Retirement Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Retirement Plans

Retirement Plans

As of December 31, 2011, we maintained one qualified defined contribution plan in addition to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Our qualified defined contribution plan covers substantially all employees and complies with Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code. Under this plan, we stipulated a basic matching contribution that matches a portion of the participants' contribution based upon a defined schedule. Additionally, this plan contains a discretionary contribution component where the Company may contribute additional amounts based on a percentage of eligible employees' compensation. Contributions are invested by an independent investment company in one or more of several investment alternatives. The choice of investment alternatives is at the election of each participating employee. Our contributions to the plan were approximately $23.8 million, $22.9 million and $22.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

On December 18, 1998, the Board of Directors approved the establishment of a qualified ESOP, effective January 1, 1999, for the benefit of substantially all of our U.S. domestic-based employees. The ESOP is non-leveraged and is funded entirely through Company contributions based on a percentage of eligible employee compensation, as defined in the plan. Participants must be employees of the Company or eligible Company subsidiaries and must meet minimum service requirements to be eligible for annual contributions. The ESOP specifies a five-year vesting schedule over which participants become vested in the Class A common stock allocated to their participant account. The amount of our annual contribution to the ESOP is at the discretion of our Board of Directors.

For the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, we recorded $3.6 million, $3.4 million and $3.0 million, respectively, as compensation expense related to ESOP contributions. Shares contributed to the ESOP for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, were 116,087; 81,730; and 84,991, respectively, of Class A common stock. There were no unearned ESOP shares at December 31, 2011 and 2010.

As required under ASC 714-40, Employee Stock Ownership Plans, compensation expense is recorded for shares committed to be released to employees based on the fair market value of those shares in the period in which they are committed to be released. For the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, new shares were issued to satisfy this obligation.

We also maintain an Employee Supplemental Savings Plan (ESSP), a non-qualified deferred compensation plan, for certain key employees. Under this plan, eligible employees may defer up to 75% of qualified annual base compensation and 100% of bonus. In the ESSP, participant deferral accounts are credited with a rate of return based on investment elections as selected by the participant. The assets related to the ESSP are held in a rabbi trust owned by the Company for benefit of the participating employees. The trust investments are in the form of variable universal life insurance products, which are owned by the Company. These investments seek to replicate the return of the participant investment elections. Participant contributions to this plan were approximately $4.5 million, $4.2 million and $4.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

We maintain nonqualified supplemental defined benefit pension plan for certain retired employees of an acquired company. These plans were informally and partially funded beginning in 1999 through a rabbi trust. Assets held in a rabbi trust are not eligible to be included in the calculation of plan status. At both December 31, 2011 and 2010, 100% of the rabbi trust assets were invested in a money market account with a commercial bank. All covered employees retired prior to 1998. Our benefit obligation at December 31, 2011 and 2010 was $1.5 million and $1.5 million, respectively.