ex10-1



 



EXHIBIT 10.1







CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT



(Including particulars of terms of employment

required by the Employment Rights Act 1996)


EMPLOYER uDate.Com Limited of New Enterprise House, St Helens Street, Derby,
DE1 3GY (“the Company”)


EMPLOYEE Allan Watson of 200 Broadway, Derby, DE22 1BP



	1.	 	Commencement of employment




	 	 	 
	1.1	 	
Your employment with the Company will begin on 2nd December
2000 which will be the date of commencement of your period of
continuous employment.
	 
	1.2	 	
You are employed as VP Corporate Finance.




	2.	 	Duties




	 	 	 
	2.1	 	
You will carry out such duties and comply with such
instructions consistent with your position and status as the Company
reasonably determines from time to time.
	 
	2.1.1	 	
You will report in the short term to The Executive Vice
President or such other person as the company may decide is
appropriate.



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	3.	 	Place of work
	 
	 	 	Your place of work will be the Company’s offices at New Enterprise House,
St Helens Street, Derby but you may be required to work at any other
location in the United Kingdom and it is a condition of your employment
that you comply with any such requirement. You are not currently
required to work outside the United Kingdom other than business trips in
the course of your duties.
	 
	4.	 	Remuneration




	 	 	 
	4.1	 	
Your basic salary will be £77,000 per annum that is payable
monthly in arrears on the sixth day of each month.
	 
	4.2	 	
You will be entitled to receive a bonus that will be
calculated at 25% of salary subject to terms and conditions to be
agreed between the parties within three months of the date of
commencement of your employment.
	 
	4.3	 	
You will be entitled to receive a Motor Car Allowance of
£12,000 per annum payable with salary each month. The allowance is
to enable you to purchase or lease a motor vehicle for business and
private use, such vehicle to be approved by the Company as suitably
commensurate with your status. The allowance will also cover the
cost of road fund licence, insurance premiums and running expenses
in respect of the motor car including private fuel, oil, maintenance
and repairs.



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	5.	 	Expenses
	 
	 	 	If you incur travelling expenses (other than travel to and from work),
accommodation or other expenses in the course of carrying out your
duties, you will be reimbursed for these by the Company on production of
appropriate vouchers or receipts.
	 
	6.	 	Hours of work




	 	 	 
	6.1	 	
Your normal hours of work are from 9.00am until 5.00pm Monday
to Friday inclusive with a one hour break for lunch to be taken
between 1.00pm and 2.00pm.
	 
	6.2	 	
You will be required to work such additional hours as may be
necessary for the proper performance of your duties, for which you
will receive no additional payment.




	7.	 	Holidays and holiday pay




	 	 	 
	7.1	 	
You are entitled, in addition to the usual bank and public
holidays, to 20 working days’ paid holiday in each calendar year of
employment. Where you are employed for part of a calendar year
only — either on commencement or termination of your employment -
you will be entitled to paid holiday pro rata to the number of
complete calendar months worked by you in the relevant calendar
year. The dates of your holiday must be approved beforehand by your
Manager. Unused holiday entitlement may not be carried forward to
the next year without the written permission of your manager.
	 
	7.2	 	
On the termination of your employment, where you have taken
more or less than your holiday entitlement as calculated above, an
adjustment based on your normal



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rate of pay will be made in your final pay. The adjustment will be
either by way of deduction if you have taken more than your
entitlement, or by way of an additional payment where you have
taken less than your entitlement, calculated on a pro rata basis by
reference to the number of days’ holiday in respect of which such
adjustment is made.




	8.	 	Sickness and sick pay




	 	 	 
	8.1	 	
If you are absent from work due to illness or injury or for
any other reason you must let the Company know by 10.30am on your
first day of absence that you will be unable to attend. You must
also keep the Company advised regularly if you continue to be absent
and of your likely return date. If you are absent due to sickness
or injury for one day or more, immediately you return to work you
must obtain and complete a sickness self-certification and submit it
to your manager.
	 
	8.2	 	
If you are absent for more than seven consecutive days
(including Saturdays and Sundays) due to illness or injury you must
obtain a doctor’s certificate where appropriate at your own expense
and give or send it immediately to your manager. Thereafter any
further absence must continue to be supported by doctor’s
certificates.
	 
	8.3	 	
Failure to comply with the above procedures will result in
the loss of the discretionary element of Company sick pay (referred
to below) and may also disqualify you from receiving Statutory Sick
Pay (“SSP”). For the avoidance of doubt the Company will be
entitled to terminate your employment in accordance



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with the terms of this Contract (whether with or without notice as
appropriate in the circumstances) during any period of sickness
absence.




	 	 	 
	8.3.1	 	
Provided that you have complied with the requirements above,
the Company will continue to pay you at your normal rate of pay
during any unavoidable absence through sickness or injury (whether
continuous or intermittent) up to a maximum, in any period of 12
consecutive months, of four weeks at full pay, thereafter at the
discretion of the Company.
	 
	 	 	
Any payment made to you under this provision will include any
entitlement that you may have to receive SSP from the Company.
Company sick pay will be reduced by the amount of any Social
Security benefits recoverable by you (whether or not recovered)
in respect of your illness or injury.
	 
	9.4	 	
Your “qualifying days” for SSP purposes are Monday to Friday
(inclusive)




	9.	 	Pension and other benefits




	 	 	 
	10.1	 	
There is no Company pension scheme and no contracting out
certificate has been obtained in respect of your employment.
	 
	10.2	 	
You will be eligible for immediate insurance cover under the
Company’s life assurance scheme, (or any other scheme providing an
equivalent benefit) subject to the rules of the scheme from time to
time and such evidence of health as such insurance company may
require.
	 
	10.3	 	
You will be eligible for immediate medical expenses insurance
and permanent health insurance.



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	10.	 	Share Option Scheme
	 
	 	 	You may be invited to participate in the Company’s Share Option Scheme
(“the Share Option Scheme”) in accordance with its rules from time to
time (“the Rules”).
	 
	11.	 	Confidentiality




	 	 	 
	11.1	 	
In the ordinary course of your employment you will be exposed
to information about the business of the Company and the Group, the
suppliers and customers of the Company and the Group which is
confidential or is commercially sensitive and which may not be
readily available to competitors or the general public and which if
disclosed will be liable to cause significant harm to the Company or
the Group.
	 
	11.2	 	
You must not whether during or after your employment, except
as authorised or required by your duties as an employee of the
Company, reveal to any person, firm, company or organisation or
otherwise make use of any of the trade secrets, secret or
confidential operations, processes or dealings or any information
(other than that within the public domain) concerning the
organisation, business, finances, transactions or affairs of the
Company or any Group company (including lists of the customers or
clients) of the Company or of any such company which may come to
your knowledge during your employment. Nothing in this clause will
prevent you from disclosing information to comply with a Court Order
or perform any statutory obligation on you to do so.



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	13.	 	Activities during your employment
	 
	 	 	You will not during your employment, except with the written consent of
the Company, be directly or indirectly engaged, concerned or interested
in any other trade, business or occupation whatsoever. Further, you
must not during your employment except with the Company’s written
consent, introduce to any other competing business orders for goods or
services with which the Company is able to deal.
	 
	14.	 	Disciplinary and grievance procedure




	 	 	 
	14.1	 	
The Company does not operate a formal disciplinary procedure
which is applicable to your employment. If you have any grievance
in relation to your employment you should raise it with your manager
in writing. If the matter is not resolved you may then take it up
in writing with the Chief Executive Officer whose decision will be
final.




	15.	 	Termination of employment




	 	 	 
	15.1	 	
Subject as follows the Company can terminate your employment
at any time by giving you one calendar month’s written notice.
	 
	15.2	 	
You may terminate your employment at any time by giving the
Company at least one calendar month’s written notice.
	 
	15.3	 	
The Company has the right to terminate your employment
without notice if you breach the terms and conditions of your
employment and/or in the case of gross misconduct. Gross misconduct
includes (but is not limited to) dishonesty, fraud, insider dealing,
breach of company confidentiality, pilferage, being under



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the influence of alcohol or prescribed drugs or other substances
at work, flagrant disobedience of reasonable orders from
superiors, causing actual or threatening physical harm,
harassment (sexual racial or by reason of another’s disability)
and causing damage to Company property.




	16.	 	Company property
	 
	 	 	On request and in any event on termination of your employment for any
reason you are required to return to the Company all company property
including any company car, company credit or charge cards, your security
pass, all keys, computer hard and software including discs and all
documents in whatever form (including notes and minutes of meetings,
customer lists, diaries and address books, computer printouts, plans,
projections) together with all copies which are in your possession or
under your control. The ownership of all such property and documents will
at all time remain vested in the Company.
	 
	17.	 	Normal retirement age
	 
	 	 	Your normal retirement age is 65 years and your employment will
automatically terminate when you reach this age.
	 
	18.	 	Deductions
	 
	 	 	You hereby authorise the Company to deduct from your pay (including
holiday pay, sick pay, bonus or commission and pay in lieu of notice) any
amounts which are owed by you to the Company or any other company in the
Group (including any season ticket or other loans, travel allowance,
expenses float or relocation assistance ).



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	19.	 	Rules, policies, procedures
	 
	 	 	You must comply at all times with the Company’s rules and procedures
relating to equal opportunities, harassment, health and safety,
compliance, external interests and all other rules and procedures
introduced by the Company from time to time. Copies of all rules,
policies and procedures can be obtained from the Company Secretary. For
the avoidance of doubt such rules, policies and procedures are not
incorporated by reference into this Contract and they can be changed,
replaced or withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the Company.
Breach of any Company rules, policies or procedures may result in
disciplinary action.
	 
	20.	 	Entire agreement
	 
	 	 	This Contract contains the entire and only agreement between us and
supersedes all previous agreements between you and the Company, except
for the agreement to be reached between the parties concerning the terms
and conditions relating to your entitlement to a bonus payment.



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	21.	 	Meaning of words used
	 
	 	 	In this Contract “Group” means the Company any holding company of the
Company for the time being and any subsidiary (as defined in Section 736
of the Companies Act 1985) for the time being of the Company or its
holding company and “Group company” means any company in the Group.



Signed on behalf of the Company by


Date   December 4, 2000


I understand and agree to the terms and conditions of my Contract of Employment
as set out above.



  

  
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
	Employee’s signature
   /s/ Allan Watson	 	
Date   December 4, 2000






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