EMPLOYEE SEPARATION ACTIONS

As part of our plan to realign our vehicle assembly capacity to operate profitably at the current demand and changing model mix, we have implemented a number of different employee separation plans. The accounting for employee separation plans is dependent on the specific design of the plans.

Under certain labor agreements, we are required to pay transitional benefits to our employees who are idled. For employees who will be temporarily idled, we expense the benefits on an as-incurred basis. For employees who will be permanently idled, we expense all of the future benefit payments in the period when it is probable that the employees will be permanently idled. Our reserve balance for these future benefit payments to permanently idled employees takes into account several factors: the demographics of the population at each affected facility, redeployment alternatives, estimate of benefits to be paid, and recent experience relative to voluntary redeployments.

We also incur payments to employees for separation actions. The costs of voluntary employee separation actions are recorded at the time of employee acceptance, unless the acceptance requires explicit approval by the Company. The costs of involuntary separation programs are accrued when management has approved the program and the affected employees are identified.

Automotive Sector

Transitional Benefits

Our collective bargaining agreements with the UAW and the CAW require us to pay a portion of wages and benefits for a specified period of time to employees who are considered permanently idled and who meet certain conditions. We have established a reserve for employee benefits that we expect to provide under our collective bargaining agreements. At December 31, 2012 and 2011, this reserve was $66 million and $153 million, respectively.

The balance in the reserve primarily relates to the closure of our St. Thomas Assembly Plant in Canada, which was announced in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Separation Actions

The following table shows pre-tax charges for hourly and salaried employee separation actions, which are recorded in Automotive cost of sales and Selling, administrative, and other expenses for the years ended December 31 (in millions):



	2012		2011		2010
Ford Europe	$	76	$	67	$	56
Ford North America	194		154		110
Ford South America	65		15		3
Ford Asia Pacific Africa	43		38		1

The charges above exclude costs for pension and OPEB.

Financial Services Sector

Separation Actions

We recorded in Selling, administrative, and other expenses pre-tax charges of $7 million, $32 million, and $33 million for 2012, 2011, and 2010, respectively, for employee separation actions. These charges exclude costs for pension and OPEB.