Executive Perks: A Hammer Finds Its Nail In SEC Settlement With Tool Company

We return once more to the issue of public company executive perquisites or "perks" – a topic we anticipated last year would "be a hot-button enforcement issue for the foreseeable future." We were not wrong. In light of the SEC's most recent perks enforcement action, in this post we revisit the statutory framework for perks and dive into last month's settled charges against tool company Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (SBD) for allegedly failing to disclose perks it provided to certain executives. Additionally, we offer several key takeaways, including consideration of certain boilerplate language in the SBD order in the face of ongoing constitutional challenges to the SEC's in-house proceedings.