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Employee Benefit Plans | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2013
Employee Benefit Plans |
Employee Benefit Plans | Note 13. Employee Benefit Plans Employee Stock Purchase Plan We have an employee stock purchase plan (the "ESPP"), under which we are authorized to issue 2.5 million shares of Class A common stock. As of December 31, 2013, we had 1.4 million shares of Class A common stock which remain available for issuance under this plan. Substantially all full-time employees who have been employed by us for at least one calendar quarter are eligible to participate in the ESPP. Employee stock purchases are made through payroll deductions. Under the terms of the ESPP, employees may not deduct an amount which would permit such employee to purchase our capital stock under all of our stock purchase plans at a rate which would exceed $25,000 in fair value of capital stock in any one year. The purchase price of the stock is 85.0% of the closing price of the Class A common stock on the last business day of each calendar quarter in which such shares of Class A common stock are deemed sold to an employee under the ESPP. For the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, employee purchases of Class A common stock through the ESPP totaled 268,000 shares, 158,000 shares and 140,000 shares, respectively. 401(k) Employee Savings Plans During 2011 and 2012, we had two 401(k) employee savings plans; one for eligible employees of Hughes Communications which was in place prior to the Hughes Acquisition (the "Hughes 401(k) Plan") and one for all of our other eligible employees (the "EchoStar 401(k) Plan"). Effective January 1, 2013, all participant account balances under the EchoStar 401(k) Plan were transferred to the Hughes 401(k) Plan, which was then renamed, the EchoStar 401(k) Plan (the "Plan"), resulting in a single 401(k) employee savings plan for all of our eligible employees. Under the Plan, eligible employees may contribute up to 75.0% of their compensation on a pre-tax basis, subject to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") limit of $17,500 in 2013. Employee contributions are immediately vested. The Company will match 50 cents on the dollar for the first 6.0% of the employee's salary that they contribute to the Plan for a total of 3.0% match. The Company will match a maximum of $7,500. The Company match is calculated each pay period there is an employee contribution. Forfeitures of unvested participant balances which were retained by the EchoStar 401(k) Plan may be used to fund matching and discretionary contributions. Our Board of Directors may also authorize an annual discretionary contribution to the Plan, subject to the maximum deductible limit provided by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. These contributions may be made in cash or in our stock. Matching contributions under the Plan vest at 20.0% per year and are 100.0% vested after an eligible employee has completed five years of service. Matching contributions for eligible employees who participated in the Hughes 401(k) Plan prior to the conversion of the two plans, vest 100.0% after the eligible employees have completed three years of service. For the year ended December 31, 2013, we recognized matching contributions, net of forfeitures, of $6.1 million and discretionary stock contributions, net of forfeitures of $10.3 million to the Plan. For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, we recognized matching contributions, net of forfeitures, of $1.6 million and $1.5 million, respectively, and discretionary stock contributions, net of forfeitures of $4.7 million and $4.3 million, respectively, to the EchoStar 401(k) Plan. For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, we recognized $6.9 million and $3.5 million of matching contributions, respectively, to the Hughes 401(k) Plan.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for pension and other postretirement benefits. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 715 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2235017 + Details
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