Commitments, Contingencies, and Legal Matters

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments, Contingencies, and Legal Matters

Litigation

The Company is involved in certain legal actions and claims arising in the ordinary course of business. While the outcome of these legal actions and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, it is the opinion of management that the outcome of any such claim which is pending or threatened, either individually or on a combined basis, will not have a material effect on the consolidated financial condition, results of operations or liquidity of the Company.

Income Taxes

The Company periodically undergoes examination by the Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") as well as various state and foreign jurisdictions. These tax authorities routinely challenge certain deductions and credits reported by the Company on its income tax returns. No significant tax audit findings are being contested at this time with either the IRS or any state or foreign tax authority.

Environmental, Health and Safety Matters

The Company is subject to federal, state and local laws, regulations and ordinances relating to various environmental, health and safety matters. The Company is in compliance with, or is taking actions designed to ensure compliance with, these laws, regulations and ordinances. However, the nature of the Company's business exposes it to the risk of claims with respect to environmental, health and safety matters, and there can be no assurance that material costs or liabilities will not be incurred in connection with such claims. Except for certain orders issued by environmental, health and safety regulatory agencies, with which management believes the Company is in compliance and which management believes are immaterial to the results of operations of the Company's business, Neenah is not currently named as a party in any judicial or administrative proceeding relating to environmental, health and safety matters.

While the Company has incurred in the past several years, and will continue to incur, capital and operating expenditures in order to comply with environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and ordinances, management believes that the Company's future cost of compliance with environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and ordinances, and its exposure to liability for environmental, health and safety claims will not have a material effect on its financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. However, future events, such as changes in existing laws and regulations or contamination of sites owned, operated or used for waste disposal by the Company (including currently unknown contamination and contamination caused by prior owners and operators of such sites or other waste generators) may give rise to additional costs which could have a material effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

The Company incurs capital expenditures necessary to meet legal requirements and otherwise relating to the protection of the environment at its facilities in the United States and internationally. The Company's anticipated capital expenditures for environmental projects are not expected to have a material effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

Employees and Labor Relations

As of December 31, 2019, the Company had approximately 2,324 regular full-time employees of whom 995 hourly and 513 salaried employees were located in the United States and 385 hourly and 431 salaried employees were located in Europe. All of the Company's U.S. hourly union employees are represented by the USW. Certain employees of Neenah Germany are eligible to be represented by the Mining, Chemicals and Energy Trade Union, Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie and Energie (the "IG BCE"). Under German law union membership is voluntary and does not need to be disclosed to the Company. As a result, the number of employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement with the IG BCE cannot be determined. In Netherlands, most of our employees are eligible to be represented by the Christelijke Nationale Vakbond ("CNV") and the Federatie Nederlandse Vakvereniging ("FNV"). Under Netherlands law, union membership is voluntary and does not need to be disclosed to the Company. The collective bargaining arrangement with CNV and FNV will expire in April 2020. Hourly union employees at the Company's Bolton, England manufacturing facility are represented by Unite the Union ("UNITE"). As of December 31, 2019, no employees are covered under collective bargaining agreements that will expire in the next 12 months, not including the employees covered by the collective bargaining arrangements with the IG BCE and CNV and FNV.

The following table shows the status of the Company's bargaining agreements as of December 31, 2019.



Contract Expiration Date	Location	Union	Number of Employees
April 2020	Eerbeek, Netherlands	CNV, FNV	(a)
August 2020	Weidach and Bruckmühl, Germany	IG BCE	(a)
January 2021	Whiting, WI	USW	203
June 2021	Neenah, WI	USW	244
July 2021	Munising, MI	USW	177
November 2021	Lowville, NY	USW	98
May 2022	Appleton, WI	USW	89

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(a)	Under Germany and Netherlands laws, union membership is voluntary and does not need to be disclosed to the Company. As a result, the number of employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement with the IG BCE, and the CNV and FNV cannot be determined.

Purchase Commitments

The Company has certain minimum purchase commitments that extend beyond December 31, 2019. Commitments under these contracts are approximately $7.2 million, $0.8 million, $0.2 million, and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. Such purchase commitments for the year ended December 31, 2020 are primarily for raw material contracts. Although the Company is primarily liable for payments on the above-mentioned leases and purchase commitments, management believes exposure to losses, if any, under these arrangements is not material.