Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Note 18. Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

Tel-Instruments Electronics Corp. Settlement

In July 2023, the Court of Appeals in the State of Kansas affirmed a lower court decision in a case filed by Aeroflex Wichita, (“Aeroflex”, a VIAVI subsidiary), against Tel-Instrument Electronics Corp. (TIC) and two of its employees with total damages of $7.3 million owed to VIAVI. The lower court case, filed by Aeroflex prior to the acquisition by VIAVI and affirmed by the Kansas Court of Appeals, awarded damages caused by tortious interference and improper use and disclosure of Aeroflex’s confidential and proprietary business information used by the defendants to win a competitive U.S. Army contract.

TIC did not file a petition to appeal the decision and acknowledged its obligation to pay damages in full. VIAVI subsequently then received total payments of $7.3 million from TIC and the two former employees and recorded a gain to Interest and other income, net in the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three months ended September 30, 2023.

U.K. Pension Settlement

In June 2016, the Company received a court decision regarding the validity of an amendment to a pension deed of trust related to one of its foreign subsidiaries which the Company contends contained an error requiring the Company to increase the pension plan’s benefit. The Company had subsequently further amended the deed to rectify the error. The court ruled that the amendment increasing the pension plan benefit was valid until the subsequent amendment. The Company estimated the liability to range from (amounts represented as £ denote GBP) £5.7 million to £8.4 million. The Company determined the likelihood of loss to be probable and accrued £5.7 million as of July 2, 2016 in accordance with authoritative guidance on contingencies.

The Company pursued an appeal of the court decision. In March 2018, the appellate court affirmed the decision of the lower court. The Company pursued a motion for summary judgement on the deed of rectification claim and continues to pursue a claim against the U.K. law firm responsible for the error. As of July 2, 2022, the related accrued pension liability of £5.4 million or $6.5 million was included in pension and post-employment benefits within Other non-current liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

In September 2022, the Company received a favorable court decision which removed completely and definitively the obligation to fund the increased pension benefit with retrospective effect to 1999. As a result of the judgment, and in accordance with authoritative guidance on contingencies, the Company reversed the liability and recorded a gain (reduction to SG&A expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations) of £5.7 million or $6.7 million during the three months ended October 1, 2022.

The Company is subject to a variety of claims and suits that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of its business. While management currently believes that resolving claims against the Company, individually or in aggregate, will not have a material adverse impact on its financial position, results of operations or statement of cash flows, these matters are subject to inherent uncertainties and management’s view of these matters may change in the future. Were an unfavorable final outcome to occur, there exists the possibility of a material adverse impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows for the period in which the effect becomes reasonably estimable.

Guarantees

Outstanding Letters of Credit, Performance Bonds and Other Claims

As of September 30, 2023, the Company had standby letters of credit of $6.9 million and performance bonds and other claims of $0.4 million collateralized by restricted cash.

Product Warranties

The following table presents the changes in the Company’s warranty reserve during the three months ended September 30, 2023 and October 1, 2022 (in millions):


	Three Months Ended
	September 30, 2023		October 1, 2022
Balance as of beginning of period	$	9.0	$	10.6
Provision for warranty	0.4		0.6
Utilization of reserve	(0.8)		(0.6)
Adjustments to pre-existing warranties (includes changes in estimates)	0.2		(1.1)

Balance as of end of period	$	8.8	$	9.5