13.	Employee Benefit Plans

The Company offers various postretirement benefits to its employees, including a defined benefit pension plan (the “Pension Plan”) and a supplemental employee retirement plan (the “SERP”).

The components of the Pension Plan and SERP expense consisted of the following:

( in thousands)	Three months ended						Nine months ended
	September 30,						September 30,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
Interest cost	$	732		$	816		$	2,196		$	2,528
Expected return on plan assets, net of expenses		(949	)		(1,144	)		(2,847	)		(3,444	)
Special termination benefits		(70	)		-			761			-
Amortization of net loss		568			291			1,704			779
Settlement charges		(730	)		1,031			1,228			1,031
Total for defined benefit plan		(449	)		994			3,042			894
SERP		1,840			2,148			4,011			4,038
Defined contribution plans		4,488			4,019			14,115			14,091
Total	$	5,879		$	7,161		$	21,168		$	19,023

Amortization of actuarial losses for the Pension Plan totaled $0.5 million and $1.7 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively. Amortization of actuarial losses for the Pension Plan totaled $0.3 million and $0.8 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively.

Amortization of actuarial losses for the nonqualified SERP totaled $0.6 million and $1.8 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively. Amortization of actuarial losses for the nonqualified SERP totaled $0.6 million and $1.6 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, we provided qualified employees with voluntary early retirement packages (see Note 5 – Voluntary Early Retirement, Employee Termination and Contract Termination Costs). The voluntary early retirement program provided each employee the benefit of an additional three years of credited service related to the applicable Pension Plan and SERP for which they qualify. The special termination charge represents the cost of providing these additional benefits to the employees retiring under the terms of the early retirement program.

During the quarter we had a change in the estimate of pension plan settlement charges from the Pension Plan related to the cost of providing the additional benefits noted above, which resulted in a decrease of $0.8 million during the three months ended September 30, 2015. We recognized $1.2 million of settlement charges related to lump-sum distributions from the Pension Plan for the nine months ended September 30, 3015. We recognized $1.0 million of settlement charges related to lump-sum distributions from the SERP in both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015. There were $1.0 million of settlement charges related to lump-sum distributions from the Pension Plan recognized for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and $1.2 million related to lump-sum distributions from the SERP for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014. Settlement charges are recorded when total lump sum distributions for a plan’s year exceed the total projected service cost and interest cost for that plan year.

We contributed $1.7 million and $2.5 million to fund current benefit payments for the SERP for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively, and $0.5 million and $3.5 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively. We anticipate contributing $2.2 million to fund the SERP’s benefit payments during the remainder of 2015. We do not expect to contribute to the Pension Plan during 2015.

Executive Deferred Compensation Plan

We have an unqualified executive deferred compensation plan (“Deferred Compensation Plan”) that is available to certain management level employees and directors of the Company. Under the Deferred Compensation Plan, participants may elect to defer receipt of a portion of their annual compensation. The Deferred Compensation Plan is intended to be an unfunded plan maintained primarily for the purpose of providing deferred compensation benefits. We may use corporate owned life insurance contracts held in a rabbi trust to support the plan. We have investments valued at $21.4 million within this rabbi trust and $124.0 million of corporate owned life insurance contract benefits with these assets. The cash surrender value of the company owned life insurance contracts totaled $20.1 million and $20.7 million at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively, and is included within other assets on our condensed consolidated balance sheets. Gains or losses related to these insurance contracts are included within miscellaneous, net in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. The unsecured obligation to pay the deferred compensation, including deferred directors fees, and adjusted to reflect the positive or negative performance of investment measurement options selected by each participant, totaled $42.1 million and $42.8 million at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively.