Employee Retirement and Deferred Compensation Plans

12 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2021

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Employee Retirement and Deferred Compensation Plans

Employee Retirement and Deferred Compensation Plans

Salary Deferral Savings Plans

We maintain salary deferral savings plans covering substantially all employees. We recognized an expense, net of plan forfeitures, with respect to the plans of $15.5 million, $6.1 million, and $14.1 million for the fiscal years ended October 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively, which is included in “Selling, general and administrative” expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income.

Deferred Compensation Plan

We have an unfunded, nonqualified deferred compensation plan that permits eligible employees to defer a portion of their compensation. The deferred compensation, together with certain of our contributions, earns various rates of return depending upon when the compensation was deferred. A portion of the deferred compensation and interest earned may be forfeited by a participant if he or she elects to withdraw the compensation prior to the end of the deferral period. We accrued $36.3 million and $35.1 million at October 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, for our obligations under the plan.

Defined Benefit Retirement Plans

We have two unfunded defined benefit retirement plans. Retirement benefits generally vest when the participant reaches normal retirement age. Unrecognized prior service costs are being amortized over the period from the date participants enter the plans until their interests are fully vested. We used a 2.27%, 1.95%, and 2.61% discount rate in our calculation of the present value of our projected benefit obligations at October 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. The rates represent the approximate long-term investment rate at October 31 of the fiscal year for which the present value was calculated. Information related to the plans is based on actuarial information calculated as of October 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

Information related to our retirement plans for each of the fiscal years ended October 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, is as follows (amounts in thousands):

	2021		2020		2019
Plan costs:
Service cost	$	452	$	453	$	403
Interest cost	926		1,158		1,416
Amortization of prior service cost	1,723		1,468		506
Amortization of unrecognized losses	77		23		—
	$	3,178	$	3,102	$	2,325
Projected benefit obligation:
Beginning of year	$	48,374	$	45,070	$	35,515
Plan amendments adopted during year	755		2,600		4,956
Service cost	452		453		403
Interest cost	926		1,158		1,416
Benefit payments	(1,894)		(1,636)		(1,358)
Change in unrecognized gain/loss	(908)		729		4,138
Projected benefit obligation, end of year	$	47,705	$	48,374	$	45,070
Unamortized prior service cost:
Beginning of year	$	6,452	$	5,320	$	870
Plan amendments adopted during year	755		2,600		4,956
Amortization of prior service cost	(1,723)		(1,468)		(506)
Unamortized prior service cost, end of year	$	5,484	$	6,452	$	5,320
Accumulated unrecognized loss, October 31	$	(2,288)	$	(3,273)	$	(2,567)
Accumulated benefit obligation, October 31	$	47,705	$	48,374	$	45,070
Accrued benefit obligation, October 31	$	47,705	$	48,374	$	45,070

The accrued benefit obligation is included in accrued expenses on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The table below provides, based upon the estimated retirement dates of the participants in the retirement plans, the amounts of benefits we would be required to pay in each of the next five fiscal years and for the five fiscal years ended October 31, 2031 in the aggregate (in thousands):

Year ending October 31,	Amount
2022	$	2,597
2023	$	2,809
2024	$	3,062
2025	$	3,327
2026	$	3,629
November 1, 2026 – October 31, 2031	$	17,506