XML 111 R19.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.8
Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan
12 Months Ended
Sep. 27, 2014
Compensation Related Costs [Abstract]  
Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan
Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan
Effective March 15, 2006, the Company adopted its DCP to provide non-qualified retirement benefits to a select group of executive officers, senior management and highly compensated employees of the Company. Eligible employees may elect to contribute up to 75% of their annual base salary and 100% of their annual bonus to the DCP and such employee contributions are 100% vested. In addition, the Company may elect to make annual discretionary contributions on behalf of participants in the DCP. Each Company contribution is subject to a three-year vesting schedule, such that each contribution vests one third annually. Employee contributions are recorded within accrued expenses.
Upon enrollment into the DCP, employees make investment elections for both their voluntary contributions and discretionary contributions, if any, made by the Company. Earnings and losses on contributions based on these investment elections are recorded as a component of compensation expense in the period earned.
Annually, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors has approved a discretionary cash contribution to the DCP for each year. Discretionary contributions by the Company to the DCP are held in a Rabbi Trust. The Company is recording compensation expense for the DCP discretionary contributions ratably over the three-year vesting period of each annual contribution, which totaled $3.7 million, $2.7 million and $2.6 million in fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The full amount of the discretionary contribution, net of forfeitures, along with employee deferrals and the deferred compensation liability assumed from the Gen-Probe acquisition is recorded within accrued expenses and totaled $35.8 million and $38.6 million at September 27, 2014 and September 28, 2013, respectively.
The Company has purchased Company-owned group life insurance contracts, in which both voluntary and discretionary Company DCP contributions are invested, to partially fund payment of the Company’s obligation to the DCP participants. The total amount invested at September 27, 2014 and September 28, 2013 was $22.4 million and $33.9 million, respectively. The values of these life insurance contracts are recorded in other long-term assets. Changes in the cash surrender value of life insurance contracts, which were not significant in fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012, are recorded within other income (expense), net. In addition, the Company had an additional $15.4 million and $6.9 million of investments in mutual funds to fund the DCP at September 27, 2014 and September 28, 2013, respectively. The mutual funds are classified as trading and the gains and losses in these investments are recorded in other income (expense), net.