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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
 12 Months Ended
Oct. 01, 2021
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
The Company has non-contributory defined benefit pension plans covering certain U.S. employees.  Retirement benefits are generally provided based on the employees’ years of service and average earnings.  Normal retirement age is 65, with provisions for earlier retirement.  The Company elected to freeze its U.S. defined benefit pension plans as of September 30, 2009 and, as a result, there are no benefit accruals related to service performed after that date.

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Company terminated its Johnson Outdoors Inc. Mankato Operations Pension Plan and Old Town Canoe Company Pension Plan (collectively, "the Terminated Plans"), both of which were frozen defined benefit pension plans at the time of termination. In connection with the plan terminations, the Company settled all future obligations under the Terminated Plans through a combination of lump-sum payments to eligible participants who elected to receive them, and the transfer of any remaining benefit obligations under the Terminated Plans to a third-party insurance company under a group annuity contract. As a result of these actions, the Company recognized a non-cash pre-tax pension termination charge of $2,526 in our Consolidated Statements of Operations as Other Expense (Income), Net. The remaining over-funded plan assets will be utilized by the Company to fund remaining expenses related to the Terminated Plans, as well as obligations associated with other qualified retirement programs.

The Company still maintains the Johnson Outdoors Inc. Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan ("SERP"), and all future benefit payments to participants under this plan are made from the Company's general assets.

The Company has elected the practical expedient pursuant to ASU 2015-04, Compensation-retirement benefits (Topic 715) and has selected the measurement date of September 30, the calendar month end closest to the Company's fiscal year end. The financial position of the Company’s non-contributory defined benefit plans as of fiscal year end 2021 and 2020 was as follows:
 
 20212020
Projected benefit obligation:  
Projected benefit obligation, beginning of year$32,631 $30,248 
Service cost— — 
Interest cost838 931 
Actuarial (gain) loss(610)2,588 
Settlements(31,062)— 
Benefits paid(1,126)(1,136)
Projected benefit obligation, end of year671 32,631 
Fair value of plan assets:  
Fair value of plan assets, beginning of year32,923 30,356 
Actual (loss) gain on plan assets(172)3,526 
Company contributions172 177 
Settlements(31,424)— 
Benefits paid(1,126)(1,136)
Fair value of plan assets, end of year373 32,923 
Funded status of the plans(298)292 
Amounts recognized in the Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of:  
Current pension liabilities96 171 
Non-current pension liabilities575 — 
Non-current pension assets373 462 
Accumulated other comprehensive loss(385)(3,129)
Components of accumulated other comprehensive loss:  
Net actuarial loss(385)(3,129)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss$(385)$(3,129)

Net periodic benefit cost for the non-contributory defined benefit pension plans for the respective years included the following pre-tax amounts:
 
 202120202019
Interest cost$838 $931 $1,103 
Expected return on plan assets(436)(641)(855)
Amortization of unrecognized net actuarial loss576 537 328 
Pension termination charge2,526 — — 
Net periodic pension cost3,504 827 576 
Other changes in benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive income ("OCI"):   
Pension termination charge(2,288)— — 
Net actuarial gain(455)(835)(1,365)
Total recognized in net periodic pension cost and OCI$761 $(8)$(789)
 
The Company expects to recognize $45 of unrecognized loss amortization as a component of net periodic benefit cost in 2022.  This amount is included in accumulated other comprehensive income as of October 1, 2021.

At October 1, 2021, the aggregate accumulated benefit obligation and aggregate fair value of plan assets for plans with plan assets in excess of benefit obligations was $0 and $373, respectively, and the aggregate accumulated benefit obligation and aggregate fair value of plan assets for plans with benefit obligations in excess of plan assets was $671 and $0, respectively. At October 2, 2020, the aggregate accumulated benefit obligation and aggregate fair value of plan assets for plans with plan assets in excess of benefit obligations was $31,446 and $32,923, respectively, and the aggregate accumulated benefit obligation and aggregate fair value of plan assets for plans with benefit obligations in excess of plan assets was $1,185 and $0, respectively.
The Company anticipates making contributions to the defined benefit pension plans of $96 through fiscal year 2022.

Estimated benefit payments from the Company’s defined benefit plans to participants for each of the next five years and the five years thereafter are as follows:
2022$96 
202389 
202482 
202575 
202667 
Five years thereafter230 
 
Actuarial assumptions used to determine the projected benefit obligation and net periodic pension cost as of the following fiscal years were as follows:
 Projected Benefit ObligationNet Periodic Pension Cost
 202120202019202120202019
Discount rate2.80 %2.60 %3.13 %2.60 %3.13 %4.22 %
Long-term rate of returnN/AN/AN/A1.70 %2.50 %3.45 %
Average salary increase rateN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A

To determine the discount rate assumption used in the Company’s pension valuation, the Company identified a benefit payout stream based on the demographics of the pension plans and constructed a hypothetical bond portfolio using high-quality corporate bonds with cash flows that matched that benefit payout stream.  A yield curve was calculated based on this hypothetical portfolio which was used for the discount rate determination.

The Company determines the long-term rate of return assumption for plan assets by using the historical asset returns for various investment asset classes and adjusting them to reflect future expectations.  The expected asset class returns are weighted by the targeted asset allocations, resulting in a weighted average return which is rounded to the nearest quarter percent.

The Company uses measurement dates of October 1 to determine pension expenses for each year and September 30 to determine the fair value of the pension assets.

The Company’s pension plans’ weighted average asset allocations at October 1, 2021 and October 2, 2020, by asset category were as follows:
 20212020
Equity securities— %5 %
Fixed income securities— %92 %
Other securities100 %3 %
 100 %100 %

The following table summarizes the Company’s pension plan assets measured at fair value as of October 1, 2021:
 Level 1Level 2Level 3Total
Description:    
Money market funds$— $373 $— $373 
Total$— $373 $— $373 
 
The following table summarizes the Company’s pension plan assets measured at fair value as of October 2, 2020:
 
 Level 1Level 2Level 3Total
Description:    
Fixed income$5,657 $24,734 $— $30,391 
Mutual funds1,468 — — 1,468 
Money market funds— 1,056 — 1,056 
Group annuity contract— — 8 8 
Total$7,125 $25,790 $8 $32,923 

The tables below set forth a summary of changes in fair value of the Company’s Level 3 pension plan assets for the years ended October 1, 2021 and October 2, 2020:
 20212020
Level 3 assets, beginning of year$8 $31 
Gain/(loss)12 (1)
Sales(20)(22)
Level 3 assets, end of year$— $8 

The fair values of the treasury fixed income and mutual fund assets were derived from quoted market prices as substantially all of these instruments have active markets.  The fair values of agency and corporate bond fixed income and money market assets are derived from other observable market inputs or independent pricing services. The fair value of the group annuity contract was derived using a discounted cash flow model with inputs based on current yields of similar instruments with comparable durations.  The annuity contract consisted of high quality bonds.

The Company also has a non-qualified deferred compensation plan that provides certain officers and employees the ability to defer a portion of their compensation until a later date.  The deferred amounts and earnings thereon are payable to participants, or designated beneficiaries, at specified future dates upon retirement, death or termination of employment from the Company.  The deferred compensation liability, which is reported at fair value equal to the related rabbi trust assets, and is classified as “Deferred compensation liability” on our accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets, was approximately $27,885 and $21,585 as of October 1, 2021 and October 2, 2020, respectively.  See “Note 4 Fair Value” for additional information.

A majority of the Company’s full-time employees are covered by defined contribution programs. Expenses attributable to the defined contribution programs were approximately $1,680, $1,592 and $1,422 for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.