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MULTI-EMPLOYER PENSION PLANS | 12 Months Ended
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Jan. 29, 2022
MULTI-EMPLOYER PENSION PLANS |
MULTI-EMPLOYER PENSION PLANS |
15. | MULTI-EMPLOYER PENSION PLANS
​ The Company contributes to various multi-employer pension plans based on obligations arising from collective bargaining agreements. These multi-employer pension plans provide retirement benefits to participants based on their service to contributing employers. The benefits are paid from assets held in trust for that purpose. Trustees are appointed in equal number by employers and unions. The trustees typically are responsible for determining the level of benefits to be provided to participants as well as for such matters as the investment of the assets and the administration of the plans. ​ The Company recognizes expense in connection with these plans as contributions are funded or when commitments are probable and reasonably estimable, in accordance with GAAP. The Company made cash contributions to these plans of $1,109 in 2021, $619 in 2020 and $461 in 2019. The increase in 2021, compared to 2020, is due to the contractual payments made in 2021 related to our commitments established for certain ratification agreements. The increase in 2020, compared to 2019, is due to incremental contributions we made in 2020 to multi-employer pension plans, helping stabilize future associate benefits. ​ The Company continues to evaluate and address potential exposure to under-funded multi-employer pension plans as it relates to the Company’s associates who are beneficiaries of these plans. These under-fundings are not a liability of the Company. When an opportunity arises that is economically feasible and beneficial to the Company and its associates, the Company may negotiate the restructuring of under-funded multi-employer pension plan obligations to help stabilize associates’ future benefits and become the fiduciary of the restructured multi-employer pension plan. The commitments from these restructurings do not change the Company’s debt profile as it relates to its credit rating since these off balance sheet commitments are typically considered in the Company’s investment grade debt rating. The Company is currently designated as the named fiduciary of the United Food and Commercial Workers (“UFCW”) Consolidated Pension Plan and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“IBT”) Consolidated Pension Fund and has sole investment authority over these assets. Due to opportunities arising, the Company has restructured certain multi-employer pension plans. The significant effects of these restructuring agreements recorded in our Consolidated Financial Statements are: ​
| ● | In 2021, associates within the Fred Meyer and QFC divisions ratified an agreement for the transfer of liabilities from the Sound Retirement Trust to the UFCW Consolidated Pension Plan. The Company transferred $449, $344 net of tax, in net accrued pension liabilities and prepaid escrow funds to fulfill obligations for past service for associates and retirees. The agreement will be satisfied by cash installment payments to the UFCW Consolidated Pension Plan and will be paid evenly over seven years.
​
| ● | In 2020, certain of the Company’s associates ratified an agreement with certain UFCW local unions to withdraw from the UFCW International Union-Industry Pension Fund (“National Fund”). Due to the ratification of the agreement, the Company incurred a withdrawal liability charge of $962, on a pre-tax basis, to fulfill obligations for past service for associates and retirees in the National Fund. The Company also incurred an additional $27 commitment to a transition reserve in the new variable annuity pension plan. On an after-tax basis, the withdrawal liability and commitment to the transition reserve totaled $754. As of January 30, 2021, the current portion of the commitment of $523 was included in “Other current liabilities” and the long-term portion of the commitment of $466 was included in “Other long-term liabilities” in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. In 2021, the Company paid $523 of these commitments. As of January 29, 2022, the current portion of the commitment of $233 is included in “Other current liabilities” and the long-term portion of the commitment of $233 is included in “Other long-term liabilities” in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. The original commitment of $962 on a pre-tax basis, will be satisfied by payment to the National Fund over three years. The long-term portion, from January 30, 2021, is included in “Other” within “Changes in operating assets and liabilities net of effects from mergers and disposals of businesses” in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.
​
| ● | In 2019, the Company incurred a $135 charge, $104 net of tax, for obligations related to withdrawal liabilities for certain multi-employer pension plan funds.
​ The risks of participating in multi-employer pension plans are different from the risks of participating in single-employer pension plans in the following respects: ​
| a. | Assets contributed to the multi-employer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers.
​
| b. | If a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan allocable to such withdrawing employer may be borne by the remaining participating employers.
​
| c. | If the Company stops participating in some of its multi-employer pension plans, the Company may be required to pay those plans an amount based on its allocable share of the unfunded vested benefits of the plan, referred to as a withdrawal liability.
​ The Company’s participation in multi-employer plans is outlined in the following tables. The EIN / Pension Plan Number column provides the Employer Identification Number (“EIN”) and the three-digit pension plan number. The most recent Pension Protection Act Zone Status available in 2021 and 2020 is for the plan’s year-end at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. Among other factors, generally, plans in the red zone are less than 65 percent funded, plans in the yellow zone are less than 80 percent funded and plans in the green zone are at least 80 percent funded. The FIP/RP Status Pending / Implemented Column indicates plans for which a funding improvement plan (“FIP”) or a rehabilitation plan (“RP”) is either pending or has been implemented. Unless otherwise noted, the information for these tables was obtained from the Forms 5500 filed for each plan’s year-end at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019. The multi-employer contributions listed in the table below are the Company’s multi-employer contributions made in fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019. ​ The following table contains information about the Company’s multi-employer pension plans: ​
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | FIP/RP |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  |
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | Pension Protection | ​ | Status | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ |
​ | ​ | EIN / Pension | ​ | Act Zone Status | ​ | Pending/ | ​ | Multi-Employer Contributions | ​ | Surcharge |
Pension Fund | ​ | Plan Number | ​ | 2021 | ​ | 2020 | ​ | Implemented | ​ | 2021 | ​ | 2020 | ​ | 2019 | ​ | Imposed(5) |
SO CA UFCW Unions & Food Employers Joint Pension Trust Fund(1)(2) |  | 95-1939092 - 001 |  | Yellow |  | Yellow |  | Implemented | ​ | $ | 83 | ​ | $ | 86 | ​ | $ | 75 |  | No | ​
Desert States Employers & UFCW Unions Pension Plan(1) |  | 84-6277982 - 001 |  | Green |  | Green |  | No | ​ |  | 22 | ​ |  | 19 | ​ |  | 19 |  | No | ​
Sound Retirement Trust (formerly Retail Clerks Pension Plan)(1)(3) |  | 91-6069306 – 001 |  | Yellow |  | Yellow |  | Implemented | ​ |  | 24 | ​ |  | 29 | ​ |  | 25 |  | No | ​
Rocky Mountain UFCW Unions and Employers Pension Plan(1) |  | 84-6045986 - 001 |  | Green |  | Green |  | No | ​ |  | 29 | ​ |  | 28 | ​ |  | 23 |  | No | ​
Oregon Retail Employees Pension Plan(1) |  | 93-6074377 - 001 |  | Green |  | Green |  | No | ​ |  | 10 | ​ |  | 9 | ​ |  | 9 |  | No | ​
Bakery and Confectionary Union & Industry International Pension Fund(1) |  | 52-6118572 - 001 |  | Red |  | Red |  | Implemented | ​ |  | 8 | ​ |  | 8 | ​ |  | 10 |  | No | ​
Retail Food Employers & UFCW Local 711 Pension(1) |  | 51-6031512 - 001 |  | Yellow |  | Yellow |  | Implemented | ​ |  | 11 | ​ |  | 11 | ​ |  | 10 |  | No | ​
United Food & Commercial Workers Intl Union — Industry Pension Fund(1)(4) |  | 51-6055922 - 001 |  | Green |  | Green |  | No | ​ |  | 550 | ​ |  | 29 | ​ |  | 32 |  | No | ​
Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Plan |  | 91-6145047 - 001 |  | Green |  | Green |  | No | ​ |  | 37 | ​ |  | 35 | ​ |  | 34 |  | No | ​
Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Plan |  | 36-6044243 - 001 |  | Red |  | Red |  | Implemented | ​ |  | 37 | ​ |  | 12 | ​ |  | — |  | No | ​
UFCW Consolidated Pension Plan(1) |  | 58-6101602 – 001 |  | Green |  | Green |  | No | ​ |  | 243 | ​ |  | 321 | ​ |  | 174 |  | No | ​
IBT Consolidated Pension Plan(1)(6) | ​ | 82-2153627 - 001 | ​ | N/A | ​ | N/A | ​ | No | ​ | ​ | 29 | ​ | ​ | 18 | ​ | ​ | 33 | ​ | No | ​
Other | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ |  | 26 | ​ |  | 14 | ​ |  | 17 | ​ | ​ | ​
Total Contributions | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | $ | 1,109 | ​ | $ | 619 | ​ | $ | 461 | ​ | ​ | ​
(1) | The Company's multi-employer contributions to these respective funds represent more than 5% of the total contributions received by the pension funds.
(2) | The information for this fund was obtained from the Form 5500 filed for the plan's year-end at March 31, 2021 and March 31, 2020.
(3) | The information for this fund was obtained from the Form 5500 filed for the plan's year-end at September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019.
(4) | The information for this fund was obtained from the Form 5500 filed for the plan's year-end at June 30, 2020 and June 30, 2019.
(5) | Under the Pension Protection Act, a surcharge may be imposed when employers make contributions under a collective bargaining agreement that is not in compliance with a rehabilitation plan. As of January 29, 2022, the collective bargaining agreements under which the Company was making contributions were in compliance with rehabilitation plans adopted by the applicable pension fund.
(6) | The plan was formed after 2006, and therefore is not subject to zone status certifications.
​ The following table describes (a) the expiration date of the Company’s collective bargaining agreements and (b) the expiration date of the Company’s most significant collective bargaining agreements for each of the material multi-employer funds in which the Company participates: ​
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ | ​ | Expiration Date | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ |
​ | ​ | of Collective | ​ | ​ | ​ | Most Significant Collective |
​ | ​ | Bargaining | ​ | ​ | ​ | Bargaining Agreements(1) |
Pension Fund |  | Agreements |  | Count |  | Expiration |
SO CA UFCW Unions & Food Employers Joint Pension Trust Fund |  | March 2022 to June 2024 |  | 2 |  | March 2022 to June 2024 | ​
UFCW Consolidated Pension Plan |  | April 2020(2) to August 2026 |  | 4 |  | April 2020(2) to August 2026 | ​
Desert States Employers & UFCW Unions Pension Plan |  | October 2023 to June 2025 |  | 1 |  | October 2023 | ​
Sound Retirement Trust (formerly Retail Clerks Pension Plan) |  | April 2022 to September 2024 |  | 4 |  | May 2022 to August 2022 | ​
Rocky Mountain UFCW Unions and Employers Pension Plan |  | January 2025 to February 2025 |  | 1 |  | January 2025 | ​
Oregon Retail Employees Pension Plan |  | August 2024 to March 2026 |  | 3 |  | August 2024 to July 2025 | ​
Bakery and Confectionary Union & Industry International Pension Fund |  | May 2021(2) to July 2024 |  | 3 |  | October 2021(2) to June 2024 | ​
Retail Food Employers & UFCW Local 711 Pension |  | March 2022 to January 2024 |  | 1 |  | March 2022 | ​
United Food & Commercial Workers Intl Union — Industry Pension Fund |  | April 2020(2) to June 2025 |  | 2 |  | July 2023 to August 2023 | ​
Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Plan |  | April 2022 to September 2025 |  | 4 |  | April 2022 to September 2025 | ​
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Consolidated Pension Fund | ​ | September 2022 to September 2024 | ​ | 3 | ​ | September 2022 to September 2024 | ​
(1) | This column represents the number of significant collective bargaining agreements and their expiration date for each of the Company’s pension funds listed above. For the purposes of this table, the “significant collective bargaining agreements” are the largest based on covered employees that, when aggregated, cover the majority of the employees for which we make multi-employer contributions for the referenced pension fund.
(2) | Certain collective bargaining agreements for each of these pension funds are operating under an extension.
​ In 2020, the Company held escrow deposits amounting to $271 due to certain restructuring agreements. These payments were included in “Prepaid and other current assets” in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. These escrow deposits were paid in 2021. ​ Based on the most recent information available to it, the Company believes the present value of actuarial accrued liabilities in most of these multi-employer plans exceeds the value of the assets held in trust to pay benefits. Moreover, if the Company were to exit certain markets or otherwise cease making contributions to these funds, the Company could trigger a withdrawal liability. Any adjustment for withdrawal liability will be recorded when it is probable that a liability exists and it can be reasonably estimated. ​ The Company also contributes to various other multi-employer benefit plans that provide health and welfare benefits to active and retired participants. Total contributions made by the Company to these other multi-employer health and welfare plans were approximately $1,197 in 2021, $1,262 in 2020, and $1,252 in 2019. ​

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