Employee Benefit Plans

6 Months Ended

Jul. 02, 2011

Notes to Financial Statements [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefit Plans

The Company has retirement and pension plans covering substantially all of its employees.  Most retirement benefits are provided by the Company under separate final-pay noncontributory and contributory defined benefit and defined contribution plans for all salaried and hourly employees (excluding those covered by union-sponsored plans) who meet service and age requirements. Defined benefits are based principally on length of service and earnings patterns during the five years preceding retirement.

Net pension cost for the three and six months ended July 2, 2011 and July 3, 2010 includes the following components (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
	July 2, 2011			July 3, 2010			July 2, 2011			July 3, 2010
Service cost	$	295		$	264		$	590		$	528
Interest cost	1,513			1,489			3,026			2,978
Expected return on plan assets	(1,722		)	(1,597		)	(3,444		)	(3,194		)
Amortization of prior service cost	22			28			44			56
Amortization of net loss	681			783			1,362			1,566
Net pension cost	$	789		$	967		$	1,578		$	1,934

The Company's funding policy for employee benefit pension plans is to contribute annually not less than the minimum amount required nor more than the maximum amount that can be deducted for federal income tax purposes.  Contributions are intended to provide not only for benefits attributed to service to date, but also for those expected to be earned in the future. Based on actuarial estimates at July 2, 2011, the Company expects to contribute approximately $2.3 million to its pension plans to meet funding requirements during the next twelve months.  

The Company participates in several multi-employer pension plans which provide defined benefits to certain employees covered by labor contracts. The Company knows that three of these multi-employer plans were under-funded as of the latest available information, some of which is over a year old.  The Company has no ability to compel the plan trustees to provide more current information to the extent it has not already been prepared for and is available to the plan trustees. In June 2009, the Company received a notice of a mass withdrawal termination and a notice of initial withdrawal liability from a multi-employer plan in which it participates. The Company had anticipated this event and as a result had accrued approximately $3.2 million as of January 3, 2009 based on the most recent information that was probable and estimable for this plan. The plan had given a notice of redetermination liability in December 2009. In fiscal 2010, the Company received further third party information confirming the future payout related to this multi-employer plan. As a result, the Company reduced its liability to approximately $1.2 million. In fiscal 2010, another underfunded multi-employer plan in which the Company participates gave notification of partial withdrawal liability. As of July 2, 2011, the Company has an accrued liability of approximately $1.1 million representing the present value of scheduled withdrawal liability payments under this multi-employer plan. While the Company has no ability to calculate a possible current liability for under-funded multi-employer plans that could terminate or could requireadditional funding under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the amounts could be material.