Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

We sponsor a defined benefit pension plan for employees of our Alkali Business. We account for the Alkali Business pension plan as a single employer pension plan that benefits only employees of our Alkali Business, and thus, the related assets and liability costs of the plan are recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Under the Alkali Business pension plan, each eligible employee will automatically become a participant upon completion of one year of credited service. Retirement benefits under this plan are calculated based on the total years of service of an eligible participant, multiplied by a specified benefit rate in effect at the termination of the plan participant's years of service. During 2019, we completed collective bargaining negotiations with our union employees. As a result, the pension plan was amended to increase the future benefit rate and pension supplement amounts.

The change in benefit obligations, plan assets and funded status along with amounts recognized in the Consolidated Balance Sheet are as follows:



	December 31,
	2019			2018
Change in benefit obligation:
Benefit Obligation, beginning of year	$	24,511		$	22,530
Service Cost	4,351			5,153
Interest Cost	1,340			862
Plan Amendment	6,569			—
Actuarial (Gain) Loss	5,981			(3,816		)
Benefits Paid	(461		)	(218		)
Benefit Obligation, end of year	42,291			24,511

Change in plan assets:
Fair Value of Plan Assets, beginning of year	15,716			13,306
Actual Return (loss) on Plan Assets	4,025			(1,300		)
Employer Contributions	4,771			3,928
Benefits Paid	(461		)	(218		)
Fair Value of Plan assets, end of year	24,051			15,716
Funded Status at end of period	$	(18,240	)	$	(8,795	)
Amounts recognized in the Consolidated Balance Sheet:
Non-current assets	$	—		$	—
Current liabilities	—			—
Non-current Liabilities	(18,240		)	(8,795		)
Net Liability at end of year	$	(18,240	)	$	(8,795	)

Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss):
Prior Service Cost	6,163			—
Net actuarial (gain) loss	2,268			(939		)
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income ( loss:)	$	8,431		$	(939	)

Estimated Future Cash Flows- The following employer contributions and benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, are expected to be paid as follows:



Employer Contributions
Expected 2020 Contributions by Employer	$	5,850
Future Expected Benefit Payments
2020	$	824
2021	1,112
2022	1,343
2023	1,537
2024	1,714
2025-2029	11,250

Net Periodic Pension Costs- The components of net periodic pension costs for the Alkali benefit plan are as follows:



	December 31,
	2019			2018			2017
Service Cost	$	4,351		$	5,153		$	1,749
Interest Cost	1,340			862			267
Expected Return on Assets	(1,252		)	(973		)	(259		)
Amortization of Prior Service Cost	406			—			—
Total Net Periodic Benefit Costs ₍₁₎	$	4,845		$	5,042		$	1,757

^{(1) On September 1, 2017, we acquired our Alkali Business including the Company's defined benefit plan. The 2017 Net Periodic Benefit Cost represents the period of the year subsequent to our purchase of the Alkali Business resulting in a lower annual cost compared to 2019 and 2018, respectively.}

Significant Assumptions- Discount rates are determined annually and are based on rates of return of high-quality long-term fixed income securities currently available and expected to be available during the maturity of the pension benefits.

The long-term rate of return estimation for the Alkali Business pension plan is based on a capital asset pricing model using historical data and a forecasted earnings model. An expected return on plan assets analysis is performed which incorporates the current portfolio allocation, historical asset-class returns and an assessment of expected future performance using asset-class risk factors.

The Alkali Business pension plan is administered by a Board-appointed committee that has fiduciary responsibility for the plan's management. The committee is responsible for the oversight and management of the plan's investments. The committee maintains an investment policy that provides guidelines for selection and retention of investment managers or funds, allocation of plan assets and performance review procedures and updating of the policy. The objective of the committee's investment policy is to manage the plan assets in such a way that will allow for the on-going payment of the Company's obligation to the beneficiaries.



Weighted average assumptions used to determine benefit obligation:	December 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
Discount Rate	3.56	%	4.62	%
Expected Long-term Rate of Return	6.06	%	6.41	%
Rate of Compensation Increase	N/A		N/A

The discount rate used to determine the net periodic cost at the beginning of the period was 4.62%.

Pension Plan Assets - We maintain target allocation percentages among various asset classes based on an investment policy established for the pension plan. The target allocation is designed to achieve long term objectives of return, mitigating risk, and considering expected cash flows. Pension plan asset allocations at December 31, 2019 by asset category are as follows:



December 31, 2019
	Target %	Actual %
Equity securities	41-60%	55	%
Fixed income securities and other	40-60%	45	%

A summary of total investments for our pension plan assets measured at fair value is presented as of December 31 for the periods below:



	2019					2018
	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Total		Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Total
Cash and cash equivalents	1,311	—	—	$	1,311	506	—	—	$	506
Equity securities	13,192	—	—	$	13,192	8,038	—	—	$	8,038
Mutual and other exchange traded funds	9,548	—	—	$	9,548	7,172	—	—	$	7,172
	24,051	—	—	$	24,051	15,716	—	—	$	15,716