Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Feb. 29, 2012

Employee Benefit Plans [Abstract]

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

11. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

a. Equity Incentive Plans

The Company has stock options, restricted stock and restricted stock unit grants outstanding that were issued to employees or non-employee directors under one or more of the following plans: 2001 Equity Incentive Plan, 2002 Equity Incentive Plan, the 2004 Equity Compensation Plan and the 2010 Equity Compensation Plan. These outstanding grants continue to be governed by the terms of the applicable plan.

2010 Equity Compensation Plan

At the 2010 annual meeting, the shareholders of Emmis approved the 2010 Equity Compensation Plan (“the Plan”). Under the Plan, awards equivalent to 2.0 million shares of common stock may be granted. Furthermore, any unissued awards from the 2004 Equity Compensation Plan (or shares subject to outstanding awards that would again become available for awards under this plan) increases the number of shares of common stock available for grant under the Plan. The awards, which have certain restrictions, may be for incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, shares of restricted stock, restricted stock units, stock appreciation rights or performance units. Under this Plan, all awards are granted with a purchase price equal to at least the fair market value of the stock except for shares of restricted stock and restricted stock units, which may be granted with any purchase price (including zero). The stock options under this Plan generally expire not more than 10 years from the date of grant. Under this Plan, awards equivalent to approximately 2.2 million shares of common stock were available for grant at February 29, 2012.

b. 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Emmis sponsors a Section 401(k) retirement savings plans that is available to substantially all employees age 18 years and older who have at least 30 days of service. Employees may make pretax contributions to the plans up to 50% of their compensation, not to exceed the annual limit prescribed by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Emmis may make discretionary matching contributions to the plans in the form of cash or shares of the Company’s Class A common stock.

No discretionary 401(k) matching contributions were made during the year ended February 28, 2010. In April 2010, the Board of Directors of the Company voted to reinstate the discretionary 401(k) match. Since April 2010, employee contributions have been matched at 33% up to a maximum of 6% of eligible compensation. Emmis’ discretionary contributions to the plan totaled $1.1 million and $0.9 million for the years ended February 28 (29), 2011 and 2012, respectively. Approximately $0.4 million of the contribution for the year ended February 28, 2011 was made in the form of Class A common stock. All other discretionary contributions were made in cash.

c. Defined Contribution Health and Retirement Plan

Emmis contributes to a multi-employer defined contribution health and retirement plan for employees who are members of a certain labor union. Amounts charged to expense for continuing operations related to the multi-employer plan were approximately $0.5 million, $0.4 million and $0.4 million for the years ended February 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.