EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

12 Months Ended

Jul. 28, 2012

12. Employee Benefit Plans

The Company sponsors a defined contribution plan that provides retirement benefits to eligible employees that elect to participate. Under the plan, participating employees may defer up to 15% of their base pre-tax compensation. The Company contributes 30% of the first 5% of base compensation that a participant contributes to the plan. The Company’s contributions were $1.2 million, $1.0 million, and $1.2 million in fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

One of the Company’s subsidiaries participates in a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan (“the Multi-Employer Plan”) under the terms of collective-bargaining agreements that covers approximately 225 of its employees. The subsidiary makes periodic contributions to the Multi-Employer Plan to meet the benefit obligations. During fiscal 2012, 2011, and 2010, the subsidiary contributed approximately $2.9 million, $3.8 million, and $5.5 million, respectively, to the Multi-Employer Plan.

The risks of participating in a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan are different from single-employer plans in the following aspects:

assets contributed to the multiemployer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers;

if a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan may be inherited by the remaining participating employers; and

if the Company chooses to stop participating in the Multi-Employer Plan, the Company may be required to pay the plan an amount based on the underfunded status of the plan, referred to as a withdrawal liability.

The Company adopted Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-09, Compensation – Retirement Benefits – Multiemployer Plans (Subtopic 715-80): Disclosures about an Employer’s Participation in a Multiemployer Plan (“ASU 2011-09”) as of July 28, 2012. In accordance with ASU 2011-09, the Company has assessed and determined that the Multi-Employer Plan to which it contributes is not individually significant. Additionally, the Company does not expect to incur a withdrawal liability or expect to significantly increase its contributions over the remainder of the contract period.