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Employee Benefit Plans | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
Employee Benefit Plans |
Employee Benefit Plans | Note 14.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, 2015, we had 0.8 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, 2015, 2014 and 2013, employee purchases of Class A common stock through the ESPP totaled 362,000 shares, 283,000 shares and 268,000 shares, respectively. 401(k) Employee Savings Plans Under the EchoStar 401(k) Plan (“the Plan”), eligible employees were entitled to contribute up to 75.0% of their compensation subject to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) limit of $18,000 (or $24,000 for employees eligible to make Catch-Up contributions) in 2015. We amended the Plan in October 2015 to provide eligible employees with the option to make after-tax contributions (“Roth 401(k) contributions”) to the Plan so that they may contribute up to 75% of their compensation on a pre-tax and/or after-tax basis subject to the IRS limit. For Roth 401(k) contributions, earnings receive favorable tax treatment upon distribution as long as certain conditions are met. All employee contributions to the Plan are immediately vested. The Company will match 50 cents on the dollar for the first 6.0% of each employee’s salary contributions to the Plan for a total of 3.0% match on a pre-tax basis up to a maximum of $7,500 annually. The Company match is calculated each pay period there is an employee contribution. Company 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. 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 to be made in cash or our stock, subject to the maximum deductible limit provided by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, we recognized matching contributions, net of forfeitures, of $7.4 million, $6.8 million and $6.1 million, respectively, and made discretionary contributions of shares of our Class A common stock, net of forfeitures, with a fair value of $10.4 million, $10.2 million and $10.3 million, respectively (approximately 204,000, 207,000 and 139,000 shares, respectively), to the Plan.

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