Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Jan. 01, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

We are subject to legal proceedings and other claims arising out of the conduct of our business, including proceedings and claims relating to commercial and financial transactions; government contracts; alleged lack of compliance with applicable laws and regulations; production partners; product liability; patent and trademark infringement; employment disputes; and environmental, safety and health matters.  Some of these legal proceedings and claims seek damages, fines or penalties in substantial amounts or remediation of environmental contamination.  As a government contractor, we are subject to audits, reviews and investigations to determine whether our operations are being conducted in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements.  Under federal government procurement regulations, certain claims brought by the U.S. Government could result in our suspension or debarment from U.S. Government contracting for a period of time.  On the basis of information presently available, we do not believe that existing proceedings and claims will have a material effect on our financial position or results of operations.

In the ordinary course of business, we enter into standby letter of credit agreements and surety bonds with financial institutions to meet various performance and other obligations.  These outstanding letter of credit arrangements and surety bonds aggregated to approximately $213 million and $216 million at January 1, 2022 and January 2, 2021, respectively.

Environmental Remediation

As with other industrial enterprises engaged in similar businesses, we are involved in a number of remedial actions under various federal and state laws and regulations relating to the environment that impose liability on companies to clean up, or contribute to the cost of cleaning up, sites on which hazardous wastes or materials were disposed or released.  Our accrued environmental liabilities relate to installation of remediation systems, disposal costs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oversight costs, legal fees, and operating and maintenance costs for both currently and formerly owned or operated facilities.  Circumstances that can affect the reliability and precision of the accruals include the identification of additional sites, environmental regulations, level of cleanup required, technologies available, number and financial condition of other contributors to remediation and the time period over which remediation may occur.  We believe that any changes to the accruals that may result from these factors and uncertainties will not have a material effect on our financial position or results of operations.

Based upon information currently available, we estimate that our potential environmental liabilities are within the range of $40 million to $140 million. At January 1, 2022, environmental reserves of $75 million have been established to address these specific estimated liabilities. We estimate that we will likely pay our accrued environmental remediation liabilities over the next ten years and have classified $17 million as current liabilities. In 2021, 2020 and 2019, to evaluate and remediate contaminated sites, we incurred expense, net of recoveries received, of $6 million, $7 million and $8 million, respectively.