EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

10.  EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

The Company participates in a multiple employer Retirement Income Plan, a trusteed defined benefit pension plan, sponsored by RPC, Inc. (“RPC”). The following represents the net periodic cost (benefit) and related components for the plan for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.

	Three months ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Interest cost	$	33	$	37
Expected return on plan assets		—		(72)
Amortization of net losses		28		18
Net periodic (benefit) cost	$	61	$	(17)

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Company initiated actions to terminate the defined benefit pension plan, which are expected to be completed in early 2023. The Company currently expects that no additional cash contributions to the plan will be required. As of the plan termination completion date, the Company will recognize a pre-tax, non-cash settlement charge representing the unamortized net loss in the plan which was approximately $3.3 million as of March 31, 2022. The final amount is subject to change based on the actual return on plan assets and the periodic actuarial updates of the plan net losses. For the year ending December 31, 2022, the Company is utilizing an expected return on plan assets of zero percent based on the current short-term rates and investment horizon as a result of the expected plan termination.

The Company did not contribute to this plan during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.

The Company permits selected highly compensated employees to defer a portion of their compensation into a non-qualified Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”). The Company maintains certain securities primarily in mutual funds and company-owned life insurance (“COLI”) policies as a funding source to satisfy the obligation of the SERP that have been classified as trading and are stated at fair value totaling approximately $11,037,000 as of March 31, 2022 and $12,264,000 as of December 31, 2021. Trading losses related to the SERP assets totaled approximately $1,227,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to trading gains of approximately $63,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2021. The SERP assets are reported in other non-current assets on the consolidated balance sheets and changes to the fair value of the assets are reported in selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.

The SERP liabilities include participant deferrals net of distributions and are stated at fair value of approximately $14,742,000 as of March 31, 2022 and $15,564,000 as of December 31, 2021. The SERP liabilities are reported on the consolidated balance sheets in long-term pension liabilities and any change in the fair value is recorded as compensation cost within selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations. Changes in the fair value of the SERP liabilities represented unrealized losses of approximately $1,265,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to unrealized gains of approximately $163,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2021.