EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

10.    EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

The following represents the net periodic benefit cost and related components of the Company’s multiple employers Retirement Income Plan:

	Three months ended				Nine months ended
	September 30,				September 30,
(in thousands)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Interest cost	$	411	$	490	$	1,234	$	1,470
Expected return on plan assets		(395)		(649)		(1,186)		(1,949)
Amortization of net losses		246		229		739		689
Net periodic benefit cost	$	262	$	70	$	787	$	210

The Company made a $4,450,000 contribution to this plan during the nine months ended September 30, 2020; no contribution was made to this plan during the nine months ended September 30, 2019.

In October 2020, the Company amended the Retirement Income Plan to add a limited lump-sum payment window for vested terminated participants who had terminated employment before July 1, 2020 and for active employees who will have reached age 59 ½ by December 1, 2020, with a vested balance. Eligible participants could elect to receive their vested balance immediately as a lump-sum or as a monthly annuity payment. The lump-sum payment window offering is scheduled to end during the fourth quarter of 2020. Plan assets will be utilized to fund participant elections and is expected to trigger settlement accounting, which will be recognized when the distributions are made in December 2020. The resulting non-cash settlement charges represent the accelerated recognition of actuarial losses reflected in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income/(loss) (AOCI).

The Company permits selected highly compensated employees to defer a portion of their compensation into the non-qualified Supplemental Retirement Plan (“SERP”). The Company maintains certain securities in the SERP that have been classified as trading, and are stated at fair value totaling $28,657,000 as of September 30, 2020 and $28,476,000 as of December 31, 2019. The SERP assets are reported in non-current other assets on the consolidated balance sheets and changes in the fair value of these assets are reported in the consolidated statements of operations as compensation cost in selling, general and administrative expenses. Trading gains, net related to the SERP assets were approximately as follows:

	Three months ended				Nine months ended
	September 30,				September 30,
(in thousands)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Trading gains, net	$	1,136	$	370	$	178	$	4,006

The SERP liability includes participant deferrals net of distributions and is recorded on the consolidated balance sheets in long-term pension liabilities with any change in the fair value of the liabilities recorded as compensation cost within selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.