Compensation and Employee Benefits (a) Until the first anniversary of the Effective Time (as defined in the Merger Agreement, and such period, the “Continuation Period”), Purchaser shall provide, or shall cause to be provided, to each Transferred Employee (i) base salary and annual cash bonus opportunities that are no less favorable, in each case, than those in effect immediately prior to the Closing, (ii) severance benefits that are no less favorable than the severance benefits that would have been provided to such Transferred Employee under the applicable severance benefit plans, programs, policies, agreements and arrangements as in effect on the date hereof, and (iii) employee benefit plans and arrangements (other than base salary, annual bonus and long-term incentive opportunities, severance benefits and employee stock purchase plan benefits) that are substantially comparable in the aggregate to those provided to the Transferred Employees immediately prior to the Closing, in the case of clauses (i) and (iii), except to the extent such Transferred Employee’s employment with Purchaser or its Affiliates is terminated prior to the end of the Continuation Period. In addition, (A) Purchaser shall provide, or shall cause to be provided, a 2018 long-term incentive award to each Transferred Employee employed by Purchaser or its Affiliates at the time annual long-term incentive awards are made generally that is no less favorable than the long-term incentive award made to similarly situated employees of ▇▇▇▇▇▇ generally, and (B) Seller shall provide to Purchaser reasonably promptly following the determination thereof such information regarding the 2018 long-term incentive awards described in clause (A) as is reasonably required by Purchaser for purposes of fulfilling its obligations under this Agreement with respect to such awards. Purchaser shall not assume sponsorship of or any Liability under any Seller Plan, all Liability for which shall remain the responsibility of Seller or its applicable Affiliate.
(b) With respect to all employee benefit plans of Purchaser and its Affiliates, including any “employee benefit plan” (as defined in Section 3(3) of ERISA) (including any vacation, paid time-off and severance plans), for all purposes (except as set forth below), including determining eligibility to participate, level of benefits, vesting and benefit accruals, each Transferred Employee’s service with Seller and its Subsidiaries (as well as service with any predecessor employer of Seller or any such Subsidiary, to the extent service with the predecessor employer was recognized by Seller or such Subsidiary) shall be treated as service with Purchaser and its Affiliates (or in the case of a transfer of all or substantially all of the assets and business of the Triage Business, its successors and assigns); provided, however, that such service need not be recognized (i) to the extent that such recognition would result in any duplication of benefits for the same period of service, (ii) for any purpose under any defined benefit retirement plan, retiree welfare plan, equity-based incentive plan or long-term incentive plan, (iii) to the extent not recognized by Seller for similar purposes, or (iv) for purposes of any plan, program or arrangement (A) under which similarly situated employees of Purchaser and its Affiliates do not receive credit for prior service or (B) that is grandfathered or frozen, either with respect to level of benefits or participation.
(c) Purchaser or one of its Affiliates shall be responsible for all welfare benefit claims incurred by Transferred Employees and their eligible dependents at or after the Closing. Seller or one of its Affiliates shall be responsible for all welfare benefit claims incurred under any Seller Plan by Transferred Employees and their eligible dependents prior to the Closing. Without limiting the generality of Section 7.02(a), with respect to any “employee welfare benefit plan” maintained by Purchaser or any of its Affiliates in which Transferred Employees (and their eligible dependents) will be eligible to participate from and after the Closing, Purchaser shall, and shall cause its Affiliates to, use commercially reasonable efforts to waive, or cause to be waived, any pre-existing condition limitations, exclusions, actively-at-work requirements and waiting periods, except to the extent that such pre-existing condition limitations, exclusions, actively-at-work requirements and waiting periods would not have been satisfied or waived under the comparable benefit plan, program, policy, agreement or other arrangement of Seller or its applicable Subsidiaries immediately prior to the Closing. Purchaser shall, or shall cause its Affiliates to, use commercially reasonable efforts to recognize the dollar amount of all co-payments, deductibles and similar expenses incurred by each Transferred Employee (and his or her eligible dependents) during the calendar year in which the Closing occurs for purposes of satisfying such year’s deductible and co-payment limitations under the relevant welfare benefit plans in which they will be eligible to participate from and after the Closing.
(d) Without limiting the generality of Sections 12.05 and 12.13, the provisions of this Section 7.02 are solely for the benefit of the Parties, and no provision of this Section 7.02 (i) is intended to, or shall, constitute the establishment or adoption of or an amendment to any employee benefit plan for purposes of ERISA or otherwise, (ii) obligates Purchaser or any of its Affiliates to retain the employment of any particular Transferred Employee following the Closing or (iii) results in any current or former director, employee, consultant or any other individual associated therewith being regarded for any purposes as a Third Party beneficiary of this Agreement or have the right to enforce the provisions hereof.
