Pension and Other Postretirement Employee Benefits

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

General Discussion Of Pension And Other Postretirement Benefits [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Employee Benefits

NOTE 11. PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

The following table details the components of net periodic cost (benefit) of our pension plans and other postretirement employee benefits (OPEB):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	Pension						OPEB
(in thousands)	2021			2020			2021			2020
Service cost	$	2,045		$	2,290		$	168		$	143
Interest cost		2,633			3,564			317			375
Expected return on plan assets		(3,525	)		(4,586	)		—			—
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)		21			28			(298	)		(319	)
Amortization of actuarial loss		3,721			4,154			545			419
Net periodic cost before pension settlement charge		4,895			5,450			732			618
Pension settlement charge		—			42,988			—			—
Net periodic cost	$	4,895		$	48,438		$	732		$	618

During the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, funding of pension and other postretirement employee benefit plans was $1.4 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

Pension Annuitization

In February 2020, we purchased a group annuity contract from an insurance company to transfer $101.1 million of our outstanding pension benefit obligation related to our qualified pension plans to the insurance company. This transaction was funded with plan assets. As a result of the transaction, the insurance company assumed responsibility for annuity administration and benefit payments to select retirees, with no change to their monthly retirement benefit payment amounts. The settlement triggered a remeasurement of plan assets and liabilities resulting in a reduction in the funded status of our qualified pension plans of approximately $26.2 million during the first quarter of 2020. In connection with this transaction we recorded a non-cash pretax settlement charge of $43.0 million during the first quarter of 2020 in non-operating expense, net, as a result of accelerating the recognition of actuarial losses included in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss that would have been recognized in future periods.