Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Jan. 25, 2020

We sponsor a defined contribution plan that provides retirement benefits to eligible employees who elect to participate (the “Dycom Plan”). Under the plan, participating employees may defer up to 75% of their base pre-tax eligible compensation up to the IRS limits. We contribute 30% of the first 5% of base eligible compensation that a participant contributes to the plan and may make discretionary matching contributions from time to time. Our contributions were $4.1 million, $3.5 million, $1.7 million, and $5.0 million related to fiscal 2020, fiscal 2019, the 2018 transition period, and fiscal 2017, respectively.

Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries contribute amounts to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans under the terms of collective bargaining agreements (“CBA”) that cover employees represented by unions. Contributions are generally based on fixed amounts per hour per employee for employees covered by the plan. Participating in a multiemployer plan entails risks 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 allocated to the remaining participating employers; and


•	if the Company stops participating in the multiemployer plan, the Company may be required to pay the plan an amount based on the underfunded status of the plan. This payment is referred to as a withdrawal liability.

The information available to us about the multiemployer plans in which we participate is generally dated due to the nature of the reporting cycle of multiemployer plans and legal requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act. Based upon the most recently available annual reports, our contribution to each of the plans was less than 5% of each plan’s total contributions. All plans are presented in the aggregate in the following table (dollars in thousands):



	Company Contributions								Expiration Date of CBA
	Fiscal Year Ended		Fiscal Year Ended		Six Months Ended		Fiscal Year Ended
Fund	2020		2019		2018		2017
All Plans	$	362	$	726	$	319	$	384	Various

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, one of the Company’s subsidiaries, which previously contributed to the Pension, Hospitalization and Benefit Plan of the Electrical Industry - Pension Trust Fund (the “Withdrawal Dispute Plan”), ceased operations. In October 2016, the Withdrawal Dispute Plan demanded payment for a claimed withdrawal liability of approximately $13.0 million. In December 2016, we submitted a formal request seeking review of the withdrawal liability determination. We dispute the claim that we are required to make payment of a withdrawal liability as we believe there is a statutory exemption under ERISA that applies to our activities. The Withdrawal Dispute Plan has taken the position that the work at issue does not qualify for the statutory exemption. We have submitted this dispute to arbitration, as required by ERISA, with a hearing expected during calendar year 2020. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in asserting the statutory exemption as a defense in the arbitration proceeding. As required by ERISA, in November 2016, the subsidiary began making monthly withdrawal liability payments to the Withdrawal Dispute Plan in the amount of approximately $0.1 million. If we prevail in disputing the withdrawal liability, all such payments are expected to be refunded.