Employee Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefits

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Employee Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefits

7. Employee Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefits

For the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, net pension costs were comprised of the following:

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2012			2011			2012			2011
(In thousands)
Components of Net Pension Costs
Service cost for benefits earned during the year	$	5,606		$	4,952		$	16,818		$	14,856
Interest cost on accumulated benefit obligation		3,700			3,368			11,100			10,105
Expected return on assets		(3,027	)		(3,386	)		(9,081	)		(10,158	)
Net amortization of unrecognized amounts
Prior service cost		1,498			1,446			4,495			4,337
Actuarial loss		1,229			103			3,687			308
Net pension costs	$	9,006		$	6,483		$	27,019		$	19,448

The Company makes pension plan contributions that are sufficient to fund its actuarially determined costs, generally equal to the minimum amounts required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). However, from time to time the Company may make discretionary contributions in excess of the required minimum amounts. The Company contributed $35.9 million to the pension plans through September 30, 2012 and does not expect to make any additional contributions during the fourth quarter of 2012.

For the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, net postretirement costs were comprised of the following:

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2012			2011			2012			2011
(In thousands)
Components of Net Postretirement Costs
Service cost for benefits earned during the year	$	464		$	400		$	1,392		$	1,199
Interest cost on accumulated benefit obligation		310			297			931			892
Net amortization of unrecognized amounts
Prior service cost		(104	)		(104	)		(314	)		(312	)
Actuarial loss		113			112			339			337
Net postretirement costs	$	783		$	705		$	2,348		$	2,116