EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

 9. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

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

	Three months ended September 30,						Nine months ended September 30,
(in thousands)	2011			2010			2011			2010
Service cost	$	-		$	-		$	-		$	-
Interest cost		479			474			1,437			1,420
Expected return on plan assets		(458	)		(423	)		(1,374	)		(1,267	)
Amortization of net losses		116			102			348			306
Net periodic benefit cost	$	137		$	153		$	411		$	459

The Company contributed $600,000 to the plan during the nine months ended September 30, 2011.

The Company permits selected highly compensated employees to defer a portion of their compensation into the non-qualified Supplemental Retirement Plan (“SERP”). The SERP assets are marked to market and totaled $7,832,000 as of September 30, 2011 and $8,445,000 as of December 31, 2010. The SERP assets are reported in other assets on the consolidated balance sheet and changes related to the fair value of these assets are recorded in the consolidated statement of operations as part of other (expense) income, net. Trading gains (losses) related to the SERP assets totaled approximately $(735,000) for the three months ended September 30, 2011 and approximately $344,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2010.  Trading gains (losses) related to the SERP assets totaled approximately $(613,000) for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and approximately $289,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2010.  The SERP deferrals and the contributions are recorded in pension liabilities with any change in the fair value recorded as compensation cost.