10. Retirement Benefits

Savings Plan

Griffin maintains the Griffin Land & Nurseries, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan (the "Griffin Savings Plan") for its employees, a defined contribution plan whereby Griffin matches 60% of each employee's contribution, up to a maximum of 5% of base salary. Griffin's contributions to the Griffin Savings Plan in fiscal 2014, fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2012 were $64, $137 and $139, respectively.

Deferred Compensation Plan

Griffin maintains a non-qualified deferred compensation plan (the "Deferred Compensation Plan") for certain of its employees who, due to IRC regulations, cannot take full advantage of the Griffin Savings Plan. Griffin's liability under its Deferred Compensation Plan at November 30, 2014 and November 30, 2013 was $3,784 and $3,399, respectively. These amounts are included in other liabilities on Griffin's consolidated balance sheets. The expense for Griffin's matching benefit to the Deferred Compensation Plan in fiscal 2014, fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2012 was $28, $29 and $29, respectively.

The Deferred Compensation Plan is unfunded, with benefits to be paid from Griffin's general assets. The liability for the Deferred Compensation Plan reflects the amounts withheld from employees, Griffin's matching benefit and any gains or losses on participant account balances based on the assumed investment of amounts credited to participants' accounts in certain mutual funds. Participant balances are tracked and any gain or loss is determined based on the performance of the mutual funds as selected by the participants.

Postretirement Benefits

Through March 10, 2014, Griffin maintained an unfunded postretirement benefits program that provided principally health and life insurance benefits to certain of its employees. Only those employees who were employed by Griffin's predecessor company as of December 31, 1993 were eligible to participate in the postretirement benefits program. The liability for postretirement benefits was included in other liabilities on Griffin's consolidated balance sheet at November 30, 2013.

On March 11, 2014, Griffin terminated its postretirement benefits program. Accordingly, the remaining liability under the postretirement benefits program was reversed and all actuarial gains under the postretirement program that had been reflected in accumulated other comprehensive income were reclassified into net income in the 2014 second quarter. As essentially all of the participants in the postretirement benefits program had been employees of Imperial, and charges related to the postretirement benefits program had been included in the results of the landscape nursery business that is now presented as a discontinued operation, the effect of the termination of the postretirement benefits program is mostly reflected in the results of discontinued operations in Griffin's consolidated statement of operations for fiscal 2014.

As a result of the Imperial Sale (see Note 2) prior to the termination of the postretirement benefit program, the liability for postretirement benefits was reduced from $332 at November 30, 2013 to $23 in the 2014 first quarter. A curtailment gain of $309 is included in the determination of the loss on the Imperial Sale.

Griffin accounted for postretirement benefits in accordance with ASC 715-10, which requires recognition of the funded status on Griffin's consolidated balance sheet of its postretirement benefits program. The effect of ASC 715-10 in fiscal 2013 was a decrease in other liabilities of $118 and a decrease of $68, after tax, in accumulated other comprehensive loss. The effect in fiscal 2012 was an increase in other liabilities of $64 and an increase of $48, after tax, in accumulated other comprehensive loss.

Changes in the program's benefit obligation for the fiscal years ended November 30, 2014 and November 30, 2013 are as follows:

	Nov. 30, 2014			Nov. 30, 2013
Change in benefit obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	332		$	450
Actuarial gain		(14	)		(108	)
Interest cost		4			16
Service cost		1			7
Benefits paid		—			—
Amortization of actuarial gain		(14	)		(33	)
Curtailment gain		(309	)		—

Benefit obligation at end of year	$	—		$	332

Griffin's liability for postretirement benefits, included in other liabilities, as of November 30, 2013 was attributed to the following:

Retirees	$	—
Fully eligible active participants		230
Other active participants		102

Liability for postretirement benefits	$	332

The components of Griffin's postretirement benefits (income) expense are as follows:

	For the Fiscal Years Ended,
	Nov. 30, 2014			Nov. 30, 2013			Dec. 1, 2012
Service cost	$	1		$	7		$	9
Interest		4			16			17
Amortization of actuarial gain		(14	)		(33	)		(39	)
Curtailment gain		(309	)		—			—

Total income		(318	)		(10	)		(13	)
Other changes in benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive loss:
Actuarial (gain) loss		(14	)		(108	)		77

Total recognized in net periodic benefit (income) expense and other comprehensive (loss) income	$	(332	)	$	(118	)	$	64

A discount rate of 4.60% was used to compute the accumulated postretirement benefit obligations prior to the program termination in fiscal 2014 and at November 30, 2013. The discount rate used was based on the spot rate of the Citigroup Pension Discount Curve, which was used to discount the projected cash flows of the program. Discount rates of 4.60%, 3.59% and 4.50% were used to compute the net periodic benefit expense for fiscal 2014 through the termination of the postretirement benefits program, fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2012, respectively.