The named executive officers do not have any privileges of a stockholder of the company with respect to any RSUs, including any right to vote any shares underlying the RSUs or to receive dividends or other distributions; provided that, if the company declares any dividend while the RSUs are outstanding, the holder will be credited a dividend equivalent, which will be subject to the same vesting conditions applicable to the RSU and will vest only if the RSU vests and will be forfeited if the RSU is forfeited. Any such dividend equivalents will be settled and paid to the holder following the date on which the RSU vests. All RSUs may be settled in cash or our common stock.
In addition to the RSU awards granted as of July 1, 2021, Mr. Savarino was granted an additional 9,734 time-based RSUs and 14,602 performance-based RSUs on October 1, 2021 in connection with his promotion from Vice President and Chief Accounting & Tax Officer to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on September 20, 2021. The RSUs granted on October 1, 2021 are subject to the same vesting and other terms as his time-based and performance-based RSUs granted as of July 1, 2021.
Personal Benefits, Perquisites and Employee Benefits
We do not offer many perquisites traditionally offered to executives of
similarly-sized
companies. Perquisites and any other similar personal benefits generally offered to our executive officers are substantially the same as those generally available on a
non-discriminatory
basis to all of our full-time salaried employees, such as medical and dental insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, a 401(k) plan with a company match (which match was suspended from November 1, 2020 until January 1, 2022 and then resumed at a lower matching rate) and other customary employee benefits. We make contributions for group term life insurance, spouse/dependent life insurance, and long-term disability insurance for our employees, including our named executive officers, as indicated in the
2021 Summary Compensation Table
below. Business-related relocation benefits may be reimbursed on a
basis.
We maintain a defined contribution plan (which we refer to as our Retirement Plan) designed to qualify under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (which, together with the regulations promulgated thereunder, we refer to as the Code). Pursuant to our Retirement Plan, in 2020 we matched 100% of the first 5% of each participant’s compensation contributed until November 1, 2020, when we discontinued the company match until January 1, 2022 in order to reduce costs. When we resumed the company match, we matched 50% of the first 6% of each participant’s compensation contributed. In addition, under our Amended and Restated Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (which we refer to as our SERP), in past years we have contributed to participants any portion of the applicable percentage of the base salary contribution and the matching contribution that cannot be contributed under the Retirement Plan because of the limitations within the Code. Participants in this plan are a select group of our management or highly compensated employees, including the named executive officers, and are fully vested in all amounts paid into the plan. As a result of our chapter 11 reorganization, we did not contribute any amounts into our SERP during 2020 or 2021 and to date have not resumed contributions to our SERP.
Walkaway Severance Plan
. As agreed to and in accordance with our Joint Plan, on April 23, 2021 the Board approved and adopted the Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. Severance Plan (which we refer to as the Walkaway Severance Plan) providing for protection for loss of salary and benefits in the event of certain involuntary terminations of employment for eight key employees, including the named executive officers other than Mr. Edwards and Mr. Wolford, to assist our company in retaining an intact management team.
The Walkaway Severance Plan provided that if an eligible participant’s employment was terminated by our company without “cause” (as defined in the Walkaway Severance Plan) on or before August 21, 2021 or terminated due to the participant’s voluntary resignation between August 21, 2021 and September 20, 2021, the participant would be eligible to receive a
lump-sum
cash payment in an amount equal to the sum of the participant’s annual base salary and the participant’s annual target bonus and, subject to the participant’s election of continuation of health care coverage pursuant to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (or COBRA), we would pay the full cost of the participant’s COBRA premiums for 12 months from the date of the termination. Receipt of severance benefits under the Walkaway Severance Plan would be subject to the participant’s execution of a release of any claims against our company and agreement with restrictive covenants, including
non-competition
and
non-solicitation
covenants.
On September 17, 2021, Mr. Woll resigned from our company and collected benefits under the Walkaway Severance Plan, and on September 20, 2021, Mr. Kornblau resigned and collected benefits under the plan. See “
Potential Payments Upon Termination or Change in Control – Former Executive Officers
” below.
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