Employee Benefits

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Employee Benefits [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

We sponsor or contribute to retirement plans covering substantially all employees. The expenses related to these plans were as follows:

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Defined benefit plans	$	790	$	2,714	$	2,370	$	8,142
Defined contribution plan (401k plan) — company match	1,494		1,550		4,768		4,914
Other	363		174		1,064		444
	$	2,647	$	4,438	$	8,202	$	13,500

The components of net periodic pension expense for the Company-sponsored defined benefit plans are as follows:

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2011			2010			2011			2010
Service cost	$	—		$	605		$	—		$	1,815
Interest Cost	6,388			6,464			19,164			19,392
Expected return on plan assets	(6,656		)	(6,227		)	(19,968		)	(18,681		)
Net amortization and deferral	1,058			1,872			3,174			5,616
Net periodic pension expense	$	790		$	2,714		$	2,370		$	8,142

We currently provide retirement benefits to our employees through a defined contribution plan. Through 2005, employees were covered primarily by noncontributory plans, funded by company contributions to trust funds held for the sole benefit of employees. We amended the defined benefit plans, freezing and ceasing future benefits as of December 31, 2005. Certain transitional benefits were provided to certain participants, but ceased accruing when the plan became inactive on December 31, 2010. Effective January 1, 2011, actuarial losses on plan assets are amortized from accumulated other comprehensive loss into net periodic pension expense over the average remaining life expectancy of plan participants, resulting in estimated actuarial losses that will be amortized in 2011 of $4,231.

The projected benefit obligation of our qualified defined benefit pension plan exceeded the fair value of plan assets by $84,675 at December 31, 2010, the measurement date. On June 25, 2010, the federal government passed the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 (“the act”) which is designed to provide additional relief from the funding requirements of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The act provides opportunities for plan sponsors to extend the time over which plan deficits may be funded, up to 15 years, subject to certain limitations including offsets for excess compensation and extraordinary dividends. With the improvement in the funded status in the plan in 2010 and the benefit of the act, our funding requirements for 2011 under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) are approximately $3,100. Our final $2,500 contribution for 2011 was made in cash on October 14, 2011.

If the relief provided by the federal government expires or is no longer applicable to our qualified pension plan, or if there is downward pressure on the asset values of the plan, or if the present value of the projected benefit obligation of the plan increases, as would occur in the event of a decrease in the discount rate used to measure the obligation, it would necessitate significantly increased funding of the plan in the future.