Employee Benefits

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee Benefits

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Net Periodic Benefit Cost

The components of the net periodic benefit cost for our pension and postretirement benefit plans are as follows:

	Pension Plan						Postretirement Benefit Plan
Three Months Ended September 30,	2014			2013			2014		2013
Net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	1,303		$	1,575		$	924	$	1,401
Interest cost	1,468			1,295			586		472
Expected return on plan assets	(1,739		)	(1,443		)	—		—
Amortization of net loss	544			1,530			224		385
Net periodic benefit cost	$	1,576		$	2,957		$	1,734	$	2,258

	Pension Plan						Postretirement Benefit Plan
Nine Months Ended September 30,	2014			2013			2014		2013
Net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	3,909		$	4,725		$	2,772	$	2,906
Interest cost	4,404			3,883			1,758		1,319
Expected return on plan assets	(5,217		)	(4,329		)	—		—
Amortization of net loss	1,632			3,741			672		659
Net periodic benefit cost	$	4,728		$	8,020		$	5,202	$	4,884

Employer Contributions

We previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 that we expected to contribute $6,260 to the pension plan in 2014. For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2014, we contributed $7,416 to the pension plan, or an increase of $1,156 from our original expected contributions. The increase was recommended by our external actuaries in order to reduce future pension related expenses and to maximize tax benefits associated with contributions to pension plans.