Employee Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Employee Benefit Plans Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans Disclosure [Text Block]

11. Employee Benefit Plans

Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, or UK, Harvard Apparatus Limited and Biochrom Limited, maintain contributory, defined benefit or defined contribution pension plans for substantially all of their employees. These defined benefit pension plans are closed to new employees, as well as closed to the future accrual of benefits for existing employees. The components of the Company’s defined benefit pension expense were as follows:

		Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
		September 30,				September 30,
		2016		2015		2016		2015
		(in thousands)
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Interest cost	$	156	$	175	$	492	$	542
Expected return on plan assets		(168)		(165)		(530)		(510)
Net amortization loss		74		75		233		231
Net periodic benefit cost	$	62	$	85	$	195	$	263

For the three months endedSeptember 30,2016 and 2015, the Company contributed $0.2 million, for both periods, to its defined benefit pension plans. For the nine months endedSeptember 30,2016 and 2015, the Company contributed $0.5 million and $0.6 million, respectively, to its defined benefit pension plans. The Company expects to contribute approximately $0.3 million to its defined benefit pension plans during the remainder of 2016.

The Company had an underfunded pension liability of approximately $2.5 million and $2.8 million, as of September 30,2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively, included in the other long term liabilities line item in the consolidated balance sheets.