Employee Benefit Plans

The Company provides benefit plans for most full-time employees, including 401(k), health and other welfare benefit plans and, in certain circumstances, pension benefits. Generally, the plans provide benefits based on years of service and/or a combination of years of service and earnings. In addition, the Company contributes to two multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, one multiemployer defined contribution pension plan and ten multiemployer defined contribution plans other than pension plans that provide medical, vision, dental and disability benefits for active, union-represented employees subject to collective bargaining agreements. In addition, the Company sponsors a postretirement defined benefit plan that covers qualified non-union retirees and certain qualified union retirees and provides retiree medical coverage and, depending on the age of the retiree, dental and vision coverage. The Company also provides a postretirement death benefit to certain of its employees and retirees.

The Company is required to recognize the funded status of a benefit plan in its consolidated balance sheets. The Company is also required to recognize in other comprehensive income (“OCI”) certain gains and losses that arise during the period but are deferred under pension accounting rules.

Single Employer Pension Plans

The Company has a defined benefit pension plan, the Farmer Bros. Co. Pension Plan for Salaried Employees (the “Farmer Bros. Plan”), for Company employees hired prior to January 1, 2010, who are not covered under a collective bargaining agreement. The Company amended the Farmer Bros. Plan, freezing the benefit for all participants effective June 30, 2011. After the plan freeze, participants do not accrue any benefits under the Farmer Bros. Plan, and new hires are not eligible to participate in the Farmer Bros. Plan. As all plan participants became inactive following this pension curtailment, net (gain) loss is now amortized based on the remaining life expectancy of these participants instead of the remaining service period of these participants.

The Company also has two defined benefit pension plans for certain hourly employees covered under collective bargaining agreements (the “Brewmatic Plan” and the “Hourly Employees' Plan”). Effective October 1, 2016, the Company froze benefit accruals and participation in the Hourly Employees' Plan, a defined benefit pension plan for certain hourly employees covered under collective bargaining agreements. After the plan freeze, participants do not accrue any benefits under the plan, and new hires are not eligible to participate in the plan. After the freeze the participants in the plan are eligible to receive the Company's matching contributions to their 401(k).

The net periodic benefit cost for the defined benefit pension plans is as follows:



	Three Months Ended March 31,						Nine Months Ended March 31,
	2017			2016			2017			2016
(In thousands)
Service cost	$	124		$	97		$	372		$	291
Interest cost	1,397			1,546			4,191			4,638
Expected return on plan assets	(1,607		)	(1,710		)	(4,821		)	(5,130		)
Amortization of net loss(1)	508			370			1,524			1,110
Net periodic benefit cost	$	422		$	303		$	1,266		$	909

___________

(1) These amounts represent the estimated portion of the net loss in AOCI that is expected to be recognized as a component of net periodic benefit cost over the current fiscal year.

Weighted-Average Assumptions Used to Determine Net Periodic Benefit Cost



	Fiscal
	2017	2016
Discount rate	3.55%	4.40%
Expected long-term rate of return on plan assets	7.75%	7.50%

Basis Used to Determine Expected Long-Term Return on Plan Assets

The expected long-term return on plan assets assumption was developed as a weighted average rate based on the target asset allocation of the plan and the Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions (CMA) 2014. The capital market assumptions were developed with a primary focus on forward-looking valuation models and market indicators. The key fundamental economic inputs for these models are future inflation, economic growth, and interest rate environment. Due to the long-term nature of the pension obligations, the investment horizon for the CMA 2014 is 20 to 30 years. In addition to forward-looking models, historical analysis of market data and trends was reflected, as well as the outlook of recognized economists, organizations and consensus CMA from other credible studies.

Multiemployer Pension Plans

The Company participates in two multiemployer defined benefit pension plans that are union sponsored and collectively bargained for the benefit of certain employees subject to collective bargaining agreements, of which the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Plan (“WCTPP”) is individually significant. The Company makes contributions to these plans generally based on the number of hours worked by the participants in accordance with the provisions of negotiated labor contracts.

The risks of participating in multiemployer pension plans are different from single-employer plans in that: (i) assets contributed to a multiemployer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers; (ii) if a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan may be borne by the remaining participating employers; and (iii) 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, referred to as a withdrawal liability.

In fiscal 2012, the Company withdrew from the Local 807 Labor-Management Pension Fund (“Pension Fund”) and recorded a charge of $4.3 million associated with withdrawal from this plan, representing the present value of the estimated withdrawal liability expected to be paid in quarterly installments of $0.1 million over 80 quarters. On November 18, 2014, the Pension Fund sent the Company a notice of assessment of withdrawal liability in the amount of $4.4 million, which the Pension Fund adjusted to $4.9 million on January 5, 2015. The Company is in the process of negotiating a reduced liability amount. The Company has commenced quarterly installment payments to the Pension Fund of $91,000 pending the final settlement of the liability. The remaining estimated withdrawal liability of $3.6 million and $3.8 million is reflected in the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets at March 31, 2017 and June 30, 2016, respectively, with the short-term and long-term portions reflected in current and long-term liabilities, respectively.

The Company may incur certain pension-related costs in connection with the Corporate Relocation Plan. Future collective bargaining negotiations may result in the Company withdrawing from the remaining multiemployer pension plans in which it participates and, if successful, the Company may incur a withdrawal liability, the amount of which could be material to the Company's results of operations and cash flows.

Multiemployer Plans Other Than Pension Plans

The Company participates in ten multiemployer defined contribution plans other than pension plans that provide medical, vision, dental and disability benefits for active, union-represented employees subject to collective bargaining agreements. The plans are subject to the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and provide that participating employers make monthly contributions to the plans in an amount as specified in the collective bargaining agreements. Also, the plans provide that participants make self-payments to the plans, the amounts of which are negotiated through the collective bargaining process. The Company's participation in these plans is governed by collective bargaining agreements which expire on or before January 31, 2020.

401(k) Plan

The Company's 401(k) Plan is available to all eligible employees who have worked more than 1,000 hours during a calendar year and were employed at the end of the calendar year. Participants in the 401(k) Plan may choose to contribute a percentage of their annual pay subject to the maximum contribution allowed by the Internal Revenue Service. The Company's matching contribution is discretionary, based on approval by the Company's Board of Directors. For the calendar years 2017 and 2016, the Company's Board of Directors approved a Company matching contribution of 50% of an employee's annual contribution to the 401(k) Plan, up to 6% of the employee's eligible income. The matching contributions (and any earnings thereon) vest at the rate of 20% for each of the participant's first 5 years of vesting service, so that a participant is fully vested in his or her matching contribution account after 5 years of vesting service, subject to accelerated vesting under certain circumstances in connection with the Corporate Relocation Plan due to the closure of the Company’s Torrance Facility or a reduction-in-force at another Company facility designated by the Administrative Committee of the Farmer Bros. Co. Qualified Employee Retirement Plans. A participant is automatically vested in the event of death, disability or attainment of age 65 while employed by the Company. Employees are 100% vested in their contributions. For employees subject to a collective bargaining agreement, the match is only available if so provided in the labor agreement.

The Company recorded matching contributions of $0.4 million in operating expenses in each of the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016, and $1.2 million in operating expenses in each of the nine months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016.

Postretirement Benefits

The Company sponsors a postretirement defined benefit plan that covers qualified non-union retirees and certain qualified union retirees (“Retiree Medical Plan”). The plan provides medical, dental and vision coverage for retirees under age 65 and medical coverage only for retirees age 65 and above. Under this postretirement plan, the Company’s contributions toward premiums for retiree medical, dental and vision coverage for participants and dependents are scaled based on length of service, with greater Company contributions for retirees with greater length of service, subject to a maximum monthly Company contribution.

The Company also provides a postretirement death benefit (“Death Benefit”) to certain of its employees and retirees, subject, in the case of current employees, to continued employment with the Company until retirement and certain other conditions related to the manner of employment termination and manner of death. The Company records the actuarially determined liability for the present value of the postretirement death benefit. The Company has purchased life insurance policies to fund the postretirement death benefit wherein the Company owns the policy but the postretirement death benefit is paid to the employee's or retiree's beneficiary. The Company records an asset for the fair value of the life insurance policies which equates to the cash surrender value of the policies.

Retiree Medical Plan and Death Benefit

The following table shows the components of net periodic postretirement benefit cost for the Retiree Medical Plan and Death Benefit for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016. Net periodic postretirement benefit cost for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2017 was based on employee census information and asset information as of July 1, 2016.



	Three Months Ended March 31,						Nine Months Ended March 31,
	2017			2016			2017			2016
(In thousands)
Service cost	$	190		$	347		$	570		$	1,041
Interest cost	207			299			621			897
Amortization of net gain	(157		)	(49		)	(471		)	(147		)
Amortization of net prior service credit	(439		)	(439		)	(1,317		)	(1,317		)
Net periodic postretirement benefit (credit) cost	$	(199	)	$	158		$	(597	)	$	474

Weighted-Average Assumptions Used to Determine Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost



	Fiscal
	2017	2016
Retiree Medical Plan discount rate	3.73%	4.69%
Death Benefit discount rate	3.79%	4.74%