Employee benefit plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 30, 2011

Employee benefit plans [Abstract]

Employee benefit plans

(8)            Employee benefit plans

We maintain defined benefit pension plans for certain U.S. and non-U.S. employees.  Benefits are based on years of service and average final compensation.  For our U.S. plans, we fund at least the minimum amount required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended.  We do not provide any post-retirement benefits outside of the U.S., except as may be required by certain foreign jurisdictions.  Depending on the investment performance of our plan assets and other contributing factors, funding in a given year may not be required.

Our net pension (income) cost related to our defined benefit plans was $(0.8) million, $1.1 million and $9.5 million in the years ended December 30, 2011, December 31, 2010 and December 25, 2009, respectively, which included the following components (in thousands):

		2011			2010			2009
Service cost	$	38		$	296		$	1,120
Interest cost		1,811			1,860			2,327
Expected return on plan assets		(2,496	)		(2,290	)		(1,948	)
Amortization of transition obligation		5			5			5
Amortization of prior service costs		3			17			120
Recognized actuarial losses (gains)		(26)			--			52
Curtailment gains		(152	)		(1,031	)		(949	)
Special termination benefits		--			2,225			8,820
Net periodic pension (income) cost	$	(817	)	$	1,082		$	9,547

Included in the $0.8 million of pension income incurred during the year ended December 30, 2011 was a curtailment gain of approximately $0.2 million related to one of our foreign defined benefit retirement plans.  For the year ended December 30, 2010, we incurred approximately $2.2 million of special termination benefits related to the settlement of our defined benefit supplemental retirement plan that was triggered by the sale of Electrical.  These charges were allocated to our discontinued operations in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2010. Also, included in the net pension cost for the year ended December 31, 2010 was a curtailment gain of approximately $1.0 million related to our domestic defined retirement plan, which was caused by the freezing of benefits under such plan at December 31, 2010.  The impact to our continuing operations related to our defined benefit pension plans for 2011 and 2010 was approximately $0.8 million and $1.1 million of pension income, respectively.

The financial status of our defined benefit plans at December 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010 was as follows (in thousands):

	2011			2010
Change in benefit obligation:
Projected benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	34,628		$	45,201
Service cost		38			296
Interest cost		1,811			1,860
Actuarial losses		3,699			2,048
Benefits paid		(1,934	)		(2,265	)
Plan amendments/settlements		--			(13,631	)
Plan curtailments		(47	)		(1,106	)
Special termination benefits		--			2,225
Projected benefit obligation at end of year	$	38,195		$	34,628

Change in fair value of plan assets:
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	32,459		$	29,749
Actual return on plan assets		2,880			4,591
Employer contributions		164			14,015
Benefits paid		(1,934	)		(2,265	)
Plan settlements		--			(13,631	)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	33,569		$	32,459
Amounts recognized on the Consolidated Balance Sheets:
Non-current assets	$	181		$	101
Non-current liabilities		(4,807	)		(2,270)
Net amount recorded	$	(4,626	)	$	(2,169)

The accumulated benefit obligations for the defined pension plans were $37.5 million and $34.3 million as of December 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively.  The unrecognized components of our net periodic pension costs have been included in accumulated other comprehensive income.  For the years ended December 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, the accumulated other comprehensive income for our defined benefit plans included the following components (in thousands):

	2011			2010
Actuarial (losses) gains	$	(3,096	)	$	273
Plan curtailment		(84	)		--
Amortization of prior service costs		(21	)		(7	)
Amortization of transition obligations		(10	)		(14	)
Accumulated other comprehensive income	$	(3,211	)	$	252

The pension cost to be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income in 2012 related to our defined benefit pension plans is expected to be zero.

The aggregate benefit obligation, accumulated benefit obligation and fair value of plan assets for plans with benefit obligations in excess of plan assets as of December 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010 were as follows (in thousands):

	2011		2010
Projected benefit obligation	$	37,833	$	34,190
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	37,725	$	34,017
Plan assets	$	33,026	$	31,979

At December 25, 2009, we held approximately $7.4 million of securities in a Rabbi Trust that were designated for funding benefit payments to participants in our defined benefit supplemental retirement plan.  These Rabbi Trust assets were excluded from our plan assets.   As a result of the sale of Electrical, approximately $13.6 million of securities held in our Rabbi Trust were distributed during 2010 to settle the obligations of our defined benefit supplemental retirement plan.  Refer to Note 5, Investments, for further details regarding the Rabbi Trust.

We expect to contribute approximately $0.1 million to our defined benefit plans in 2012.  Additionally, we expect to make benefit payments in 2012 of approximately $2.0 million from our defined benefit plans.

Our domestic defined benefit retirement plan is currently under audit by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (“PBGC”). Initial communications from the PBGC have indicated that the sale of Electrical's North America operations may have resulted in a partial plan termination, which may require us to accelerate the funding of up to approximately $7.3 million to this defined plan. A partial plan termination would only result in a cash payment to fund our plan and will not directly result in any additional expenses to the Company. In February 2012, legislation was introduced that would likely limit the applicability of the ERISA section 4062(e) rule to complete shutdowns. We are continuing discussions with the PBGC on this matter. We do not anticipate making any cash payments to our domestic defined benefit retirement plan in 2012.

The defined benefit plans' weighted-average asset allocations at December 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010 were as follows:

Asset category:	2011			2010
Equity securities		10	%		69	%
Fixed income securities		88	%		30	%
Other		2	%		1	%
Total		100	%		100	%

Our allocation policy is reviewed at least quarterly. Factors considered when determining the appropriate asset allocation include changes in plan liabilities, an evaluation of market conditions, possible payment of additional benefits, potential plan termination and tolerance for risk and cash requirements for benefit payments.

A summary of our pension assets that are measured and recorded at fair value on a recurring basis and their level within the fair value hierarchy as of December 30, 2011 are as follows (in millions):

	2011		Quoted Prices In Active  Markets for  Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant  Other  Observable  Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Plan assets per asset category (1):
Cash and cash equivalents	$	0.1	$	0.1	$	--	$	--
Fixed income securities:
Corporate bonds (3)		29.1		29.1		--		--
Short-term debt securities (4)		1.0		1.0		--		--
Equity securities:						--		--
International small-cap value (5)		1.0		1.0
International mid-cap value (6)		1.9		1.9		--		--
International diversified value (7)		0.5		0.5		--		--
						--		--
Fair value of plan assets	$	33.6	$	33.6	$	--	$	--

A summary of our pension assets that are measured and recorded at fair value on a recurring basis and their level within the fair value hierarchy as of December 31, 2010 are as follows (in millions):

	2010		Quoted Prices In Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs  (Level 3)
Plan assets per asset category (1):
Cash and cash equivalents	$	0.1	$	0.1	$	--	$	--
Fixed income securities:
U.S. Treasuries (2)		2.4		2.4		--		--
Corporate bonds (3)		7.1		7.1		--		--
Short-term debt securities (4)		1.0		1.0		--		--
Equity securities:
International small-cap value (5)		6.2		6.2		--		--
International mid-cap value (6)		12.5		12.5		--		--
International diversified value (7)		3.2		3.2		--		--
Fair value of plan assets	$	32.5	$	32.5	$	--	$	--

(1)	See Note 15, Financial instruments, for a description of the three levels within the fair value hierarchy.
(2)	Debt securities that invest in treasury and other related instruments.
(3)	Debt securities that specialize in investment grade bonds of institutional investors and other treasury related securities.
(4)	Generally, money market securities that maintain cash for interim purchases.
(5)	Equity securities that focus on international public companies with low market capitalization.
(6)	Equity securities that focus on international public companies with a mid-rated market capitalization.
(7)	Equity securities that focus on international public companies, but diversify their market capitalization to limit investment.

Our discount rate assumption is determined based on high-quality fixed income investments that match the duration of our expected benefit payments.  For our pension obligations in the United States, a yield curve constructed from a portfolio of high quality corporate debt securities with varying maturities is used to discount our expected benefit payments to their present value.  This generates our discount rate assumption for our domestic pension plans.  For our foreign plans, we use the market rates for high quality corporate bonds to derive our discount rate assumption.  To develop our expected long-term rate of return on assets assumption, we considered historical returns and future expectations for returns of each asset class, weighted by the target asset allocations.  Our rate of compensation increase represents the long-term assumption for expected increases to salaries for pay-related plans.

The assumptions used to develop our defined benefit plan data were as follows:

	2011			2010
Discount rate		4.60	%		5.40	%
Annual compensation increases		N/A			4.25	%
Expected long-term rates of return on plan assets		8.00	%		8.00	%

Our measurement date is the last day of the calendar year.

The following table shows our expected benefit payments for the next five fiscal years and the aggregate five years thereafter from our defined benefit plans (in thousands):

Year Ending
2012	$	1,975
2013	$	2,022
2014	$	2,029
2015	$	2,077
2016	$	2,160
Thereafter	$	27,932

Some of our non-U.S. subsidiaries, have defined contribution pension plans which provide benefits for substantially all of their employees.  The net pension expense pertaining to these plans included in our results of operations for the years ended December 30, 2011, December 31, 2010 and December 25, 2009 were $1.2 million, $2.6 million and $2.8 million, respectively.

We maintain a defined contribution 401(k) plan that covers substantially all of our U.S. employees.  The total contribution expense under the 401(k) plan was approximately $1.0 million, $0.3 million and $0.3 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. During 2009, we amended these plans and temporarily suspended employer matching contributions.  However, the matching contribution was fully reinstated at the beginning of our 2011 fiscal year.