9. Employee Benefit Plans

German Pension Plan

The Company’s subsidiary in Germany provides pension benefits to certain retirees. Employees eligible for participation include all employees who started working for the Company or its predecessors prior to September 30, 1987 and have finished a qualifying period of at least 10 years. The Company accrues the cost of these benefits over the service lives of the covered employees based on an actuarial calculation. The Company uses a December 31 measurement date for this plan. The German pension plan is an unfunded plan and therefore has no plan assets.

U.K. Pension Plan

The Company’s subsidiary in the United Kingdom provides pension benefits to certain retirees and eligible dependents. Employees eligible for participation included all full-time regular employees who were more than three years from retirement prior to October 2001. A retirement pension or a lump-sum payment may be paid dependent upon length of service at the mandatory retirement age. The Company accrues the cost of these benefits over the service lives of the covered employees based on an actuarial calculation. The Company uses a December 31 measurement date for this plan.

Norway Pension Plan

The Company’s subsidiary in Norway provides pension benefits to eligible retirees and eligible dependents. Employees eligible for participation include all employees who were more than three years from retirement prior to March 2018. The Company accrues the cost of these benefits over the service lives of the covered employees based on an actuarial calculation. The Company uses a December 31 measurement date for this plan.

Asterion Pension Plan

The Company acquired certain pension benefit obligations to eligible retirees and eligible dependents in 2018 pursuant to the Asterion Business Combination. Employees eligible for participation included all full-time regular employees who were more than three years from retirement prior to July 2003. A retirement pension or a lump-sum payment may be paid dependent upon length of service at the mandatory retirement age. The Company accrues the cost of these benefits over the service lives of the covered employees based on an actuarial calculation. As there are no active employees for this plan there are no earned pension entitlements and actuarial assumptions are only measured when assumptions are changed.

Tax Effect on Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

As of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018 the Company recorded actuarial losses of $8.9 million and $9.3 million in accumulated other comprehensive loss on the condensed consolidated balance sheets, respectively, which are net of a deferred tax benefit of $1.7 million.

Pension Expense

The components of the net periodic benefit cost are as follows:


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2019		2018		2019		2018
Service cost	$	23	$	27	$	68	$	56
Interest cost		592		569		1,777		1,686
Expected return on plan assets		(612)		(701)		(1,837)		(2,076)
Amortization:
Amortization of prior service cost		25		(34)		76		(102)
Amortization of net (gain) loss		406		433		1,218		1,294
Net periodic benefit cost	$	434	$	294	$	1,302	$	858

Upon adopting ASU no. 2017-07 as described in Note 2, the Company now records pension interest cost within Interest expense, net. Expected return on plan assets, amortization of prior service costs, and amortization of net losses are recorded within Other income, net. Service cost is recorded within Cost of revenue.

Employer Contributions

The Company’s funding of employer contributions is based on governmental requirements and differs from those methods used to recognize pension expense. The Company made contributions of $2.2 million and $2.3 million to its pension plans during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The Company has funded the pension plans with the required contributions for 2019 based on current plan provisions.