Pension Benefits and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Defined Benefit Plan [Abstract]

Pension Benefit and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans

Note 12 – Pension Benefits and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans

As of June 30, 2019, we had two qualified noncontributory defined benefit pension plans: 1) the Rogers Corporation Employees’ Pension Plan (the Union Plan) and 2) the Rogers Corporation Defined Benefit Pension Plan for (i) all other U.S. employees hired before December 31, 2007 who are salaried employees or non-union hourly employees and (ii) employees of the acquired Arlon business (the Merged Plan).

The Company also maintains the Rogers Corporation Amended and Restated Pension Restoration Plan effective as of January 1, 2004 and the Rogers Corporation Amended and Restated Pension Restoration Plan effective as of January 1, 2005 (collectively, the Nonqualified Plans). The Nonqualified Plans serve to restore certain retirement benefits that might otherwise be lost due to limitations imposed by federal law on qualified pension plans, as well as to provide supplemental retirement benefits, for certain senior executives of the Company. In addition, we sponsor multiple fully insured or self-funded medical plans and life insurance plans for certain retirees. The measurement date for all plans is December 31^st for each respective plan year.

We are required, as an employer, to: (a) recognize in our consolidated statements of financial position an asset for a plan’s overfunded status or a liability for a plan’s underfunded status; (b) measure a plan’s assets and our obligations that determine our funded status as of the end of the year; and (c) recognize changes in the funded status of a defined benefit postretirement plan in the year in which the changes occur and report these changes in accumulated other comprehensive loss. In addition, actuarial gains and losses that are not immediately recognized as net periodic pension cost are recognized as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss and amortized into net periodic pension cost in future periods.

Pension Plan Proposed Termination

The Company currently intends to terminate the Merged Plan and has received a determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). On June 10, 2019, the Company amended the Plan to (a) terminate the Plan (subject to discretionary approval by the Company’s Chief Executive Officer) and (b) add a lump sum distribution option in connection with the termination of the Plan, if approved. The Company plans to provide participants an option to elect either a lump sum distribution or an annuity. One or more group annuity contracts with one or more insurance companies will be purchased to settle our obligations for those participants who do not receive a lump sum. The Merged Plan is fully-funded on a GAAP basis, however, in order to terminate the plan in accordance with IRS and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation requirements, the Company will be required to contribute additional assets, if necessary, to settle all of the Merged Plan’s obligations. The amount necessary to do so is not yet known. In addition, the Company expects to record a pension settlement charge at plan termination. This settlement charge will include, as a non-cash charge, the immediate recognition into expense of the unrecognized losses within accumulated other comprehensive loss on the statement of financial position as of the plan termination date. The Company does not have a current estimate of these future charges, however, the pre-tax accumulated other comprehensive loss related to the Merged Plan was approximately $47 million as of June 30, 2019. We currently estimate that if the plan termination is approved by the Chief Executive Officer, it will be completed during the second half of 2019, when lump sum distributions are expected to occur and one or more annuity contracts are expected to be purchased. At this time, there are no plans to terminate the Union Plan.

Components of Net Periodic (Benefit) Cost

The components of net periodic (benefit) cost for the periods indicated were:

	Pension Benefits												Retirement Health and Life Insurance Benefits
(Dollars in thousands)	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended						Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
	June 30,						June 30,						June 30,						June 30,
	2019			2018			2019			2018			2019			2018			2019			2018
Service cost	$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	18		$	17		$	36		$	38
Interest cost	1,785			1,692			3,569			3,372			15			16			30			31
Expected return of plan assets	(2,192		)	(2,164		)	(4,384		)	(4,333		)	—			—			—			—
Amortization of prior service credit	—			—			—			—			(253		)	(400		)	(506		)	(801		)
Amortization of net loss	456			457			910			913			—			—			—			—
Net periodic cost (benefit)	$	49		$	(15	)	$	95		$	(48	)	$	(220	)	$	(367	)	$	(440	)	$	(732	)

Employer Contributions

There were no required contributions to our qualified defined benefit pension plans for the three- or six-month periods ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, and we are not required to make additional contributions to these plans for the remainder of 2019. No voluntary contributions were made to our qualified defined benefit pension plans for each of the three- and six-month periods ended June 30, 2019 and 2018.

As there is no funding requirement for the Nonqualified Plans or the Retiree Health and Life Insurance benefit plans, we fund the amount of benefit payments made during the year, which were immaterial for each of the three- and six-month periods ended June 30, 2019 and 2018.