17B:18-52. Insurer payments to senior officers restricted
No domestic insurer shall:
a. Pay any salary, compensation or emolument to any of its senior officers, directors or trustees, unless the payment is first authorized by a vote of its board of directors;
b. Make any agreement with any of its officers, senior officers, directors, trustees or salaried employees whereby it agrees that for any service rendered or to be rendered he shall receive any salary, compensation or emolument that will extend beyond a period of 24 months from the date of the agreement, but nothing herein shall be construed to prevent a domestic insurer from deferring the payment of any salary, compensation or emolument for such period of time and upon such terms as it may determine or from entering into contracts with its agents or brokers for the payment of renewal commissions;
c. Grant any pension to any officer, senior officer, director, general agent, employee or trustee thereof or to any member of his family after his death, except in accordance with a written plan approved by its board of directors it may: (1) grant to its salaried officers, senior officers, directors, general agents and employees retirement and disability allowances and death benefits; (2) establish a profit sharing plan which meets the requirements of subsection (a) of section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 68A Stat. 134, 26 U.S.C. s. 401, or any similar legislation which might take its place and which plan, at the option of the insurer, may be in addition to any existing pension plan; and except that it may with the approval of the commissioner provide reasonable supplemental retirement allowances to any of its salaried officers, senior officers and employees and their dependents, whose retirement benefits under the insurer's plan or plans are, in the opinion of its board of directors, inadequate.
The term "senior officers" as used in this section means each officer of an insurer within the four highest salary categories of such insurer; but in instances where an insurer does not have an aggregate of at least five officers from all of the four highest salary categories, then "senior officers" for such insurer shall be the five highest salaried officers of that insurer.
L. 1971, c. 144; amended by L. 1973, c. 22, s. 9; 1983, c. 189; 1987, c. 61, s. 1.