Employee Benefit Plans

Defined Benefit Plans:

The following tables summarize changes in the benefit obligation, the plan assets and the funded status of our pension plan as well as the components of net periodic benefit costs, including key assumptions (in thousands). The measurement dates for plan assets and obligations were December 31, 2015 and 2014.



	December 31,
	2015			2014
Change in Projected Benefit Obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	50,218		$	38,072
Service cost	1,252			1,008
Interest cost	1,899			1,800
Actuarial (gain) loss ⁽¹⁾	(1,830		)	11,020
Benefit payments	(1,824		)	(1,682		)
Benefit obligation at end of year	$	49,715		$	50,218
Change in Plan Assets:
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	42,606		$	39,327
Actual return on plan assets	59			2,861
Employer contributions	1,500			2,100
Benefit payments	(1,824		)	(1,682		)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	42,341		$	42,606
Unfunded status at end of year (included in accounts payable and accrued expenses in 2015 and 2014)	$	(7,374	)	$	(7,612	)
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	49,632		$	50,104
Net loss recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss	$	16,361		$	16,508

___________________


(1)	The year over year change in actuarial (gain) loss is associated primarily to an update with the selected mortality table and an increase in the discount rate in 2015.

The following is the required information for other changes in plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive loss (income) (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Net loss (gain)	$	1,276		$	11,118		$	(10,200	)
Amortization of net loss ⁽¹⁾	(1,423		)	(385		)	(1,279		)
Total recognized in other comprehensive (income) loss	$	(147	)	$	10,733		$	(11,479	)
Total recognized in net periodic benefit costs and other comprehensive loss (income)	$	1,262		$	10,967		$	(9,824	)

___________________


(1)	The estimated net loss that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive loss into net periodic benefit cost over the next fiscal year is $1.5 million.

The following is the required information for plans with an accumulated benefit obligation in excess of plan assets (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2015		2014
Projected benefit obligation	$	49,715	$	50,218
Accumulated benefit obligation	49,632		50,104
Fair value of plan assets	42,341		42,606

The components of net periodic benefit cost for the plans are as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Service cost	$	1,252		$	1,008		$	1,281
Interest cost	1,899			1,800			1,544
Expected return on plan assets	(3,165		)	(2,959		)	(2,449		)
Recognized loss	1,423			385			1,279
Total	$	1,409		$	234		$	1,655

The assumptions used to develop periodic expense for the plans are shown below:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
Discount rate	3.83	%	4.70	%	3.87	%
Salary scale increases	3.50	%	3.50	%	3.50	%
Long-term rate of return on assets	7.50	%	7.50	%	7.50	%

The selection of the discount rate is made annually after comparison to yields based on high quality fixed-income investments. The salary scale is the composite rate which reflects anticipated inflation, merit increases, and promotions for the group of covered participants. The long-term rate of return is a composite rate for the trust. It is derived as the sum of the percentages invested in each principal asset class included in the portfolio multiplied by their respective expected rates of return. We considered the historical returns and the future expectations for returns for each asset class, as well as the target asset allocation of the pension portfolio. This analysis resulted in the selection of 7.50% as the long-term rate of return assumption for 2015.

The assumptions used to develop the actuarial present value of the benefit obligations for the plans are shown below:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
Discount rate	4.11	%	3.83	%	4.70	%
Salary scale increases	3.50	%	3.50	%	3.50	%

The expected contribution to be paid for the Retirement Plan by us during 2016 is approximately $2.0 million. The expected benefit payments for the next 10 years for the Retirement Plan is as follows (in thousands):



2016	$	2,424
2017	2,425
2018	2,274
2019	2,771
2020	2,787
2021-2025	15,851

The participant data used in determining the liabilities and costs for the Retirement Plan was collected as of January 1, 2015, and no significant changes have occurred through December 31, 2015.

At December 31, 2015, our investment asset allocation compared to our benchmarking allocation model for our plan assets was as follows:



	Portfolio		Benchmark
Cash and Short-Term Investments	6	%	6	%
U.S. Stocks	52	%	55	%
International Stocks	12	%	10	%
U.S. Bonds	24	%	26	%
International Bonds	5	%	3	%
Other	1	%	—	%
Total	100	%	100	%

The fair value of plan assets was determined based on publicly quoted market prices for identical assets, which are classified as Level 1 observable inputs. The allocation of the fair value of plan assets was as follows:



	December 31,
	2015		2014
Cash and Short-Term Investments	19	%	18	%
Large Company Funds	35	%	35	%
Mid Company Funds	7	%	6	%
Small Company Funds	6	%	6	%
International Funds	10	%	10	%
Fixed Income Funds	14	%	17	%
Growth Funds	9	%	8	%
Total	100	%	100	%

Concentrations of risk within our equity portfolio are investments classified within the following sectors: technology, financial services, consumer cyclical goods, healthcare and industrial, which represents approximately 20%, 17%, 15%, 16% and 10% of total equity investments, respectively.

Defined Contribution Plans:

Compensation expense related to our defined contribution plans was $3.7 million in 2015, $3.2 million in 2014 and $3.1 million in 2013.