WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE AND RESERVES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 26, 2023

Workers' Compensation Insurance and Reserves [Abstract]

WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE AND RESERVES

We provide workers’ compensation insurance for our associates and permanent employees. The majority of our current workers’ compensation insurance policies cover claims for a particular event above our $5.0 million deductible limit, on a “per occurrence” basis. This results in our business being substantially self-insured.

Our workers’ compensation reserve for claims below the deductible limit is discounted to its estimated net present value. The discount rates used to estimate net present value are based on average returns of “risk-free” U.S. Treasury instruments available during the year in which the liability was incurred and the weighted average duration of the payments against the self-insured claims. Payments made against self-insured claims are made over a weighted average period of approximately 6 years as of March 26, 2023. The weighted average discount rate was 2.1% and 2.0% at March 26, 2023 and December 25, 2022, respectively.

The following table presents a reconciliation of the undiscounted workers’ compensation reserve to the discounted workers’ compensation reserve for the periods presented:


(in thousands)	March 26, 2023		December 25, 2022
Undiscounted workers’ compensation reserve	$	259,087	$	270,468
Less discount on workers’ compensation reserve	19,660		19,458
Workers’ compensation reserve, net of discount	239,427		251,010
Less current portion	46,543		50,005
Long-term portion	$	192,884	$	201,005

Payments made against self-insured claims were $11.9 million and $9.7 million for the thirteen weeks ended March 26, 2023 and March 27, 2022, respectively.

Our workers’ compensation reserve includes estimated expenses related to claims above our self-insured limits (“excess claims”), and we record a corresponding receivable for the insurance coverage on excess claims based on the contractual policy agreements we have with insurance carriers. We discount this reserve and corresponding receivable to its estimated net present value using the discount rates based on average returns of “risk-free” U.S. Treasury instruments available during the year in which the liability was incurred and the weighted average duration of the payments against the excess claims. The claim payments are made and the corresponding reimbursements from our insurance carriers are received over an estimated weighted average period of approximately 17 years. The rates used to discount excess claims incurred during the thirteen weeks ended March 26, 2023 and fifty-two weeks ended December 25, 2022 were 3.5% and 3.0%, respectively. The discounted workers’ compensation reserve for excess claims was $73.9 million and $76.7 million, as of March 26, 2023 and December 25, 2022, respectively. The discounted receivables from insurance companies, net of valuation allowance, were $72.5 million and $75.2 million as of March 26, 2023 and December 25, 2022, respectively.

Workers’ compensation cost consists primarily of changes in self-insurance reserves net of changes in discount, monopolistic jurisdictions’ premiums, insurance premiums and other miscellaneous expenses. Workers’ compensation cost of $4.8 million and $11.3 million was recorded in cost of services on our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the thirteen weeks ended March 26, 2023 and March 27, 2022, respectively.