (and still keeping in compliance with CA laws on vacation/personal time). In the past, our employees have continuously accrued vacation, and then we would do an evaluation at year-end, and any vacation balance above 160 hours would be paid out (allowing them to keep 160 hours on the books). However, this policy is inconsistent with any other site within our organization so we would like to modify it in an effort to stay compliant but also be as consistent across the organization as possible. Given that, I have a few questions:

1. For any other organizations who have sites in multiple states, how are you managing the discrepancy in laws between varying states (in reference to vacation/personal time)?
3. Do you have a maximum vacation accrual amount?
5. Can your employees roll-over or accrue an unlimited number of hours?
7. Do you pay out unused vacation at the end of every year?
9. Do you have the same policy for personal time, or a separate policy for personal time?

A: Thank you to all who participated, your information was extremely valuable in helping us determine how we will handle things going forward. I received a total of 10 responses. If you would like further data or information, please let me know. Here is a synopsis of the findings:

• Of everyone who has responded, no company does a pay out at the end of the year. Instead, companies do have a maximum accrual amount. Once the employees reach the maximum, they could not accrue any more until they used some of the vacation.
• 9 out of 10 companies responded by indicating that their maximum accrual amount was more than their yearly accrual amount. That maximum amount ranged anywhere from 40 hours more than what they could accrue in a year, to double what they can accrue in a year. I should note, one individual responded by letting me know that there is a maximum accrual regulation set by the state of CA indicating that 1.75 times an employees annual accrual was the maximum that could be allowed “on the books.” (Ed. note: The 1.75 times should actually be more of a minimum. Technically, this isn’t a written law, however it is a DLSE opinion and recommendation.)
• As for PTO – everyone who responded indicated that they do not have separate Vacation and Personal accrual allotments, they either have

1. 1 PTO bank that includes vacation/personal/sick
2. A combined accrual for vacation/personal but have a separate bank for sick
3. A vacation accrual, and then a set # of personal days that can only be used for very specific things (ex. 5 days for Jury duty, with proper justification, or 3 days for bereavement leave, with proper justification)

• Lastly, there was one company that indicated that their maximum accrual amounts varied depending upon tenure with the company.

Identity Theft Speakers

Can you recommend other resources for Identity Theft Speakers? (e.g. law enforcement, banks, debt assistance companies, etc.)

Travelers Insurance
Gordon Schmidt, Palomar Investigative Group (866) 931-1300 www.piginc.com

Lamont Siller, FBI Special Agent (858) 499-7692
Darity Wesley www.privacygurus.com

10b5-1 BEDC Survey conducted on 11/24/09

Questions:

• Does your company have a 10b5-1 plan set up for any executive?
• Do you use E*trade or another broker for the transactions?
• What are the trading costs and/or set up costs?

Responses:

1) We are currently considering setting up 10b5-1 plans for interested executives. We use E*trade as our captive broker and the fees for shares sold under a 10b5-1 plan are $.06 per share sold w/ a minimum fee per sale of $29.95. There are no set up fees w/ E*trade. (Optimer)

2) We do set up 10b5-1 plans for executives as well as highly paid employees. This is only for RSUs. We don't use E*trade. I believe we have a $25 fee plus 5 cents per share.

3) We don't have a standard plan. Each plan has to follow the rules and be approved by the Board. We use E*Trade but each executive can transfer their options/shares to their own broker. Unknown trading and/set up costs – paid by exec.

4) We have 10b5-1 plans for some of our officers. Most of the officers used Merrill Lynch which charged an 8% commission (or $0.08 per share).

5) Yes, we have a 10b5-1 for anyone who is subject to frequent black outs (i.e. some Finance people, senior level folks with access to data). We used UBS to set up the plans and administer. E-Trade is the engine. Our standard cost is $.07/share.

6) We allow our executives to set up their own plans which are then 'run’ through our legal dept to insure that it is consistent. We allow any of the broker houses (as the executive is paying for this themselves). The trading costs and/or set up costs are usually $500/year - again paid for by our executive.

Benefit Contribution Survey

Q: In planning for 2010 benefits, it would be helpful to know what other Biotech companies are contributing to employee Medical, Dental and Vision. Questions asked included:
Private or Public:
Size company:
Company % contribution to benefits for
Medical employee Only:
Dental employee Only:
Vision employee Only:
Medical dependants:
Dental dependants:
Vision dependants:
To see the responses download the Benefit Contribution Survey.