Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Defined contribution plans

We sponsor defined contribution retirement plans in which the majority of employees are eligible to participate. Our contributions to the defined contribution plans were $3.0 million, $3.0 million, and $2.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Pension plans

We sponsor a defined benefit pension plan and a supplemental defined benefit pension plan for certain employees of the Canada segment hired before June 30, 2001 (the “Canada Plans”). Additionally, we sponsor a defined benefit pension plan for certain employees of the U.S. Liquids segment at HFOTCO and a supplemental defined benefit plan covering a former key executive of HFOTCO (the “HFOTCO Plans”). These plans are closed to new participants and do not accrue any additional benefits (collectively, the "Pension Plans").

We recognize the funded status of the Pension Plans, measured as the difference between the fair value of the plan assets and the projected benefit obligation, in the consolidated balance sheets. The table below summarizes the balances of the projected benefit obligation and fair value of the plan assets at December 31, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2018			2017
Projected benefit obligation	$	50,049		$	53,489
Fair value of plan assets	39,197			43,098
Funded status:	$	(10,852	)	$	(10,391	)

We recorded other noncurrent liabilities of $2.0 million and $2.3 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, to reflect the funded status of the Canada Plans.

We recorded other noncurrent liabilities of $8.8 million and $8.1 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, to reflect the funded status of the HFOTCO Plans.

All of the Canada Plans' assets are invested in pooled funds that hold highly-liquid securities and are classified as Level 2 within the fair value hierarchy. Substantially all of the HFOTCO Plans' assets are invested in mutual funds, for which the fair values are determined by quoted prices in active markets, and are classified as Level 1 within the fair value hierarchy. The following information discloses the fair values of our Pension Plans' assets, by asset category, for the periods indicated (in thousands):



	December 31, 2018								December 31, 2017
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash and cash equivalents	$	831	$	—	$	—	$	831	$	538	$	—	$	—	$	538
Mutual funds	15,125		—		—		15,125		16,671		—		—		16,671
Pooled mutual funds	—		23,241		—		23,241		—		25,889		—		25,889
Total	$	15,956	$	23,241	$	—	$	39,197	$	17,209	$	25,889	$	—	$	43,098

We record changes in the funded status of the Pension Plans to other comprehensive income (loss), net of income taxes. These amounts were losses of $2.6 million, $0.3 million and $1.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Retiree medical plan

We sponsor an unfunded, post-employment health benefit plan (the “Health Plan”) for certain employees of our Canada segment. The projected benefit obligation related to the Health Plan was $1.5 million at December 31, 2018, and $1.7 million at December 31, 2017, and is reported within "other noncurrent liabilities" on the consolidated balance sheets.