SEC Contract Filing

Filing Date: 2021-11-10

Document Content:
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<TYPE>EX-10.8
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<FILENAME>exhibit10-8.htm
<DESCRIPTION>EXHIBIT 10.8
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 <title>SunOpta Inc.: Exhibit 10.8 - Filed by newsfilecorp.com</title>
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 <p style="text-align: center;"><font style="font-size: 24pt;"><b>2021 </b></font></p>
 <p style="text-align: center;"><b><font style="font-size: 24pt;">Short Term Incentive Plan</font> </b></p>
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 <p style="text-align: center;"><b>2021 SHORT TERM INCENTIVE PLAN</b></p>
 <p style="text-align: justify;">The following are the terms of the SunOpta Inc. (the "<b>Company</b>") 2021 Short Term Incentive Plan (the "<b>STIP</b>" or "<b>Plan</b>") for certain employees of the Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates. References to the "<b>Company</b>" shall be deemed to refer instead to a subsidiary or affiliate as the context requires for a particular employee, employed by such subsidiary or affiliate.</p>
 <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt; text-align: justify;">1.<font style="width: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0pt; display: inline-block;">&#160;</font><u>Purpose</u>.</p>
 <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;">The purpose of the STIP is to establish goal alignment across the Company and recognize individual impact on organizational performance. The STIP is designed to focus employees on desired behaviors and link the short-term incentive with demonstrated results.</p>
 <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt; text-align: justify;">2.<font style="width: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0pt; display: inline-block;">&#160;</font><u>Eligibility</u>.</p>
 <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;">Participation of the Company's employees in the STIP will be determined by the Company in its sole discretion, and employment by the Company does not automatically entitle an employee to participate. Eligibility for the STIP is limited to regular full-time employees of the Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates who are part of the office job grade structure as determined by the Company (collectively, the "<b>Employees</b>" or "<b>Participants</b>"). Newly hired Employees who meet the criteria for participation are eligible to earn a pro-rated bonus based on their date of hire through the end of the applicable fiscal year, except that employees hired after October 31<sup>st</sup> of fiscal year 2021 will not be eligible to participate in the STIP until the following fiscal year.</p>
 <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;">For 2021, the STIP program will consist of one company plan. Participants in the plan will be assigned into one of two groups.&#160; Participants with a job grade of 17-25 will be assigned to an equity group that will be granted Performance Share Units (PSUs) in March 2021, with a 1-year vesting period.&#160; The percentage of shares that vest will be determined by 2021 Adjusted EBITDA, noted in the payout tables below.&#160; Participants in job grades 11-16 will be assigned to a cash group.&#160; The cash group will receive their STIP payout (if earned) via a cash payment made through payroll, in March or April 2021. Participants must be employed at the time of the bonus payout or share vesting to receive it, except as provided in Section 11 or as otherwise required by law.</p>
 <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt; text-align: justify;">3.<font style="width: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0pt; display: inline-block;">&#160;</font><u>Target Bonus</u>.</p>
 <p style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;">The Company will assign to each Participant a target bonus expressed as a percentage of the Participant's earnings during the fiscal year as calculated by the Company. For this purpose, earnings refer to the base salary for exempt Employees. For non-exempt Employees earnings are regular, PTO, overtime, or double time earnings paid during the year. In the event an Employee experiences a change in position or target percentage during the year, a manual prorated calculation will be administered. The target bonus percentage varies by level of responsibility within the Company. The Human Resources Department maintains the list of Participants and their target bonus percentages. Target bonus percentages for executive officers and other Participants who are members of the "<b>Senior Leadership Team</b>" as identified by the Compensation Committee of the Company's Board of Directors (the "<b>Compensation Committee</b>") will be established by the Compensation Committee. For cash Participants, the target bonus for each Participant (the "<b>Target Bonus</b>") is determined by multiplying the Employee's earnings during the fiscal year by the target bonus percentage.&#160; For equity Participants, the Target Bonus for each Participant is determined by multiplying the Employee's base salary as of the beginning of the fiscal year by the target bonus percentage.&#160; For Equity Participants who receive a STIP target change during the year, due to promotion or other reasoning, their Performance Shares will be pro-rated to account for the change in targ