Pensions

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Pensions

Pensions

The Company maintains pension obligations associated with non-contributory defined benefit pension plans that are currently frozen and incur no additional service costs.

The Company immediately recognizes actuarial gains and losses in its operating results in the year in which the gains and losses occur. The Company estimates the interest cost component of net periodic pension cost by utilizing a full yield curve approach and applying the specific spot rates along the yield curve used in the determination of the benefit obligations of the relevant projected cash flows. This method provides a more precise measurement of interest costs by improving the correlation between projected cash flows to the corresponding spot yield curve rates.

Net Periodic Pension Cost

The following table details the other components of net periodic pension cost for the Company's pension plans:

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(in thousands)	2021		2020		2021		2020
Interest cost	$	2,617	$	3,729	$	7,851	$	12,162
Expected return on assets	(2,890)		(4,001)		(8,670)		(12,060)
Settlement (gain)/loss	—		986		(15)		1,010
Remeasurement (gain)/loss	—		29,461		(164)		30,200
Net periodic pension (benefit) cost	$	(273)	$	30,175	$	(998)	$	31,312

Since all pension plans are frozen and no employees accrue future pension benefits under any of the pension plans, the rate of compensation increase assumption is no longer needed. The Company determines the weighted-average discount rate by applying a yield curve comprised of the yields on several hundred high-quality, fixed income corporate bonds available on the measurement date to expected future benefit cash flows.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, the Company made cash contributions of $5.0 million and $20.0 million to the qualified plans and contributions and associated payments of $0.2 million and $1.0 million, respectively, to the non-qualified plans. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company made cash contributions of $9.9 million and $25.7 million to the qualified plans, and contributions and associated payments of $0.2 million and $0.8 million, respectively, to the non-qualified plans.

For the fiscal year 2021, the Company expects to contribute approximately $25.0 million to the qualified plans and approximately $1.4 million to the non-qualified plans.