17. Employee Benefits and Deferred Compensation

Employee 401(k) Plan

Our 401(k) Plan is a deferred salary arrangement under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. Under the 401(k) Plan, participating U.S. employees may defer a portion of their pre-tax earnings, up to the IRS annual contribution limit. We match 100% of the first 2% of eligible earnings an employee contributes to the 401(k) Plan, and then match 50% of the next 4% of eligible earnings an employee contributes. An employee receives the full 4% match when he/she contributes at least 6% of his/her eligible earnings, up to a maximum calendar year matching contribution of $6,000. Our employer matching contributions to the 401(k) Plan were as follows (in millions):

Year Ended

April 29,

2016

April 24,

2015

April 25,

2014

401(k) matching contributions

Deferred Compensation Plan

We have a non-qualified deferred compensation plan that allows a group of employees within the U.S. to contribute base salary and commissions or incentive compensation on a tax deferred basis in excess of the IRS limits imposed on 401(k) plans. The marketable securities related to these investments are held in a Rabbi Trust. The related deferred compensation plan assets and liabilities under the non-qualified deferred compensation plan were as follows (in millions):

	April 29, 2016		April 24, 2015
Deferred compensation plan assets	$	30	$	32
Deferred compensation liabilities reported as:
Accrued expenses	$	5	$	3
Other long-term liabilities	$	25	$	29

Postretirement Health Care Plan

Certain of our executive officers are eligible to participate in our Executive Retirement Medical Plan, which upon retirement provides medical coverage beyond the COBRA maximum benefit period to a defined group of senior executives based on minimum age, service and level of responsibility (that is, Executive Vice President or above) as a fully-insured plan. Coverage continues through the duration of the lifetime of the retiree or the retiree’s spouse, whichever is longer. In fiscal 2016, the Compensation Committee closed this plan to the executives eligible for participation as of November 12, 2015. Participation in the plan will not be offered to executives who were not eligible for the plan on that date. There is no funding requirement associated with the plan and none of the benefit obligation was funded as of April 29, 2016. Assumed health care cost trend rates have a significant effect on the amounts reported for the health care plan.

International Defined Benefit Plans

We maintain various defined benefit plans to provide termination and postretirement benefits to certain eligible employees outside of the U.S. We also provide disability benefits to certain eligible employees in the U.S. Eligibility is determined based on the terms of our plans and local statutory requirements. Assumed discount rates and expected long-term returns on plan assets have significant effects on the amounts reported for the defined benefit plans.

Funded Status

The funded status of our postretirement health care and international termination and postretirement benefits was as follows (in millions):

	April 29, 2016			April 24, 2015
Fair value of plan assets	$	24		$	20
Benefit obligations		(76	)		(60	)
Unfunded obligations	$	(52	)	$	(40	)

Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets were as follows (in millions):

April 29,

2016

April 24,

2015

Other long-term liabilities

AOCI

(16

)

(13

)