Employee Benefit Plans

Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan: The Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan (the “Plan”) is a defined contribution plan covering all employees except employees covered by collective bargaining agreements and employees of our consolidated construction joint ventures. Each employee can elect to have up to 50% of gross pay, not to exceed $16,500, contributed to the Plan on a before-tax basis. Our 401(k) matching contributions can be up to 6% of an employee’s gross pay and are available at the discretion of the Board of Directors. Profit sharing contributions from the Company may be made to the Plan in an amount determined by the Board of Directors. Our 401(k) matching contributions to the Plan for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 were $0.3 million, $9.0 million and $9.9 million, respectively. We made no profit sharing contributions during the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan: We offer a Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan (“NQDC Plan”) to a select group of our highly compensated employees. The NQDC Plan provides participants the opportunity to defer payment of certain compensation as defined in the NQDC Plan and provides for a company matching contribution. In October 2008, a Rabbi Trust was established to fund our NQDC Plan obligation and was fully funded as of December 31, 2011. The assets held by the Rabbi Trust at December 31, 2011 are substantially in the form of company owned life insurance. As of December 31, 2011, there were approximately 61 active participants in the NQDC Plan. NQDC Plan obligations were $25.0 million as of December 31, 2011 and $28.4 million as of December 31, 2010.

Multi-employer Pension Plans: Two of our wholly owned subsidiaries, Granite Construction Company and Granite Construction Northeast, Inc. (formerly Granite Halmar Construction Company, Inc.) also contribute to various multi-employer pension plans on behalf of union employees. The risks of participating in these multiemployer plans are different from single-employer plans in the following aspects:


•	Assets contributed to the multi-employer 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 borne by the remaining participating employers.


•	If we chose to stop participating in some of the multi-employer plans, we may be required to pay those plans an amount based on the underfunded status of the plan, referred to as a withdrawal liability.

The following table presents our participation in these plans (dollars in thousands):



	Pension Plan Employer Identification Number	Pension Protection Act (“PPA”) Certified Zone Status¹		FIP / RP Status Pending / Implemented²	Contributions						Surcharge Imposed	Expiration Date of Collection Bargaining Agreement³
Pension Trust Fund	Pension Plan Employer Identification Number	2011	2010	FIP / RP Status Pending / Implemented²	2011		2010		2009		Surcharge Imposed	Expiration Date of Collection Bargaining Agreement³
Locals 302 and 612 Operating Engineers-Employers Retirement Fund	91-6028571	Green	Green	No	$	2,386	$	2,040	$	2,103	N/A	5/31/2012 - 12/31/2012
Operating Engineers Pension Trust Fund	95-6032478	Red	Red	Yes	2,099		2,127		2,529		No	6/30/2012 - 6/30/2013
Pension Trust Fund for Operating Engineers Pension Plan	94-6090764	Orange	Yellow	Yes	7,296		6,394		6,974		No	6/30/2012 - 6/30/2014
All other funds (32)					10,188		9,756		8,609
			Total Contributions:		$	21,969	$	20,317	$	20,215

¹The most recent PPA zone status available in 2011 and 2010 is for the plan’s year-end during 2010 and 2009, respectively. The zone status is based on information that we received from the plan and is certified by the plan’s actuary. Among other factors, plans in the red zone are generally less than 65 percent funded, plans in the orange zone are less than 80 percent funded and have an Accumulated Funding Deficiency in the current year or projected into the next six years, plans in the yellow zone are less than 80 percent funded, and plans in the green zone are at least 80 percent funded.

²The “FIP/RP Status Pending/Implemented” column indicates plans for which a financial improvement plan (“FIP”) or a rehabilitation plan (“RP”) is either pending or has been implemented.

³Lists the expiration date(s) of the collective-bargaining agreement(s) to which the plans are subject. Pension trust funds with a range of expiration dates have various collective bargaining agreements.

We currently have no intention of withdrawing from any of the multi-employer pension plans in which we participate.