Neiman Marcus 2008 Annual Report Download - page 68

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employment is terminated by us for any reason other than death, disability, cause, or for non-renewal of her employment term,
or if she terminates her employment with us for good reason, and she has not yet reached 65, her SERP benefit will not be
reduced solely by reason of her failure to reach 65 as of the termination date.
(5) Effective December 31, 2007, benefit accruals for Messrs. Skinner and Gold under the Retirement Plan and the SERP were
frozen, as further described below.
The Retirement Plan is a funded, tax-qualified pension plan. Prior to 2008, most non-union employees over age 21 who had
completed one year of service with 1,000 or more hours were eligible to participate in the Retirement Plan, which paid benefits upon
retirement or termination of employment. Effective as of December 31, 2007, eligibility and benefit accruals under the Retirement
Plan were frozen for all participants except for those "Rule of 65" employees who elected to continue participating in the Retirement
Plan. "Rule of 65" employees included only those active employees who had completed at least 10 years of service and whose
combined years of service and age equaled at least 65 as of December 2007. The Retirement Plan is a "career-accumulation" plan,
under which a participant earns each year a retirement annuity equal to one percent of his or her compensation for the year up to the
Social Security wage base and 1.5 percent of his or her compensation for the year in excess of such wage base. "Compensation" for
this purpose generally includes salary, bonuses, commissions and overtime but not in excess of the limits imposed upon annual
compensation under Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a)(17). Such limit for 2008 was $230,000 and for 2009 is $245,000, and is
adjusted annually for cost-of-living increases. Benefits under the Retirement Plan become fully vested after five years of service with
us.
The SERP is an unfunded, nonqualified plan under which benefits are paid from our general assets to supplement Retirement
Plan benefits and Social Security. Prior to 2008, executive, administrative and professional employees (other than those employed as
salespersons) with an annual base salary at least equal to a minimum established by the Company were eligible to participate. Similar
to the Retirement Plan, effective December 31, 2007, eligibility and benefit accruals under the SERP were frozen for all participants
except for those "Rule of 65" employees who elected to continue participating in the Retirement Plan. At normal retirement age (the
later of age 65 and the fifth anniversary of the participant's date of hire), an eligible participant with 25 or more years of service is
entitled to full benefits in the form of monthly payments under the SERP computed as a straight life annuity, equal to 50 percent of the
participant's average monthly compensation for the highest consecutive 60 months preceding retirement less 60 percent of his or her
estimated annual primary Social Security benefit, offset by the benefit accrued by the participant under the Retirement Plan. The
amount is then adjusted actuarially to determine the actual monthly payments based on the time and form of payment. For this
purpose, "compensation" includes salary but does not include bonuses. If the participant has fewer than 25 years of service, the
combined benefit is proportionately reduced. Benefits under the SERP become fully vested after five years of service with us. The
SERP is designed to comply with the requirements of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code.
NONQUALIFIED DEFERRED COMPENSATION
Name
Executive
Contributions
in Last Fiscal Year
($)(1)
Registrant
Contributions in
Last Fiscal Year
($)
Aggregate Earnings
in Last Fiscal Year
($)
Aggregate
Withdrawals /
Distributions
($)
Aggregate Balance
at Last Fiscal Year-
End
($)(2)
Burton M. Tansky — — — — —
Karen W. Katz 126,660 17,982 32,367 — 912,585
James E. Skinner 38,668 67,281 11,714 — 357,529
James J. Gold — 101,512 3,451 — 131,826
Gerald A. Barnes 4,285 3,214 1,320 — 35,942
Footnotes:
(1) The amounts reported as Executive Contributions in Last Fiscal Year are also included as Salary in the Summary Compensation
Table on page 60 of this Section.
(2) Amounts included in this column for Ms. Katz and Messrs. Tansky, Skinner, and Gold were included as salary in the Summary
Compensation Table for previous years.
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