Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefit Plans

Note 13.  Employee Benefit Plans

Active Benefit Plans

Profit-Sharing Plan

All associates who meet certain age and service requirements are eligible to participate in the Company's profit-sharing plan.  Discretionary profit-sharing contributions and related expenses, if any, are approved solely by the First Busey board of directors, and in no case may annual contributions be greater than the amounts deductible for federal income tax purposes for that year.

The rights of participants in the profit-sharing plan vest ratably over a five-year period, except for the 401(k) Safe Harbor match component of the profit-sharing plan, which vests immediately.

Terminated Benefit Plans

Employees’ Stock Ownership Plan

Prior to 2014, the First Busey ESOP was available to all associates who met certain age and service requirements.  Effective March 20, 2014, the ESOP was frozen, all shares were fully vested, and there were no new contributions under the ESOP.  On October 31, 2019, First Busey’s board of directors elected to terminate the ESOP.  First Busey filed a determination letter with the Internal Revenue Service on February 10, 2020.  During 2020, First Busey received a favorable determination ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, and all plan assets were distributed by the end of the year.

Deferred Compensation Plan

The Company previously sponsored deferred compensation plans for executive officers for deferral of compensation.  Effective March 28, 2018, the deferred compensation plans were terminated, and account balances were distributed in April 2019.  There was no deferred compensation liability balance as of December 31, 2021, or 2020.

Benefit Plan Expenses

Expenses related to our employee benefit plans, reported in salaries, wages, and employee benefits in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income, are summarized in the table below (dollars in thousands):

	Years Ended December 31,
	2021		2020		2019
Employee benefit plan expenses
Profit-sharing plan	$	6,531	$	5,982	$	5,777
Deferred compensation plan		—		—		80
Total employee benefit plan expenses	$	6,531	$	5,982	$	5,857