Pier 1 2011 Annual Report Download - page 56

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)
2011, 2010 and 2009, employees contributing 1% to 5% of their compensation received a matching Company
contribution of up to 3%. Company contributions to the plan were $2,286,000, $1,823,000 and $2,082,000 fiscal
2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.
In addition, the Company offers non-qualified deferred compensation plans for the purpose of providing
deferred compensation for certain employees whose benefits under the qualified plan may be limited under
Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Company’s expense for these non-qualified plans was
$576,000, $508,000 and $690,000 for fiscal 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. The Company has trusts
established for the purpose of setting aside funds to be used to settle certain obligations of these non-qualified
deferred compensation plans and contributed $1,172,000 and used $1,104,000 to satisfy a portion of retirement
obligations during fiscal 2011. The Company also contributed $1,965,000 and used $2,208,000 to satisfy a
portion of retirement obligations during fiscal 2010. As of February 26, 2011 and February 27, 2010, the trusts’
assets consisted of investments with an aggregate value of $74,000 and $6,000 and life insurance policies with
cash surrender values of $5,523,000 and $5,043,000 and death benefits of $11,262,000 and $11,683,000,
respectively. The trust assets are restricted and may only be used to satisfy obligations to plan participants. The
Company owns and is the beneficiary of a number of insurance policies on the lives of current and former key
executives that are unrestricted as to use. At the discretion of the Board of Directors such policies could be
contributed to these trusts or to the trusts established for the purpose of setting aside funds to be used to satisfy
obligations arising from supplemental retirement plans described below. The cash surrender value of these
unrestricted policies was $17,240,000 at February 26, 2011, and the death benefit was $27,585,000. These cash
surrender values are carried in the Company’s consolidated financial statements in other non-current assets.
The Company maintains supplemental retirement plans (the “Plans”) for certain of its executive officers.
The Plans provide that upon death, disability, reaching retirement age or certain termination events, a participant
will receive benefits based on highest compensation, years of service and years of plan participation. The
Company recorded expenses related to the Plans of $2,458,000, $2,484,000 and $3,210,000 in fiscal 2011, 2010
and 2009, respectively.
The Plans are not funded and thus have no plan assets. However, a trust has been established for the
purpose of setting aside funds to be used to settle the defined benefit plan obligations upon retirement or death of
certain participants. The trust assets are consolidated in the Company’s financial statements and consist of
interest bearing investments in the amount of $17,000 included in other noncurrent assets at both February 26,
2011 and February 27, 2010. These investments are restricted and may only be used to satisfy retirement
obligations to certain participants. The Company has accounted for these restricted investments as
available-for-sale securities. Cash contributions of $2,772,000 and $1,689,000 were made to the trust in fiscal
2011 and 2010, respectively. Any future contributions will be made at the discretion of the Board of Directors.
Restricted investments from the trust were sold to fund retirement benefits of $2,772,000 and $1,689,000 in fiscal
2011 and 2010, respectively. Funds from the trust will be used to fund or partially fund benefit payments. The
Company expects to pay $118,000 during fiscal 2012, $1,783,000 during fiscal 2013, $129,000 during fiscal
2014, $11,864,000 during fiscal 2015, $129,000 during fiscal 2016 and $9,435,000 during fiscal years 2017
through 2021.
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