Employee Incentive Plans

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Employee Incentive Plans [Abstract]

Employee Incentive Plans

9. Employee Incentive Plans

Short-term Incentive Plans (“STI Plans”)

     The Company has a short-term incentive compensation plan for senior management and certain other employees payable at the Company’s election in cash, shares of common stock, or a combination of cash and shares of common stock. Amounts earned under the plan are based primarily on EVA of the Company’s core Fabricated Products business, adjusted for certain safety and performance factors. Most of the Company’s production facilities have similar programs for both hourly and salaried employees.

     Total costs relating to STI Plans were recorded as follows, for each period presented:

	Quarter Ended				Six Months Ended
	June 30,				June 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Cost of products sold	$	0.8	$	0.7	$	1.9	$	1.3
Selling, administrative, research and development and general		1.5		1.4		2.6		2.8
Total costs recorded in connection with STI Plans	$	2.3	$	2.1	$	4.5	$	4.1

     The following table presents the allocation of the charges detailed above, by segment:

	Quarter Ended				Six Months Ended
	June 30,				June 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Fabricated Products	$	1.7	$	1.3	$	3.4	$	2.6
All Other		0.6		0.8		1.1		1.5
Total costs recorded in connection with STI Plans	$	2.3	$	2.1	$	4.5	$	4.1

     Long- term Incentive Programs

     General. Officers and other key employees of the Company or one or more of its subsidiaries, as well as directors of the Company, are eligible to participate in the Kaiser Aluminum Corporation 2006 Equity and Performance Incentive Plan (as amended, the “Equity Incentive Plan”). The Equity Incentive Plan permits the granting of awards in the form of options to purchase common shares, stock appreciation rights, shares of non-vested and vested stock, restricted stock units, performance shares, performance units and other awards. The Equity Incentive Plan will expire on July 6, 2016, and no grants will be made thereunder after that date. The Company’s Board of Directors may, in its discretion, terminate the Equity Incentive Plan at any time. The termination of the Equity Incentive Plan will not affect the rights of participants or their successors under any awards outstanding and not exercised in full on the date of termination, and all grants made on or prior to the date of termination will remain in effect thereafter subject to the terms of the applicable grant agreement and the Equity Incentive Plan. Subject to certain adjustments that may be required from time-to-time to prevent dilution or enlargement of the rights of participants under the Equity Incentive Plan, a total of 2,722,222 common shares have been authorized for issuance under the Equity Incentive Plan. At June 30, 2011, 833,969 common shares were available for additional awards under the Equity Incentive Plan. Compensation charges relating to all awards under the Equity Incentive Plan are included in Selling, administrative, research and development expenses.

     Non-vested Common Shares, Restricted Stock Units, and Performance Shares. The Company grants non-vested common shares to its non-employee directors, executive officers and other key employees. The non-vested common shares granted to non-employee directors are generally subject to a one-year vesting requirement. The non-vested common shares granted to executive officers and senior management are generally subject to a three-year cliff vesting requirement. The non-vested common shares granted to other key employees are generally subject to a three-year graded vesting requirement. In addition to non-vested common shares, the Company also grants restricted stock units to certain employees. The restricted stock units have rights similar to the rights of non-vested common shares, and the employee will receive one common share for each restricted stock unit upon the vesting of the restricted stock unit. With the exception of restricted stock units granted to eligible employees of the Company’s French subsidiary, restricted stock units are generally subject to a three-year graded vesting requirement, with one-third of the restricted stock units vesting on each of the first, second and third anniversary of the grant date. Restricted stock units granted to eligible employees of the Company’s French subsidiary vest two-thirds on the second anniversary of the grant date and one-third on the third anniversary of the grant date.

     The Company also grants performance shares to executive officers and other key employees. Such awards are subject to performance requirements pertaining to the Company’s EVA performance (as set forth in each year’s LTI program), measured over the applicable three-year performance period. EVA is a measure of the excess of the Company’s adjusted pre-tax operating income for a particular year over a pre-determined percentage of the adjusted net assets of the immediately preceding year. The number of performance shares, if any, that will ultimately vest and result in the issuance of common shares depends on the average annual EVA achieved for the specified three-year performance periods. During the quarter ended March 31, 2011, a portion of the performance shares granted under the 2008-2010 LTI program vested (see “Summary of Activity” below). The vesting of performance shares and resulting issuance and delivery of common shares, if any, under the 2009-2011 LTI program, 2010-2012 LTI program and 2011-2013 LTI program will occur in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. Holders of performance shares do not receive voting rights through the ownership of such performance shares.

     Stock Options. As of June 30, 2011, the Company had 22,077 fully-vested and exercisable outstanding options issued to executive of $80.01 per share and have a remaining contractual life of 5.75 years. The average fair value of the options granted was $39.90. No new options were granted and no existing options were forfeited or exercised during the six months ended June 30, 2011.

     Vested Stock. From time-to-time, the Company issues common shares to non-employee directors electing to receive common shares in lieu of all or a portion of their annual retainer fees. The fair value of these common shares is based on the fair value of the shares at the date of issuance and is immediately recognized in earnings as a period expense. For the quarters ended June 30, 2011 and June 30, 2010, the Company recorded $0.2 and $0.1, respectively, relating to common shares granted to non-employee directors in lieu of all or a portion of their annual retainer fees.

     Under the Equity Incentive Plan, participants may elect to have the Company withhold common shares to satisfy statutory tax withholding obligations arising in connection with the vesting of non-vested shares, restricted stock units and performance shares. Any such shares withheld are cancelled by the Company on the applicable vesting dates, which correspond to the times at which income to the employee is recognized. When the Company withholds these common shares, the Company is required to remit to the appropriate taxing authorities the fair value of the shares withheld as of the vesting date. During six month periods ended June 30, 2011 and June 30, 2010, 23,078 and 9,984 commons shares, respectively, were withheld and cancelled for this purpose.

     Non-cash Compensation Expense. Recorded costs by type of award under LTI programs were as follows, for each period presented:

	Quarter Ended				Six Months Ended
	June 30,				June 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Service-based vested and non-vested common shares and restricted stock units	$	0.9	$	1.0	$	1.9	$	2.0
Performance shares		0.3		0.3		0.7		0.8
Service-based stock options		—		—		—		0.1
Total non-cash compensation expense	$	1.2	$	1.3	$	2.6	$	2.9

     The following table presents the allocation of the charges detailed above, by segment:

	Quarter Ended				Six Months Ended
	June 30,				June 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Fabricated Products	$	0.4	$	0.4	$	0.8	$	0.9
All Other		0.8		0.9		1.8		2.0
Total non-cash compensation expense	$	1.2	$	1.3	$	2.6	$	2.9

     Unrecognized Gross Compensation Cost Data.

     The following data are presented as of June 30, 2011:

     Unrecognized gross compensation costs, by type of award:

Service-based vested and non-vested common shares and restricted stock units	$	5.1
Performance shares	$	5.3

     Expected period (in years) over which the remaining gross compensation costs will be recognized, by type of award:

Service-based vested and non-vested common shares and restricted stock units	2.0
Performance shares	2.5

Summary of Activity. A summary of the activity with respect to non-vested common shares, restricted stock units and performance shares for the six months ended June 30, 2011 is as follows:

	Non-Vested					Restricted					Performance
	Common Shares					Stock Units					Shares
				Weighted-Average					Weighted-Average					Weighted-Average
				Grant-Date Fair					Grant-Date Fair					Grant-Date Fair
	Shares			Value per Share		Units			Value per Unit		Shares			Value per Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2010		268,864		$	27.91		7,872		$	21.74		686,895		$	26.84
Granted		76,803			47.19		2,182			46.59		186,918			46.59
Vested		(62,028	)		51.63		(3,314	)		16.83		(10,585	)		74.34
Forfeited		—			—		—			—		—			—
Cancelled		—			—		—			—		(68,799	)		74.34
Outstanding at June 30, 2011		283,639		$	27.95		6,740		$	32.20		794,429		$	26.74

A summary of select activity with respect to non-vested common shares, restricted stock units and performance shares for the six months ended June 30, 2010 is as follows:

	Non-Vested					Restricted					Performance
	Common Shares					Stock Units					Shares
				Weighted-Average					Weighted-Average					Weighted-Average
				Grant-Date Fair					Grant-Date Fair					Grant-Date Fair
	Shares			Value per Share		Units			Value per Unit		Shares			Value per Share
Granted		96,850		$	34.31		2,362		$	36.23		205,789		$	34.13
Vested		(75,680	)	$	52.92		(686	)	$	37.79		(609	)	$	31.02