Retirement Plans

9 Months Ended

Feb. 28, 2023

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Retirement Plans

(6) Retirement Plans

We sponsor programs that provide retirement benefits to most of our employees. These programs include defined benefit pension plans, defined contribution plans, and postretirement healthcare plans. Key terms of our retirement plans are provided in our Annual Report.

Our retirement plans costs for the periods ended February 28 were as follows (in millions):

	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Defined benefit pension plans, net	$	59	$	2	$	176	$	(3	)
Defined contribution plans		242		226		714		577
Postretirement healthcare plans		24		22		70		67
Retirement plans MTM net loss		—		—		—		260
	$	325	$	250	$	960	$	901

Net periodic benefit cost of the pension and postretirement healthcare plans for the periods ended February 28 included the following components (in millions):

	Three Months Ended
	U.S. Pension Plans						International Pension Plans						Postretirement Healthcare Plans
	2023			2022			2023			2022			2023		2022
Service cost	$	162		$	209		$	13		$	14		$	10	$	12
Other retirement plans expense (income):
Interest cost		304			254			8			8			14		10
Expected return on plan assets		(422	)		(478	)		(3	)		(3	)		—		—
Amortization of prior service credit and other		(1	)		(1	)		(2	)		(1	)		—		—
		(119	)		(225	)		3			4			14		10
	$	43		$	(16	)	$	16		$	18		$	24	$	22

	Nine Months Ended
	U.S. Pension Plans						International Pension Plans						Postretirement Healthcare Plans
	2023			2022			2023			2022			2023		2022
Service cost	$	488		$	625		$	34		$	43		$	28	$	36
Other retirement plans expense (income):
Interest cost		913			765			25			27			42		31
Expected return on plan assets		(1,266	)		(1,433	)		(11	)		(23	)		—		—
Amortization of prior service credit and other		(5	)		(5	)		(2	)		(2	)		—		—
MTM net loss		—			36			—			224			—		—
		(358	)		(637	)		12			226			42		31
	$	130		$	(12	)	$	46		$	269		$	70	$	67

For 2023, no pension contributions are required for our tax-qualified U.S. domestic pension plans (“U.S. Pension Plans”) as they are fully funded under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. We made voluntary contributions to our U.S. Pension Plans of $800 million during the nine months of 2023.

In the second quarter of 2022, we incurred a pre-tax, noncash MTM net loss of $36 million related to the U.S. FedEx Freight Pension Plan. During the second quarter of 2022, 21% of FedEx Freight Corporation (“FedEx Freight”) employees elected to move from a pension/401(k) benefit structure to a new 401(k)-only structure with a higher company match effective January 1, 2022. The $36 million net loss consisted of a $75 million MTM loss due to a lower discount rate, partially offset by a $39 million curtailment gain.

We incurred an additional pre-tax, noncash MTM net loss of $224 million in the second quarter of 2022 related to the termination of the TNT Express Netherlands Pension Plan. Effective October 1, 2021, the responsibility of all pension assets and liabilities of this plan was transferred to a separate, multi-employer pension plan.