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Employee Benefit Plans
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Compensation And Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]  
Employee Benefit Plans

NOTE 17.    Employee Benefit Plans:

The First American Financial Corporation 401(k) Savings Plan (the “Savings Plan”) allows for employee-elective contributions up to the maximum amount as determined by the Internal Revenue Code.  The Company makes discretionary contributions to the Savings Plan based on profitability, as well as the contributions of participants.  The Savings Plan held 1.7 million shares and 1.8 million shares of the Company’s common stock, representing 1.6% and 1.7% of the Company’s total common shares outstanding at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.  Effective July 1, 2015, additional investments in common stock of the Company are no longer allowed.

The Company maintains a deferred compensation plan for certain employees that allows participants to defer up to 100% of their salary, commissions and certain bonuses.  Participants can allocate their deferrals among a variety of investment crediting options (known as “deemed investments”).  The term deemed investments means that the participant has no ownership interest in the funds they select; the funds are only used to measure the gains or losses that will be attributed to each participant’s deferral account over time.  Participants can elect to have their deferral balance paid out while they are still employed or after their employment ends.  The deferred compensation plan is exempt from most provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) because it is only available to a select group of management and highly compensated employees and is not a qualified employee benefit plan.  To preserve the tax-deferred savings advantages of a nonqualified deferred compensation plan, federal law requires that it be unfunded or informally funded.  Participant deferrals, and any earnings on those deferrals, are general unsecured obligations of the Company.  The Company informally funds the deferred compensation plan through a tax-advantaged investment known as variable universal life insurance.  Deferred compensation plan assets are held as an asset of the Company within a special trust, known as a “Rabbi Trust.”  At December 31, 2021 and 2020, the value of the assets held in the Rabbi Trust of $134 million and $116 million, respectively, and the unfunded liabilities of $153 million and $131 million, respectively, were included in the consolidated balance sheets in other assets and pension costs and other retirement plans, respectively.

The Company also has nonqualified, unfunded supplemental benefit plans covering certain management personnel.  The Executive and Management Supplemental Benefit Plans, subject to certain limitations, provide participants with maximum annual benefits of 30% and 15%, respectively, of average annual compensation over a fixed five-year period.  Effective January 1, 2011, the plans were closed to new participants.

Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries have separate savings and employee benefit plans.  Expenses related to these plans and the Company’s deferred compensation plan are included below under other plans, net.

The principal components of employee benefit costs are summarized as follows:

 

Year ended December 31,

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

 

(in millions)

 

Expense:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Savings plan

$

74

 

 

$

32

 

 

$

60

 

Unfunded supplemental benefit plans

 

11

 

 

 

9

 

 

 

9

 

Other plans, net

 

24

 

 

 

19

 

 

 

24

 

 

$

109

 

 

$

60

 

 

$

93

 

 

The following table summarizes the benefit obligations and funded status associated with the Company’s unfunded supplemental benefit plans:

 

December 31,

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

(in millions)

 

Change in projected benefit obligation:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benefit obligation at beginning of year

$

283

 

 

$

259

 

Interest costs

 

5

 

 

 

7

 

Actuarial (gains) losses

 

(11

)

 

 

31

 

Benefits paid

 

(15

)

 

 

(14

)

Projected benefit obligation at end of year

 

262

 

 

 

283

 

Change in plan assets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contributions

 

14

 

 

 

14

 

Benefits paid

 

(14

)

 

 

(14

)

Fair value of plan assets at end of year

 

 

 

 

 

Reconciliation of funded status:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfunded status of the plans

$

262

 

 

$

283

 

Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accrued benefit liability

$

262

 

 

$

283

 

Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income/loss:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unrecognized net actuarial loss

$

111

 

 

$

129

 

Unrecognized prior service credit

 

 

 

 

(1

)

 

$

111

 

 

$

128

 

Accumulated benefit obligation at end of year

$

262

 

 

$

283

 

Net periodic benefit costs related to the Company’s unfunded supplemental benefit pension plans included the following components:

 

Year ended December 31,

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

 

(in millions)

 

Expense:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest costs

$

5

 

 

$

7

 

 

$

9

 

Amortization of net actuarial loss

 

7

 

 

 

5

 

 

 

4

 

Amortization of prior service credit

 

(1

)

 

 

(3

)

 

 

(4

)

 

$

11

 

 

$

9

 

 

$

9

 

Net actuarial loss for the unfunded supplemental benefit plans expected to be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income/loss into net periodic benefit cost during 2022 is $6 million.

The weighted-average discount rate assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit costs for the Company’s unfunded supplemental benefit plans for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, are as follows:

 

Year ended December 31,

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

Discount rates:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Projected benefit obligation

 

2.49

%

 

 

3.27

%

 

 

4.32

%

Service cost

 

3.14

%

 

 

3.71

%

 

 

4.55

%

Interest cost

 

1.83

%

 

 

2.86

%

 

 

4.00

%

The weighted-average discount rate assumptions used to determine the projected benefit obligations for the Company’s unfunded supplemental benefit plans at December 31, 2021 and 2020, are as follows:

 

December 31,

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

Discount rate

 

2.89

%

 

 

2.49

%

The discount rate assumptions used for the Company’s benefit plans reflect the yield available on high-quality, fixed-income debt securities that match the expected timing of the benefit obligation payments.

The Company expects to make cash contributions of $16 million to its unfunded supplemental benefit plans during 2022.

Benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are expected to be made as follows:

Year

(in millions)

 

2022

$

16

 

2023

$

17

 

2024

$

17

 

2025

$

17

 

2026

$

17

 

Five years thereafter

$

79