SEC Contract Filing

Filing Date: 2023-10-27

Document Content:
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>EX-10.1
<SEQUENCE>2
<FILENAME>essexseparationagreementan.htm
<DESCRIPTION>EX-10.1
<TEXT>
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<title>Document</title></head><body><div id="i69ae9e33506046f290c61fb6aacb4b81_1"></div><div style="min-height:72pt;width:100%"><div style="margin-bottom:0.12pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:0.36pt"><font><br></font></div></div><div style="margin-bottom:12pt;text-align:center;text-indent:36pt"><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:700;line-height:100%;text-decoration:underline">SEPARATION AGREEMENT AND RELEASE</font></div><div style="margin-bottom:12pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">This SEPARATION AGREEMENT AND RELEASE (&#8220;Agreement&#8221;) is made between Essex Property Trust, Inc., as well as its past and present parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, predecessors, agents, directors and officers, shareholders, and estates (collectively referenced herein as &#8220;Essex&#8221;) and Adam W. Berry (&#8220;Employee&#8221;) (collectively, &#8220;Parties&#8221; or individually &#8220;Party&#8221;). </font></div><div style="margin-bottom:12pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">NOW, THEREFORE, for the consideration set forth herein, the Parties hereby agree as follows&#58;</font></div><div style="margin-bottom:12pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">1.</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%;padding-left:27pt;text-decoration:underline">Termination of Employment</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">. </font></div><div style="margin-bottom:12pt;padding-left:72pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:-18pt"><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">a.</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%;padding-left:9.68pt;text-decoration:underline">Termination Date</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">. The Parties mutually agree that as of </font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:700;line-height:100%">August 31, 2023</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%"> the Employee&#8217;s employment shall be terminated (the &#8220;Termination Date&#8221;). Employee will be paid all final wages on his Termination Date.</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:10pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%"> </font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">Except as set forth in Section 1(b), Employee hereby confirms his termination from all positions he held with Essex and any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, including his position as an officer of Essex and any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, effective as of the Termination Date.</font></div><div style="margin-bottom:12pt;padding-left:72pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:-18pt"><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">b.</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%;padding-left:9pt;text-decoration:underline">Consulting Period</font><font style="color:#000000;font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif;font-size:12pt;font-weight:400;line-height:100%">. During the period commencing on the Termination Date and ending on December 31, 2023 (the &#8220;Consulting Period&#8221;), Employee shall provide such consulting services to Essex as are specifically requested by the Chief Executive Officer of Essex. Essex may terminate the Consulting Period for &#8220;Cause&#8221; prior to such date upon written notice to Employee in the event of Employee&#8217;s breach of this Agreement (the date on which the Consulting Period ends for any reason, the &#8220;Consulting Termination Date&#8221;). As compensation for Employee&#8217;s services during the Consulting Period, outstanding equity awards granted to Employee on or after September 1, 2022 will be eligible for continued vesting, as described in Section 5 of the summary of benefits provided by Essex to Employee, dated August 31, 2023, and attached hereto as Exhibit A (the &#8220;Summary of Benefits). For the avoidance of doubt, the termination of the Consulting Period on December 31, 2023 will constitute a &#8220;Terminating Event&#8221; for purposes of Employee&#8217;s outstanding equity awards granted to Employee by Essex on or after September 1, 2022, as set forth in the Summary of Benefits, and Employee will be entitled to the equity award benefits under such awards as provided in the Summary of Benefits, subject to the occurrence of the Effective Date as provided in Section 31 below. Notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement to the contrary, during the Consulting Period, Employee acknowledges that he is and shall at all times be an independent contractor, he is not an agent or employee of Essex and he is not authorized to bind Essex or otherwise act on behalf of Essex. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to create an agency, joint venture, partnership or franchise relationship between the parties hereto