INCENTIVE PLANS AND STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

On March 23, 2009, the shareholders of CLARCOR approved the 2009 Incentive Plan, which replaced the 2004 Incentive Plan. The 2009 Incentive Plan allows the Company to grant stock options, restricted stock unit awards, restricted stock, performance awards and other awards to officers, directors and key employees of up to 3,800,000 shares during a ten-year period that ends in December 2019. Upon share option exercise or restricted stock unit award conversion, the Company issues new shares unless treasury shares are available. The key provisions of the Company’s stock-based incentive plans are described in Note M of the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements included in the 2011 Form 10-K.

Stock Options

Nonqualified stock options are granted at exercise prices equal to the market price of CLARCOR common stock at the date of grant, which is the date the Company’s Board of Directors approves the grant and the participants receive it. The Company’s Board of Directors determines the vesting requirements for stock options at the time of grant and may accelerate vesting. In general, options granted to key employees vest 25% per year beginning at the end of the first year; therefore, they become fully exercisable at the end of four years. Vesting may be accelerated in the event of retirement, disability or death of a participant or change in control of the Company. Options granted to non-employee directors vest immediately. All options expire ten years from the date of grant unless otherwise terminated.

The following table summarizes information related to stock options and stock option exercises during the three months ended March 3, 2012 and February 26, 2011.



	Three Months Ended
	March 3, 2012			February 26, 2011
Pre-tax compensation expense	$	2,127		$	1,873
Deferred tax benefits	(782		)	(688		)
Excess tax benefits associated with tax deductions over the amount of compensation expense recognized in the consolidated condensed financial statements	2,227			657
Fair value of stock options on date of grant	5,546			4,921
Total intrinsic value of stock options exercised	7,000			2,048
Cash received upon exercise of stock options	2,675			2,191
Tax benefit realized from exercise of stock options, net	2,222			655
Addition to capital in excess of par value due to exercise of stock options	3,287			2,750

The following table summarizes activity with respect to stock options granted by the Company and includes options granted under the 1994 Incentive Plan, the 2004 Incentive Plan and the 2009 Incentive Plan.



	Options Granted Under Incentive Plans	Weighted Average Exercise Price
Outstanding at beginning of year	2,907,533	$	32.39
Granted	453,350	$	49.91
Exercised	(263,344)	$	24.27
Surrendered	(7,831)	$	36.48
Outstanding at end of period	3,089,708	$	35.64

Exercisable at end of period	2,058,631	$	31.82

At March 3, 2012, there was $7,078 of unrecognized compensation cost related to option awards which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted-average period of 2.93 years.

The following table summarizes information about the Company’s outstanding and exercisable options at March 3, 2012.



	Options Outstanding						Options Exercisable
Range of Exercise Prices	Number	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Intrinsic Value		Weighted Average Remaining Life in Years	Number	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Intrinsic Value		Weighted Average Remaining Life in Years
$16.15 - $22.80	169,475	$	21.03	$	4,861	1.66	169,475	$	21.03	$	4,861	1.66
$25.31 - $38.06	1,993,546	$	31.90	35,512		5.49	1,728,018	$	31.81	30,934		5.18
$40.73 - $44.07	473,587	$	43.00	3,176		8.83	161,138	$	43.31	1,031		8.90
$49.91	453,100	$	49.91	—		9.79	0	$	—	—		0.00

	3,089,708	$	35.64	$	43,549	6.42	2,058,631	$	31.82	$	36,826	5.18

The fair value of each option grant is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following weighted average assumptions by grant year.



	Three Months Ended
	March 3, 2012			February 26, 2011
Weighted average fair value per option at the date of grant for options granted	$	12.23		$	11.39
Risk-free interest rate	1.28		%	2.42		%
Expected dividend yield	0.96		%	0.98		%
Expected volatility factor	26.79		%	25.84		%
Expected option term in years	5.8			6.1

The expected option term in years selected for options granted during each period presented represents the period of time that the options are expected to be outstanding based on historical data of option holder exercise and termination behavior. Expected volatilities are based upon historical volatility of the Company’s monthly stock closing prices over a period equal to the expected life of each option grant. The risk-free interest rate is selected based on yields from U.S. Treasury zero-coupon issues with a remaining term approximately equal to the expected term of the options being valued. Expected dividend yield is based on the estimated dividend yield determined on the date of issuance.

Restricted Stock Unit Awards

The Company’s restricted stock unit awards are considered nonvested share awards. The restricted stock unit awards require no payment from the employee. Compensation cost is recorded based on the market price of the stock on the grant date and is recorded equally over the vesting period of four years. During the vesting period, officers and key employees receive compensation equal to the amount of dividends declared on common shares they would have been entitled to receive had the shares been issued. Upon vesting, employees may elect to defer receipt of their shares. There were 98,587 and 103,390 vested and deferred shares at March 3, 2012 and December 3, 2011, respectively.

The following table summarizes information related to restricted stock unit awards during the three months ended March 3, 2012 and February 26, 2011.



	Three Months Ended
	March 3, 2012			February 26, 2011
Pre-tax compensation expense	$	779		$	732
Deferred tax benefits	(286		)	(269		)
Excess tax benefits associated with tax deductions over the amount of compensation expense recognized in the consolidated condensed financial statements	75			127
Fair value of restricted stock unit awards on date of grant	1,489			1,263
Fair value of restricted stock unit awards vested	997			898

The following table summarizes the restricted stock unit awards.



	Units		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Nonvested at beginning of year	71,545		$	36.95
Granted	29,839		$	49.91
Vested	(27,710	)	$	35.99
Nonvested at end of period	73,674		$	42.56

As of March 3, 2012, there was $1,496 of total unrecognized compensation cost related to restricted stock unit awards which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted-average period of 2.90 years.