12. Retirement Benefit Plan

One of the Company’s German subsidiaries has a non-contributory, defined benefit retirement plan for eligible employees. This plan provides benefits based on the employee’s years of service and compensation during the years immediately preceding retirement, early retirement, termination, disability, or death, as defined in the plan.

During the three-fiscal month period ended December 28, 2013, as a result of the productivity improvements in Test business processes gained through investments in infrastructure and technology, the Company initiated workforce reduction actions. These actions are expected to result in terminations of German employees who are eligible to receive future benefits under the German defined benefit pension plan. Certain of the termination actions are expected to be executed under early retirement plan arrangements which provide, among other benefits, special termination benefits involving the Company’s funding of the defined benefit pension plan for future service periods in effect throughout the contractual term of each early retirement arrangement. During the three-fiscal month period ended December 28, 2013, the Company recognized costs of $0.2 million associated with these special termination benefits. The special termination benefits are expected to be paid directly from the Company’s assets throughout the contractual terms of the arrangements, the lengths of which are expected to range from approximately 2.8 to 6.0 years. See Note 13 in Condensed Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the Company’s cost reduction actions that were initiated during the three-fiscal months ended December 28, 2013.

The cost for the plan for the three-fiscal month periods ended December 28, 2013 and December 29, 2012 included the following components:



	Three Fiscal Months Ended
		December 28,		December 29,
		2013		2012
	(expressed in thousands)
Service cost	$	200	$	170
Interest cost		209		190
Expected return on plan assets		(257)		(170)
Net amortization and deferral		116		128
Special termination benefits		191		-
Net periodic benefit cost	$	459	$	318

The weighted average expected long-term rate of return on plan assets used to determine the net periodic benefit cost for the three-fiscal month periods ended December 28, 2013 and December 29, 2012 was 5.5% and 5.2%,