Note 22 - Employee Benefit Plan

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE

22

— EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

401

(

k) Plan

The Company has a

401(k)

Plan (the “Plan”) for the benefit of its U.S. employees. Employees of the Company and its U.S. subsidiaries who have completed

one

year of service or who had

one

year of service upon establishment of the Plan are eligible to participate in the Plan. Contributions are made by employees through pretax deductions up to

60%

of their annual salary. In

2016,

2015

and

2014,

contributions made by the Company were matched up to a maximum of

3%,

2%

and

2%

of the employee

’s annual salary, respectively. The Company’s contributions to the Plan were

$1.0

million,

$0.6

million, and

$0.5

million for the years ended

December

31,

2016,

2015,

and

2014,

respectively.

Severance plan

The Company, through Ormat Systems, provides limited non-pension benefits to all current employees in Israel who are entitled to benefits in the event of termination or retirement in accordance with the Israeli Government sponsored programs. These plans generally obligate the Company to pay

one

month

’s salary per year of service to employees in the event of involuntary termination. There is no limit on the number of years of service in the calculation of the benefit obligation. The liabilities for these plans are recorded at each balance sheet date by determining the undiscounted obligation as if it were payable at that point in time. Such liabilities have been presented in the consolidated balance sheets as “liabilities for severance pay”. The Company has an obligation to partially fund the liabilities through regular deposits in pension funds and severance pay funds. The amounts funded amounted to

$12.8

million and

$14.2

million at

December

31,

2016

and

2015,

respectively, and have been presented in the consolidated balance sheets as part of “deposits and other”. The severance pay liability covered by the pension funds is not reflected in the financial statements as the severance pay risks have been irrevocably transferred to the pension funds. Under the Israeli severance pay law, restricted funds

may

not be withdrawn or pledged until the respective severance pay obligations have been met. As allowed under the program, earnings from the investment are used to offset severance pay costs. Severance pay expenses for the years ended

December

31,

2016,

2015,

and

2014

were

$2.3

million,

$2.5

million, and

$2.1

million, respectively, which are net of income (including loss) amounting to

$0.3

million,

$0.1

million, and

$(1.5)

million, respectively, generated from the regular deposits and amounts accrued in severance funds.

The Company expects to pay the following future benefits to its employees upon their reaching normal retirement age

:

			( Dollars in thousands )
Year ending December 31 :
201 7			$	1,867
201 8				2,497
201 9				1,655
20 20				1,119
20 21				1,400
20 22	-	2026		5,141
			$	13,679

The above amounts were determined based on the employees

’ current salary rates and the number of years’ service that will have been accumulated at their retirement date. These amounts do not include amounts that might be paid to employees that will cease working with the Company before reaching their normal retirement age.