9. EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PLANS

The Company has an unfunded supplemental pension plan which provides defined pension benefits to certain salaried employees upon retirement. Benefits under the plan are based on the salaries of individual plan participants in the year they were admitted into the plan. The plan has been frozen and no additional participants will be added to the plan in the future.

The following table presents the changes in the plan's projected benefit obligation, fair value of plan assets, and funded status for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):


	2011			2010			2009
Projected benefit obligation at January 1	$	2,730		$	3,131		$	2,989
Service cost		41			80			111
Interest cost		141			171			175
Prior service cost		–			–			125
Actuarial losses (gains)		93			(328	)		(87	)
Benefits paid		(352	)		(324	)		(182	)
Projected benefit obligation at December 31		2,653			2,730			3,131
Fair value of plan assets		–			–			–
Under funded status		(2,653	)		(2,730	)		(3,131	)
Unamortized prior service cost		67			82			192
Unrecognized actuarial gain		(180	)		(490	)		(162	)
Net amount recognized	$	(2,766	)	$	(3,138	)	$	(3,101	)

Amounts recognized in the consolidated financial statements consisted of (in thousands):


Accrued pension liability	$	(2,653	)	$	(2,730	)	$	(3,131	)
Pre-tax accumulated other comprehensive (income) loss – retirement benefit liability adjustment		(113	)		(408	)		30
Net amount recognized	$	(2,766	)	$	(3,138	)	$	(3,101	)

The plan's accumulated benefit obligation equaled the projected benefit obligation as of December 31, 2011, 2010, and 2009. The measurement date used to determine pension benefit measures was December 31.

Components of net periodic pension cost for the years ended December 31 were as follows (in thousands):


	2011			2010			2009
Service cost	$	41		$	80		$	111
Interest cost		141			171			175
Amortization of unrecognized prior service cost		15			110			67
Gain amortization		(218	)		–			–
Net periodic pension (income) cost	$	(21	)	$	361		$	353

Assumptions used to calculate the benefit obligation:
Discount rate		4.50	%		5.50	%		5.75	%

Expected benefit payments from the plan for the years ended December 31 are as follows (in thousands):


2012	$	435
2013	$	402
2014	$	395
2015	$	395
2016	$	372
Years 2017 - 2021	$	1,152

All U.S. subsidiaries participate in the Company's 401(k) Plan. In addition, the Company contributes to a number of multiemployer defined benefit pension plans under the terms of collective-bargaining agreements that cover union-represented employees. The risks of participating in these multiemployer plans are different from single-employer plans in the following aspects:

a) Assets contributed to the multiemployer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers. b) If a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan may be borne by the remaining participating employers. c) If the Company chooses to stop participating in some of the multiemployer plans, the Company may be required to pay those plans an amount based the underfunded status of the plan, referred to as a withdrawal liability.

The Company's participation in these plans for the year ended December 31, 2011 is outlined in the table below. The "EIN/ Pension Plan Number" column provides the Employee Identification Number (EIN) and three-digit plan number, if applicable. Unless otherwise noted, the most recent Pension Protection Act (PPA) zone status available in 2011 and 2010 is for the plan's year ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively. The zone status is based on information that the Company received from the plans and is certified by the plans' actuaries. Among other factors, plans in the red zone are generally 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.


	EIN/ Pension	PPA Zone Status		Surcharge
Pension Fund	Plan Number	2010	2009	Imposed
National Integrated Group Pension Plan	22-6190618-001	Red	Red	Yes
Sheet Metal Workers' National Pension Plan	52-6112463-001	Red	Red	Yes
Sheet Metal Workers' Pension Plan of Northern California	51-6115939-001	Red	Green	No
Western Metal Industry Pension Fund	91-6033499-001	Red	Red	Yes

Each fund's collective bargaining agreement expires or expired February 19, 2012, April 30, 2012, March 31, 2011, and March 31, 2012, respectively. The Company is currently renegotiating the expired collective bargaining agreements. All of the funds have rehabilitation plans in place except the Sheet Metal Workers' Pension Plan of Northern California which has a pending rehabilitation plan. Each plan with a rehabilitation plan requires minimum contributions from the Company. Given the status of these plans, it is reasonably possible that future contributions to the plans will increase although the Company cannot reasonably estimate a possible range of increased contributions as of December 31, 2011.

The Company did not contribute more than 5% of any fund's total contributions in any of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2011. The table below sets forth the contributions made by the Company to each multiemployer plan for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):


Pension Fund	2011		2010		2009
National Integrated Group Pension Plan	$	186	$	197	$	187
Sheet Metal Workers' National Pension Plan		50		41		38
Sheet Metal Workers' Pension Plan of Northern California		63		154		118
Western Metal Industry Pension Fund		8		9		7
	$	307	$	401	$	350

At the date the financial statements were issued, Forms 5500 were not available for plan years ended December 31, 2011.

Total expense for all retirement plans for the years ended December 31 was (in thousands):


	2011		2010		2009
Total retirement plan expense	$	2,610	$	1,246	$	1,567