Employee Benefit Plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Employee Benefit Plans [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans Disclosure

13.  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 $2 million and $4 million for the threemonths ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The accrued benefit liability for the SERP totaled $78 million and $83 million at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, 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 months ended March 31, 2018 was a discount rate of 3.4% and annual salary increase of 2.0%. The Company had equity investment securities in a rabbi trust generally designated to pay benefits of the SERP in the amounts of $91 million and $99 million at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. These amounts are included in other assets, net on the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

During the three months ended March 31, 2018, 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 were paid out of the rabbi trust during the year ended December 31, 2017. As required by the pension accounting rules in U.S. GAAP, the Company recognized a non-cash settlement loss of less than $1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2018, and will recognize a non-cash settlement loss of less than $1 million during the remaining nine months ending December 31, 2018, which represent a pro-rata portion of the accumulated unrecognized actuarial loss out of accumulated other comprehensive loss.