Employee Benefit Plans

The Company previously sponsored a cash balance defined benefit pension plan that covered substantially all of its salaried employees (the “Pension Plan”). In November 2012, the Board of Directors approved the termination of the Pension Plan. The Pension Plan was frozen in March 2013 pending regulatory approvals, which were received in August 2014. As of December 31, 2014, the Pension Plan assets were distributed to Pension Plan participants and $7.9 million was distributed to the Company’s 401(k) Plan to pay additional future benefits to current and future 401(k) plan participants over a period of up to seven years. Subsequent to these distributions, the remaining Pension Plan assets of $23.8 million were reverted to the Company in December 2014. As a result of the Pension Plan termination, the Company had no prepaid pension asset or accumulated benefit obligation at December 31, 2016 and 2015.

There were no pension charges in 2016 and 2015. During 2014, the Company recorded a total of $13.5 million in Pension charges on the Company’s consolidated statements of operations, which included $8.7 million for net periodic pension costs, including settlements related to the termination of the Pension Plan and $4.8 million of excise tax.

Obligations and Funded Status

A summary of the net periodic pension cost and other amounts recognized in other comprehensive income are as follows:



	2014
Interest cost	$	625
Expected return on assets	550
Amortization of loss	465
Settlement charges	7,107
Net periodic pension cost	$	8,747

Other changes in plan assets and obligations recognized in other comprehensive income:
Gain	(5,392		)
Total other comprehensive income	(5,392		)
Total net periodic pension cost and other comprehensive income	$	3,355

As of December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014 there were no actuarial loss amounts not yet reflected in net periodic pension cost and included in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) as they were recognized in net periodic cost during 2014 due to the final settlement of the Pension Plan in 2014.

Assumptions

Assumptions used to develop net periodic pension cost:



	2014
Discount rate	3.75%
Expected long-term rate on plan assets	—%
Rate of compensation increase	N/A

The Pension Plan was terminated in 2014. Early in 2014, the Pension Plan transferred the majority of its investments held in plan assets to U.S. Treasury securities to maintain the Pension Plan asset balance, which resulted in the selection of a minimal expected long-term rate on plan assets as the U.S. Treasury securities in 2014.

Plan Assets

During 2014, the Pension Plan transferred the majority of its investments held in plan assets to U.S. Treasury securities to maintain the Pension Plan asset balance. There were no Plan assets as of December 31, 2016 and 2015.

Deferred Compensation Plan

The Company maintains a 401(k) retirement plan covering substantially all officers and employees of the Company, which permits participants to defer up to the maximum allowable amount determined by the IRS of their eligible compensation.

As part of the Pension Plan termination in 2014, the Company directed the Pension Plan to transfer $7.9 million of the Pension Plan’s surplus assets into a suspense account in the Company’s 401(k) Plan. The Company has retained the risks and rewards of ownership of these assets; therefore, the assets held in the suspense account are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements until they are allocated to participants. At December 31, 2016 and 2015, the fair values of these assets were $5.6 million and $7.1 million, respectively, and were recorded in restricted investments on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets.

The Company expenses the fair value of the assets at the time the assets are allocated to participants, which is expected to be allocated up to the next five years. During 2016 and 2015, the Company recorded an expense of $1.4 million and $1.3 million, respectively, for the fair value of the assets, less expenses, that were allocated to participants. Any gains and losses on these assets are reflected in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and were less than a $0.1 million gain for both of the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015.

As of December 31, 2016, the assets held in the suspense account were invested in the Vanguard Money Market Fund and Vanguard Short-Term Bond Fund. The Vanguard Money Market Fund and Vanguard Short-Term Bond Fund are measured based on quoted market prices in an active market and categorized within level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. The Company’s Retirement Plan Investment Committee is responsible for investing decisions and allocation decisions of the suspense account. Refer to Note 6. Financial Instruments and Fair Value Measurements for further information on the three-tier fair value hierarchy.