Originally posted by Bi-honar
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The wording of the contract definitely leaves a lot to be desired and some sections leave a lot of room for interpretation and there are lots of contradictory sections, all of which are issues you generally want to avoid in drafting contracts. Some of the main items that stuck out for me:
1 - The contract is based on net, rather than gross payments to CQ. This is important because under this contract CQ is not responsible for changes in tax rates or tax laws or non-payment of taxes by the federation.
2 - His net annual salary, excluding benefits and bonuses is 1.4 million Euros or approximately $2.0 million USD at the time the contract was signed. Due to the strengthening of the US dollar in the past few months, it works out to only $1.5 million USD based on today's conversion rate.
3 - It's not clear to me why the contract uses two different currencies, Euros for CQ's salary and dollars for his bonuses and salary payments to his assistants. Again, these are inconsistencies you'd want to avoid in drafting contracts.
4 - I do not see a clause whereby CQ would owe the federation 3 month's salary upon terminating the contract, nor do I see a section whereby the federation would owe CQ a year's salary for terminating the contract. The terms of the contract are contradictory as to what would be owed to CQ in case of termination by the federation. On the one side the contract says the federation can terminate without any reason and it would be obligated to pay CQ 3 month's salary (section 2), but it also says that if the federation terminates the contract without cause, CQ would receive all the payments that he would otherwise be entitled to, had the contract not been terminated ( this could very well be interpreted as his entire salary + bonuses for the next 3 years)!!!
5 - CQ is entitled to 6 weeks of vacation per year. Again, the contract does not state whether this is referring to paid vacation or how unpaid vacations would be treated.
6 - It looks like CQ has agreed not to talk about any of the federation's issues without prior written consent from the federation and coordination with its PR arm (section 3, subsection 2). Having said that, this section includes an exception (i.e. unless he's asked about TM's situation) which makes the whole clause self-defeating!!!
7 - CQ is responsible for hiring his own "non-Iranian" assistants (two of them) for an annual salary not exceeding $500,000 USD. The clause is extremely vague because it does not specify whether that's the annual cap per assistant or for both combined!!!
8 - The contract does specifically say that it's the federation not CQ who gets to pick his two Iranian assistants, but in another self-defeating exception, it allows CQ to reject these choices and put forward his own choices for acceptance by the federation! Something like this would normally be defined in contracts via a mutual agreement clause with a provision for appointment or resolution by a third party in case an agreement can not be reached rather than forcing the parties to go into a virtually endless loop!
9 - The contract does specifically say that CQ is taking on an advisory role (as a part of his job) for other TM's particularly TM Omid and the U-19 team and to "oversee" their practices and he may even be asked by the federation to act as a coach in some of these practices to provide "technical" training. CQ is obliged to attend these practices via mutual agreement between the parties. Having said that, there is an earlier clause that completely nullifies this clause as it puts the onus on the federation to request and plan such an advisory role!!!
10 - There are also some clauses in section 3 that could be interpreted as CQ putting himself in a conflict of interest situation or worse yet in breach of contract, by arranging the TM camps without prior authorization from the federation. It also suggests that CQ's presence or absence in the course of his duties has to be authorized by Kaffashian in writing, suggesting that the federation does have some say in where, when and how the camps are to proceed.
1 - The contract is based on net, rather than gross payments to CQ. This is important because under this contract CQ is not responsible for changes in tax rates or tax laws or non-payment of taxes by the federation.
2 - His net annual salary, excluding benefits and bonuses is 1.4 million Euros or approximately $2.0 million USD at the time the contract was signed. Due to the strengthening of the US dollar in the past few months, it works out to only $1.5 million USD based on today's conversion rate.
3 - It's not clear to me why the contract uses two different currencies, Euros for CQ's salary and dollars for his bonuses and salary payments to his assistants. Again, these are inconsistencies you'd want to avoid in drafting contracts.
4 - I do not see a clause whereby CQ would owe the federation 3 month's salary upon terminating the contract, nor do I see a section whereby the federation would owe CQ a year's salary for terminating the contract. The terms of the contract are contradictory as to what would be owed to CQ in case of termination by the federation. On the one side the contract says the federation can terminate without any reason and it would be obligated to pay CQ 3 month's salary (section 2), but it also says that if the federation terminates the contract without cause, CQ would receive all the payments that he would otherwise be entitled to, had the contract not been terminated ( this could very well be interpreted as his entire salary + bonuses for the next 3 years)!!!
5 - CQ is entitled to 6 weeks of vacation per year. Again, the contract does not state whether this is referring to paid vacation or how unpaid vacations would be treated.
6 - It looks like CQ has agreed not to talk about any of the federation's issues without prior written consent from the federation and coordination with its PR arm (section 3, subsection 2). Having said that, this section includes an exception (i.e. unless he's asked about TM's situation) which makes the whole clause self-defeating!!!
7 - CQ is responsible for hiring his own "non-Iranian" assistants (two of them) for an annual salary not exceeding $500,000 USD. The clause is extremely vague because it does not specify whether that's the annual cap per assistant or for both combined!!!
8 - The contract does specifically say that it's the federation not CQ who gets to pick his two Iranian assistants, but in another self-defeating exception, it allows CQ to reject these choices and put forward his own choices for acceptance by the federation! Something like this would normally be defined in contracts via a mutual agreement clause with a provision for appointment or resolution by a third party in case an agreement can not be reached rather than forcing the parties to go into a virtually endless loop!
9 - The contract does specifically say that CQ is taking on an advisory role (as a part of his job) for other TM's particularly TM Omid and the U-19 team and to "oversee" their practices and he may even be asked by the federation to act as a coach in some of these practices to provide "technical" training. CQ is obliged to attend these practices via mutual agreement between the parties. Having said that, there is an earlier clause that completely nullifies this clause as it puts the onus on the federation to request and plan such an advisory role!!!
10 - There are also some clauses in section 3 that could be interpreted as CQ putting himself in a conflict of interest situation or worse yet in breach of contract, by arranging the TM camps without prior authorization from the federation. It also suggests that CQ's presence or absence in the course of his duties has to be authorized by Kaffashian in writing, suggesting that the federation does have some say in where, when and how the camps are to proceed.
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