Employee Benefit Plans

The Company provides postretirement medical benefits (the “Plan”) for eligible regular full and part-time domestic employees (including spouses) who retired prior to January 1, 2016, as outlined by the Plan.

The accounting guidance on defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans requires full recognition of the funded status of defined benefit and other postretirement plans on the balance sheet as an asset or a liability. The guidance also requires that unrecognized prior service costs/credits, gains/losses, and transition obligations/assets be recorded in AOCI, thus not changing the income statement recognition rules for such plans.

The Plan is unfunded and recorded as a liability in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets as of July 31, 2018 and 2017. The following table provides a reconciliation of the changes in the Plan’s accumulated benefit obligation during the years ended July 31:



	2018			2017
Obligation at beginning of fiscal year	$	3,390		$	3,800
Interest cost	79			89
Benefit payments	(449		)	(499		)
Obligation at end of fiscal year	$	3,020		$	3,390

As of July 31, 2018 and 2017, amounts recognized as liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of:



	2018		2017
Current liability	$	377	$	449
Non-current liability	2,643		2,941
	$	3,020	$	3,390

As of July 31, 2018 and 2017, pre-tax amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of net actuarial gains of $4,984 and $5,504, respectively.

Net periodic benefit gain for the Plan for fiscal years ended July 31, 2018, 2017, and 2016, includes the following components:



	Years Ended July 31,
	2018			2017			2016
Net periodic postretirement benefit gain included the following components:
Service cost	$	—		$	—		$	9
Interest cost	79			89			114
Amortization of prior service credit	—			—			(1,035		)
Amortization of net actuarial gain	(520		)	(544		)	(646		)
Periodic postretirement benefit gain	$	(441	)	$	(455	)	$	(1,558	)

The estimated net actuarial gain that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income into net periodic postretirement benefit cost over the next fiscal year is $497. No prior service credit remains due to the plan amendment to eliminate post-retirement benefits for employees retiring after January 1, 2016.

The following assumptions were used in accounting for the Plan:



	2018		2017		2016
Weighted average discount rate used in determining accumulated postretirement benefit obligation	2.50	%	2.50	%	2.50	%
Weighted average discount rate used in determining net periodic benefit cost	2.50	%	2.50	%	3.00	%
Assumed health care trend rate used to measure accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at July 31	7.00	%	7.25	%	7.50	%
Rate to which cost trend rate is assumed to decline (the ultimate trend rate)	5.50	%	5.50	%	5.50	%
Fiscal year the ultimate trend rate is reached	2024		2024		2018

A one-percentage point change in assumed health care cost trend rates would have the following effects on the Plan:



	One-Percentage Point Increase		One-Percentage Point Decrease
Effect on future service and interest cost	$	4	$	(5	)
Effect on accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at July 31, 2018	17		(18		)

The following benefit payments are expected to be paid during the years ending July 31:




2019	$	377
2020	359
2021	339
2022	309
2023	289
2024 through 2028	1,140

The Company sponsors statutory defined benefit pension plans that are primarily unfunded and provide an income benefit upon termination or retirement for certain of its international employees. As of July 31, 2018 and 2017, the accumulated pension obligation related to these plans was $5,383 and $6,075, respectively. As of July 31, 2018 and 2017, pre-tax amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets were losses of $194 and $641, respectively. The net periodic benefit cost for these plans was $341, $665, and $795 during the years ended July 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The Company also has two deferred compensation plans, the Executive Deferred Compensation Plan and the Director Deferred Compensation Plan which allow for compensation to be deferred into either the Company's Class A Nonvoting Common Stock or in other investment funds. Neither plan allows funds to be transferred between the Company's Class A Nonvoting Common Stock and the other investment funds. Additionally, the Company has a non-qualified deferred compensation plan, the Brady Restoration Plan, which allows an equivalent benefit to the Matched 401(k) Plan and the Funded Retirement Plan for executives' income exceeding the IRS limits of participation in a qualified 401(k) plan. At July 31, 2018 and 2017, $14,383 and $14,121, respectively, of deferred compensation was included in other long-term liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The Company has retirement and profit-sharing plans covering substantially all full-time domestic employees and certain employees of its foreign subsidiaries. Contributions to the plans are determined annually or quarterly, according to the respective plans, based on earnings of the respective companies and employee contributions. Accrued retirement and profit-sharing contributions of $3,844 and $3,327 were included in other current liabilities on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets as of July 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The amounts charged to expense for these retirement and profit sharing plans were $14,395, $13,750, and $10,407 during the years ended July 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.