In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) solicited comment on ways to modernize Securities Act Rule 701 (“Rule 701”), the registration statement on Form S-8 (“Form S-8”), and the relationship between the two regulations. Following up on this effort, the SEC recently published several amendments to Rule 701 and Form S-8 to simplify and redesign the manner in which issuers grant securities to employees in compensatory transactions. Separately, the SEC issued proposed temporary rules (the “Proposed Temporary Rules”) that would apply Rule 701 and Form S-8 to persons providing services in the “gig economy” on a temporary, trial basis. The principal proposed amendments to Rule 701 and Form S-8, and the Proposed Temporary Rules, are each summarized in turn below.

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