EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

NOTE 14. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Defined Contribution Plans

We maintain the US Ecology, Inc., 401(k) Savings and Retirement Plan (“the Plan”) for employees who voluntarily contribute a portion of their compensation, thereby deferring income for federal income tax purposes. Participants may contribute a percentage of salary up to the IRS limitations. The Company contributes a matching contribution equal to 55% of participant contributions up to 6% of eligible compensation. The Company contributed matching contributions to the Plan of $6.4 million, $3.3 million and $3.0 million in 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

The Company maintained 401(k) savings and retirement plans (“the NRC Plans”) for the employees that joined the Company through the NRC Merger, until the NRC Plans were merged into the Plan on January 1, 2021. The Company contributed matching contributions to the NRC Plans of $2.3 million and $325,000 in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

We also maintain the Stablex Canada Inc. Simplified Pension Plan (“the SPP”). This defined contribution plan covers substantially all of our non-union employees at our Blainville, Québec facility in Canada. Employees represented by the Unifor Section Local 171 receive Company contributions to the Regime de Retraite Par Financement Salarial pension plan and employees at our other Canadian facilities receive contributions to separate defined contribution plans. The Company contributes 5% to 9.5% of eligible compensation to these plans. The Company contributed $858,000, $782,000 and $719,000 in aggregate to these plans in 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Multi-Employer Defined Benefit Pension Plans

Certain of the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries participate in a total of four multi-employer defined benefit pension plans under the terms of collective bargaining agreements covering most of the subsidiaries’ union employees. Contributions are determined in accordance with the provisions of negotiated labor contracts and are generally based on stipulated rates per hours worked. Benefits under these plans are generally based on compensation levels and years of service.

The financial risks of participating in multi-employer plans are different from single employer defined benefit pension plans in the following respects:

● Assets contributed to the multi-employer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers.

● If a participating employer discontinues contributions to a plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan may be borne by the remaining participating employers.

● If a participating employer chooses to stop participating in a plan, a withdrawal liability may be created based on the unfunded vested benefits for all employees in the plan.

Information regarding significant multi-employer pension benefit plans in which the Company participates is shown in the following table:

			Pension
			Protection Act
			Certified
	Plan Employer	Plan	Zone Status
Name of Plan	ID Number	Number	2021	2020
Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund	38-1900637	001	Red	Red

The Company contributed $1.1 million and $1.0 million to the Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund (the “Local 324 Plan”) in 2021 and 2020, respectively. The Company also contributed $157,000 and $205,000 to other multi-employer plans in 2021 and 2020, respectively, which are excluded from the table above as they are not individually significant.

Based on information as of April 30, 2021 and 2020, the year end of the Local 324 Plan, the Company’s contributions made to the Local 324 Plan represented less than 5% of total contributions received by the Local 324 Plan during the 2021 and 2020 plan years.

The certified zone status in the table above is defined by the Department of Labor and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and represents the level at which the plan is funded. Plans in the red zone are less than 65% funded; plans in the yellow zone are less than 80% funded; and plans in the green zone are at least 80% funded. The certified zone status is as of the Local 324 Plan’s year-end of April 30, 2021 and 2020.