Employee Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Employee Benefit Plans [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans Disclosure

15.  EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

The Company provides an unfunded Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”) for certain members of its executive management. The Company uses a December 31 measurement date for the benefit obligations and a January 1 measurement date for its net periodic costs for the SERP. Variances from actuarially assumed rates will result in increases or decreases in benefit obligations and net periodic cost in future periods. Benefits expense under the SERP was $3 million for both of the three-month periods ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, and $10 million and $9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The accrued benefit liability for the SERP totaled $115 million and $122 million at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively, and is included in other long-term liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. The weighted-average assumptions used in determining net periodic cost for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2017 was a discount rate of 3.6% and annual salary increase of 2.0%. The Company had available-for-sale securities in a rabbi trust generally designated to pay benefits of the SERP in the amounts of $126 million and $131 million at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively. These amounts are included in other assets, net on the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2017, certain members of executive management of the Company that were participants in the SERP retired and met the requirements for payout of their SERP retirement benefit. The SERP payout provisions require payment to the participant in an actuarially determined lump sum amount six months after the participant retires from the Company. Such amounts have been paid or will be paid out of the rabbi trust during the latter half of 2017. As required by the pension accounting rules in U.S. GAAP, the Company recognized a non-cash settlement loss of approximately $2 million during the three months ended September 30, 2017, and will recognize a non-cash settlement loss of approximately $4 million during the three months ending December 31, 2017, which represent a pro-rata portion of the accumulated unrecognized actuarial loss out of accumulated other comprehensive loss.