Employee Benefit Plans

Savings and Retirement Plans

We maintain a defined contribution savings and retirement plan that allows employees to make pre-tax and after-tax contributions. Under the plan, participating employees may elect to contribute up to 50% of their eligible earnings (subject to IRS rules and regulations) and are eligible to receive a company match of up to $600. Participating employees become vested in matching contributions on a pro-rata basis over five years of credited service. Our contribution expense for this plan was $13 million, $13 million, and $10 million for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively.

We maintain several supplemental executive retirement plans (“SERP”) to provide additional retirement benefits to a select group of former executives. The total liability reported in deferred credits and other for the SERP plans was $33 million as of December 31, 2014, and $30 million as of December 31, 2013.

Pension Commitments

We have a defined benefit plan for employees of our London Clubs International subsidiary that provides benefits based on final pensionable salary. The assets of the plan are held in a separate trustee-administered fund and death-in-service benefits, professional fees, and other expenses are paid by the pension plan. We account for this plan under the immediate recognition method, under which actuarial gains and losses are recognized in operating results in the year in which the gains and losses occur rather than deferring them into Other Comprehensive Loss and amortizing them over future periods. Any such amounts are recorded in the fourth quarter of each year, and during the fourth quarter of 2014, we recognized $21 million.

As of December 31, 2014, total plan assets were $208 million with total projected benefit obligation totaling $293 million, resulting in a net pension liability of $85 million. Our estimated long term expected return on assets for this plan, which has been frozen since 2010 is 5.7%, with a 3.4% discount rate.

Multiemployer Pension Plan

The Company contributes to a number of multiemployer defined benefit pension plans under the terms of collective-bargaining agreements that cover its union-represented employees. The risks of participating in these multiemployer plans are different from a single-employer plan in the following aspects:


a.	Assets contributed to the multiemployer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers.


b.	If a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan may be borne by the remaining participating employers.


c.	If the Company chooses to stop participating in some of its multiemployer plans, the Company may be required to pay those plans an amount based on the underfunded status of the plan, referred to as a “withdrawal liability.”

Multiemployer Pension Plan Participation

		Pension Protection Act Zone Status ⁽¹⁾			Contributions (In millions)
Pension Fund	EIN/Pension Plan Number	2014	2013	FIP/RP Status ⁽²⁾	2014		2013		2012		Surcharge Imposed	Expiration Date of Collective-Bargaining Agreement
Southern Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Pension Plan	88-6016617/001	Green	Green	No	$	18	$	20	$	19	No	May 31, 2018
Pension Plan of the UNITE HERE National Retirement Fund⁽⁴⁾	13-6130178/001	Red	Red	Yes	14		14		14		No	March 14, 2015
Local 68 Engineers Union Pension Plan ⁽³⁾	51-0176618/001	Green	Yellow	No	1		2		2		No	April 30, 2017
NJ Carpenters Pension Fund	22-6174423/001	Yellow	Yellow	Yes	—		1		—		No	April 30, 2017
Painters IUPAT	52-6073909/001	Yellow	Yellow	Yes	1		1		1		No	Various up to April 2017
Other Funds					12		12		12
Total Contributions					$	46	$	50	$	48

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⁽¹⁾	Represents the Pension Protection Act (“PPA”) zone status for applicable plan year beginning January 1, 2014, except where noted otherwise.


⁽²⁾	Indicates plans for which a financial improvement plan (“FIP”) or a rehabilitation plan (“RP”) is either pending or has been implemented.


⁽³⁾	Plan years begin July 1.


⁽⁴⁾	As described in Note 22, “Subsequent Events - Other,” in 2015, the Pension Plan of the UNITE HERE National Retirement Fund voted to expel Caesars Entertainment and its participating subsidiaries from the plan.

The zone status is based on information that the Company received from the plan administrator and is certified by the plan’s actuary. Among other factors, plans in the red zone are generally less than 65% funded, plans in the yellow zone are between 65% and less than 80% funded, and plans in the green zone are at least 80% funded. All plans detailed in the table above utilized extended amortization provisions to calculate zone status.

Plans with Company Contributions in Excess of 5% of Total Plan Contributions

Pension Fund		Applicable Plan Years
Pension Plan of the UNITE HERE National Retirement Fund		2013 and 2012
Southern Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Pension Plan		2013 and 2012
Local 68 Engineers Union Pension Plan		2013 and 2012
Nevada Resort Association IATSE Local 720 Retirement Plan		2013 and 2012

At the date these financial statements were issued, Forms 5500 were not available for the plan year ending in 2014.

Deferred Compensation Plans

The Company has six frozen deferred compensation plans. Amounts deposited into these deferred compensation plans are unsecured liabilities of the Company. The total liability recorded in deferred credits and other for these plans is $80 million and $84 million as of December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Company matching contributions to the active plan were suspended beginning in February 2009, though participants continue to vest in contributions made prior to that date.

The six frozen plans that contain deferred compensation assets are as follows: (1) Harrah’s Executive Deferred Compensation Plan (“EDCP”), (2) the Harrah’s Executive Supplemental Savings Plan (“ESSP”), (3) Harrah’s Deferred Compensation Plan (“HDCP”), (4) the Restated Park Place Entertainment Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan, and (5) the Caesars World, Inc. Executive Security Plan and (6) the Caesars Entertainment Corporation Executive Supplemental Savings Plan II (“ESSP II”). Employees may no longer contribute to these plans.