EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

12 Months Ended

Sep. 28, 2024

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

Employee Benefit Plans

The Company has various defined contribution retirement plans that cover the majority of its domestic employees. These retirement plans permit participants to elect to have contributions made to the retirement plans in the form of salary deferrals. Under these retirement plans, the Company may match a portion of employee contributions. Amounts contributed by the Company were not material for any period presented herein.

The Company sponsors a deferred compensation plan for eligible employees that allows participants to defer payment of all or part of their compensation. Deferrals under this plan were immaterial. Assets associated with these plans were $47 million and $38 million as of September 28, 2024 and September 30, 2023, respectively. Liabilities associated with these plans were $47 million and $38 million as of September 28, 2024 and September 30, 2023, respectively. These amounts are recorded in other non-current assets and other long-term liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.

Defined benefit plans covering certain employees in the United States and Canada were frozen in 2001. During 2022, the Board of Directors approved the termination of the Company's frozen U.S. defined benefit plan, effective July 3, 2022. In connection with this termination, the Company purchased a group annuity contract for $6 million during 2022 that provides for the administration of future payments to eligible plan participants. In addition, the Company recorded a pension settlement charge of $2 million during 2022, which includes the reclassification of unrecognized pension losses from accumulated other comprehensive income to other expense on the consolidated statements of income.

The Company provides defined benefit pension plans in certain other countries. The assumptions used for calculating the pension benefit obligations for non-U.S. plans depend on the local economic environment and regulations. The measurement date for the Company's defined benefit plans is September 28, 2024.

The funded status and plan assets for the non-U.S defined benefit plans and amount reported on the consolidated balance sheets were as follows:


	As of
	September 28, 2024		September 30, 2023
	(In thousands)
Plan Assets	$	18,230	$	17,307
Projected Benefit Obligation	57,307		52,670
Underfunded Status	$	39,077	$	35,363

Current Liabilities	$	4,173	$	3,147
Non-current liabilities	34,904		32,216
Total liabilities	$	39,077	$	35,363

The Company’s investment strategy is designed to help ensure that sufficient pension assets are available to pay benefits as they become due. Plan assets are invested in mutual funds that are valued using the net asset value that is quoted in active markets (Level 1 input). These plans are managed consistent with regulations or market practices of the country in which the assets are invested. As of September 28, 2024, there were no significant concentrations of credit risk related to pension plan assets. All other amounts and assumptions were not material for any period presented herein.