COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Consulting, Employment and Non-compete Agreements

The Company has entered into various consulting and employment agreements with certain key members of management. These agreements generally (i) are one year in length, (ii) contain restrictive covenants, (iii) under certain circumstances, provide for compensation and, subject to providing the Company with a release, severance payments, and (iv) are automatically renewed annually unless either party gives sufficient notice of termination.

Litigation and Complaints

The Company is subject, from time to time, to various claims, lawsuits, contracts disputes and other complaints from, for example, clients, candidates, suppliers, landlords for both leased and subleased properties, former and current employees, and regulators or tax authorities arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company routinely monitors claims such as these, and records provisions for losses when the claim becomes probable and the amount due is estimable. Although the outcome of these claims cannot be determined, the Company believes that the final resolution of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

For matters that have reached the threshold of probable and estimable, the Company has established reserves for legal, regulatory and other contingent liabilities. The legal reserves are included under the caption "Other non-current liabilities" in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company’s reserves were $118 and $105 as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively.

Costs Associated with Termination

As previously disclosed, in May 2015, the Company incurred compensation and benefits obligations to its former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Manuel Marquez, under his employment agreement, dated March 7, 2011, in connection with the Company providing Mr. Marquez notice of non-renewal of his employment agreement, which was treated as a termination without cause. The Company had accrued $747 as of March 31, 2016 in connection with compensation and benefits Mr. Marquez was entitled to upon a termination without cause, subject to his execution of a release. Mr. Marquez did not agree with the Company’s treatment of compensation and benefits under his employment agreement and, in August 2015, filed an arbitration claim against the Company for additional amounts of up to approximately $2,000 and reimbursement of his legal fees.

On May 27, 2016, the arbitrator issued his decision on Mr. Marquez’s claim and awarded Mr. Marquez approximately $1,800 in additional compensation and benefits and approximately $700 toward the reimbursement of a portion of his legal fees incurred pursuing his claim. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, the Company recorded an additional charge of $0 and $3,025, respectively for the resolution of this arbitration.

Asset Retirement Obligations

The Company has certain asset retirement obligations that are primarily the result of legal obligations for the removal of leasehold improvements and restoration of premises to their original condition upon termination of leases. The non-current asset retirement obligations are included under the caption "Other non-current liabilities" in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company’s asset retirement obligations that are included in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016 were as follows:



	September 30, 2017		December 31, 2016
Current portion of asset retirement obligations	$	65	$	78
Non-current portion of asset retirement obligations	1,912		1,693
Total asset retirement obligations	$	1,977	$	1,771