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. The accrued benefits under our U.S. plan were frozen as of December 31, 2010. For our U.S. plan, 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.

The components of our net pension cost (income) related to our defined benefit plans were as follows (in thousands):



	Years Ended
	December 26, 2014			December 27, 2013
Service cost	$	—		$	19
Interest cost	1,713			1,616
Expected return on plan assets	(1,515		)	(1,692		)
Recognized actuarial gains	7			14
Curtailment gains	—			(16		)
Net pension cost (income)	$	205		$	(59	)

The financial status of our defined benefit plans were as follows (in thousands):



	December 26, 2014			December 27, 2013
Change in benefit obligation:
Projected benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	36,919		$	40,636
Service cost	—			19
Interest cost	1,713			1,616
Actuarial losses (gains)	5,107			(3,280		)
Benefits paid	(1,998		)	(2,056		)
Plan curtailments	—			(16		)
Projected benefit obligation at end of year	$	41,741		$	36,919

Change in fair value of plan assets:
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	31,540		$	35,117
Actual return on plan assets	5,394			(1,644		)
Employer contributions	92			123
Benefits paid	(1,998		)	(2,056		)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	35,028		$	31,540

Amounts recognized on the Consolidated Balance Sheets:
Non-current assets (included in deferred loan costs and other assets)	$	290		$	263
Non-current liabilities (included in other-long term liabilities)	(7,003		)	(5,642		)
Net amount recorded	$	(6,713	)	$	(5,379	)

The accumulated benefit obligations for the defined pension plans were $41.5 million and $36.7 million as of December 26, 2014 and December 27, 2013, respectively. The unrecognized components of our net periodic pension costs have been included in accumulated other comprehensive income. The accumulated other comprehensive income for our defined benefit plans included the following components (in thousands):



	Years Ended
	December 26, 2014			December 27, 2013
Actuarial losses	$	(5,270	)	$	(4,065	)
Plan curtailment	(84		)	(84		)
Amortization of prior service costs	(20		)	(20		)
Amortization of transition obligations	(7		)	(7		)
Accumulated other comprehensive income	$	(5,381	)	$	(4,176	)

The pension cost to be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income in 2015 related to our defined benefit pension plans is expected to be less than $0.1 million.

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



	December 26, 2014		December 27, 2013
Projected benefit obligation	$	41,575	$	36,760
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	41,497	$	36,682
Plan assets	$	34,572	$	31,118

We expect to contribute $0.1 million to our defined benefit plans in 2015. Additionally, we expect to make benefit payments in 2015 of $2.0 million from our defined benefit plans.

The defined benefit plans’ weighted-average asset allocations were as follows:



	December 26, 2014		December 27, 2013
Asset category:
Equity securities	10	%	11	%
Fixed income securities	88	%	87	%
Other	2	%	2	%
Total	100	%	100	%

Our asset 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, and 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 is as follows (in millions):



	December 26, 2014		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⁽²⁾	30.9		30.9		—		—
Short-term debt securities⁽³⁾	0.6		0.6		—		—
Equity securities:
Domestic small-cap value⁽⁴⁾	1.0		1.0		—		—
Domestic mid-cap value⁽⁵⁾	2.0		2.0		—		—
International diversified value⁽⁶⁾	0.4		0.4		—		—
Fair value of plan assets	$	35.0	$	35.0	$	—	$	—



	December 27, 2013		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⁽²⁾	27.5		27.5		—		—
Short-term debt securities⁽³⁾	0.5		0.5		—		—
Equity securities:
Domestic small-cap value⁽⁴⁾	1.0		1.0		—		—
Domestic mid-cap value⁽⁵⁾	1.9		1.9		—		—
International diversified value⁽⁶⁾	0.5		0.5		—		—
Fair value of plan assets	$	31.5	$	31.5	$	—	$	—

______________________


(1)	See Note 15, Fair Value Measurements, for a description of the three levels within the fair value hierarchy.


(2)	Debt securities that specialize in investment grade bonds of institutional investors and other treasury related securities


(3)	Generally, money market securities that maintain cash for interim purchases.


(4)	Equity securities that focus on domestic public companies with low market capitalization.


(5)	Equity securities that focus on domestic public companies with a mid-rated market capitalization.


(6)	Equity securities that focus on international public companies but diversify their market capitalization to limit investment.

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



	December 26, 2014		December 27, 2013
Discount rate	4.1	%	4.9	%
Annual compensation increases	N/A		N/A
Expected long-term rates of return on plan assets	5.0	%	5.0	%

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
2015	$	2,041
2016	2,111
2017	2,144
2018	2,179
2019	2,188
Thereafter	31,078
	$	41,741

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 26, 2014 and December 27, 2013 were $0.9 million and $1.1 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 $0.5 million and $0.7 million for the years ended December 26, 2014 and December 27, 2013, respectively. In September 2013, we amended these plans and temporarily suspended employer matching contributions. The employer match was amended and reinstated in July 2014.