evaluates the creditworthiness of its counterparties, assigns appropriate credit limits, and monitors credit exposures against those assigned limits.
15. Employee Benefits
Effective October 2012, the Company adopted a profit sharing plan (the “Plan”) which covers all U.S. employees. The Plan meets the requirements of a qualified retirement plan pursuant to the provisions of Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Plan also provides eligible employees the opportunity to make tax deferred contributions to a retirement trust account up to 50% of their qualified wages, subject to the IRS annual maximums.
Under Mexican law, employees are entitled to receive statutory profit sharing (Participacion a los Trabajadores de las Utilidades or “PTU”) payment. The required cash payment to employees in the aggregate is equal to 10% of their employer’s profit subject to PTU, which differs from profit determined under U.S. GAAP. Please see Note 9—Accrued Expenses and Other Liabilities for additional information.
16. Stock-Based Compensation
The Company’s compensation program comprises three main elements: base salary, an annual short-term incentive plan (“STIP”) cash award, and long-term equity-based incentive compensation (“LTIP”) in the form of performance share units (“PSUs”), restricted stock units (“RSUs”), stock options, and deferred stock units (“DSUs”).
The Gold Resource Corporation 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Incentive Plan”) allows for the issuance of up to 5 million shares of common stock in the form of incentive and non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, RSUs, stock grants, stock units, performance shares, performance share units, and performance cash. Additionally, pursuant to the terms of the Incentive Plan, any award outstanding under the prior plan that is terminated, expired, forfeited, or canceled for any reason, will be available for grant under the Incentive Plan.
Effective January 1, 2021, the Company’s Board of Directors, on the recommendation of the Compensation Committee, implemented a program to issue DSUs. DSUs are qualifying instruments under the terms of the Company’s Incentive Plan and therefore do not require additional shareholder approval. The vesting and settlement terms of the DSUs are determined by the Compensation Committee at the time the DSUs are awarded.
DSUs of nil and 214,357 were granted to the Board of Directors during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, respectively. DSUs of nil and 130,000 were granted to the Board of Directors during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, respectively. DSUs are redeemable in cash or shares at the earlier of 10 years or upon the eligible directors’ termination. Termination is deemed to occur on the earliest of (1) the date of voluntary resignation or retirement of the director from the Board; (2) the date of death of the director; or (3) the date of removal of the director from the Board whether by shareholder resolution, failure to achieve re-election, or otherwise; and on which date the director is not a director or employee of the Company or any of its affiliates. These awards contain a cash settlement feature and are therefore classified as a liability and are marked to fair value each reporting period. The Company may also issue DSUs for directors in lieu of board fees at their request. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, respectively, there were 3,746 and 10,454 DSUs granted in lieu of board fees that are also subject to mark-to-market adjustment. Both during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, respectively, there were 1,960 DSUs granted in lieu of board fees that are also subject to mark-to-market adjustment. As of September 30, 2022 and 2021, the liability balance related to DSUs was $0.6 million and $0.2 million, respectively.
RSUs of nil and 611,681 were granted during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, respectively. No RSUs were granted during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, a total of 41,666 and 119,467 RSUs vested, respectively, from which 41,666 and 80,169 RSUs were redeemed, respectively, issuing 41,666 and 75,584 common shares with an intrinsic value and a fair value of $74,165 and $138,101, respectively. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, respectively, a total of 50,183 and 52,797 RSUs vested and redeemed, and 49,755 and 52,369 common shares were issued with an intrinsic value and a fair value of $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively.