DEFERRED COMPENSATION Level 1 (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2022

DEFERRED COMPENSATION [Abstract]

Deferred Compensation

DEFERRED COMPENSATION

Oil-Dri's deferred compensation plans permit directors and certain management employees to defer portions of their compensation and to earn interest on the deferred amounts. Participants have deferred $680,000 and $1,158,000 into these plans in fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively. We recorded $218,000 and $187,000 of interest expense associated with these plans in fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively. Payments to participants were $440,000 and $480,000 in fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively, and the total liability recorded for deferred compensation was $4,812,000 and $4,354,000 as of July 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

The Oil-Dri Corporation of America Annual Incentive Plan provides certain executives with the opportunity to receive a deferred executive bonus award if certain financial goals are met. Deferred executive bonus awards of $818,000 were awarded for fiscal year 2022. No executive bonus was awarded for fiscal year 2021 as financial targets under the provisions of the plan were not achieved. These awards will vest and accrue interest over a three-year period.

Our deferred compensation plans are unfunded. We fund these benefits when payments are made, and the timing and amount of the payments are determined according to the plans' provisions and, for certain plans, according to individual employee agreements.

Our SERP, which was terminated in fiscal year 2020, provided certain retired participants in the Pension Plan with the amount of benefits that would have been provided under the Pension Plan but for: (1) the limitations on benefits imposed by Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and/or (2) the limitation on compensation for purposes of calculating benefits under the Pension Plan imposed by Section 401(a)(17) of the Code. The SERP liability was actuarially determined at the end of each fiscal year using assumptions similar to those used for the Pension Plan, see Note 8 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The SERP liability was $0 as of July 31, 2021, and we recorded expense related to the SERP of $0 in fiscal year 2021. On January 9, 2020, we amended the SERP to freeze participation and any excess benefit, supplemental benefit or additional benefit effective March 1, 2020. Consequently, the SERP was closed to new participants and current participants no longer earned additional benefits on or after March 1, 2020. The amendment of the SERP triggered a curtailment which required a remeasurement of the SERP's obligation. The remeasurement resulted in a decrease in the SERP liability and recognition of a curtailment gain of approximately $1,296,000 in fiscal year 2020, which was recorded in Selling, General & Administrative Expenses. Subsequent to the curtailment, the SERP was terminated effective June 30, 2020 and all participants were paid in the form of one lump sum in July 2021.