COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Mar. 29, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

We lease facilities and certain equipment under operating leases expiring at various dates through fiscal 2020. Facility leases require us to pay certain insurance expenses, maintenance costs and real estate taxes.

Approximate future basic rental commitments under operating leases as of March 29, 2014 are as follows (in thousands):

Fiscal Year Ending
(In thousands)
2015	$	6,991
2016	5,141
2017	3,357
2018	2,627
2019 and thereafter	4,812
	$	22,928

Rent expense in fiscal 2014, 2013, and 2012 was $7.7 million, $7.0 million and $6.1 million, respectively. Some of the Company's operating leases include renewal provisions, escalation clauses and options to purchase the facilities that we lease.

We are presently engaged in various legal actions, and although our ultimate liability cannot be determined at the present time, we believe that any such liability will not materially affect our consolidated financial position or our results of operations.

Fenwal (Fresenius) Patent Infringement

For the past seven years, we have pursued patent infringement lawsuits against Fenwal Inc. seeking an injunction and damages from their infringement of a Haemonetics patent, through the sale of the ALYX brand automated red cell collection system, a competitor of our automated red cell collection systems.

Most recently, we have pursued a patent infringement action in Germany against Fenwal, and its European and German subsidiary. On September 20, 2010, we filed a patent infringement action in Germany. In response, Fenwal filed an action to invalidate the Haemonetics patent which is the subject of this infringement action on December 1, 2010. In January 2014, we received a final ruling which narrowed the scope of our patent. This ruling will prevent us from further claims of infringement and effectively ends our claims against Fenwal.

Italian Employment Litigation

We have recently received notices from employees of the facility in Ascoli-Piceno, Italy where we are discontinuing operations of claimed violations of employment related contracts. Seventy-two employees served actions in February 2014 claiming their working conditions should have been established by the national collective bargaining agreement for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries rather than the one actually used. They claim applying the alternative bargaining agreement would have resulted in slightly higher minimum salaries according to their job functions. Also in February, sixty-eight employees served actions claiming that certain solidarity agreements are void. Solidarity agreements are arrangements between the company, employees and the government to continue full pay and benefits for employees who would otherwise be terminated in times of low demand. As of March 29, 2014, the total amount of damages claimed by the plaintiffs in these matters is approximately $3.5 million, however it is not possible at this point in the proceedings to accurately evaluate the likelihood or amount of any potential losses. As such, no amounts are accrued. We may receive other, similar claims, in the future.