Commitments and Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Jul. 28, 2012

Commitments and Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

NOTE 9: COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Legal

On February 2, 2011, the plaintiffs in Dawn Till and Mary Josephs v. Saks Incorporated et al, filed a complaint, with which we were served on March 10, 2011, in a purported class and collective action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges that the plaintiffs were improperly classified as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the California Labor Code and that we failed to pay overtime, provide itemized wage statements and provide meal and rest periods. On March 8, 2011, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint adding a claim for penalties under the California Private Attorneys General Act of 2004. The plaintiffs seek to proceed collectively under the FLSA and as a class under the California statutes on behalf of individuals who have been employed by OFF 5TH as Selling and Service Managers, Merchandise Team Managers, or Department Managers and similar titles. On February 8, 2012, the same plaintiffs' counsel from the Tillcase filed a complaint, with which we were served on March 2, 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging essentially the same FLSA claim and related claims under New York state law (Tate – Small et al v. Saks Incorporated et al). This case was subsequently transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.We believe that our managers at OFF 5TH have been properly classified as exempt under both federal and state law and we intend to defend these lawsuits vigorously. It is not possible to predict whether the courts will permit these actions to proceed collectively or as a class.We cannot reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss, if any, that may arise from these matters.

In addition to the litigation described in the preceding paragraph, we are involved in legal proceedings arising from our normal business activities and have accruals for losses where appropriate. Management believes that none of these legal proceedings will have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, or liquidity.

Taxes

We are routinely under examination by federal, state or local taxing authorities in the areas of income taxes and the remittance of sales and use taxes. These examinations include questioning the timing and amount of deductions, the allocation of income among various tax jurisdictions and compliance with federal, state and local tax laws. Based on annual evaluations of our tax filing positions, we believewe have adequately accrued for ourtax exposures. To the extent weare to prevail in matters for which accruals have been established or are required to pay amounts in excess of income tax reserves, our effective tax rate in a given financial statement period may be materially impacted.As of July 28, 2012, certain state sales and use tax examinations were ongoing.

Other Matters

From time to time we have issued guarantees to landlords under leases of stores operated by our subsidiaries. Certain of these stores were sold in connection with the Saks Department Store Group and the Northern Department Store Group transactions which occurred in July 2005 and March 2006, respectively. If the purchasers fail to perform certain obligations under the leases we guaranteed, we could have obligations to landlords under such guarantees. Based on the information currently available, we do not believe that our potential obligations under these lease guarantees would be material.