PENSION PLANS

The Company sponsors defined benefit pension plans that cover substantially all of its French, German and Philippines employees. Plan benefits are provided in accordance with local statutory requirements. Benefits are based on years of service and employee compensation levels. The plans are unfunded. Pension liabilities and charges are based upon various assumptions, updated annually, including discount rates, future salary increases, employee turnover, and mortality rates.

The Company’s French pension plan provides for termination benefits paid to covered French employees only at retirement, and consists of approximately one to five months of salary. The Company’s German pension plan provides for defined benefit payouts for covered German employees following retirement. The Company's Philippines pension plan provides for termination benefits following retirement and consists of a percentage of salary per year of service.

The aggregate net pension expense relating to these three plans are as follows:



	Years Ended
	December 31, 2015			December 31, 2014		December 31, 2013
	(in thousands)
Service costs	$	1,352		$	1,526	$	1,795
Interest costs	1,394			1,509		1,430
Amortization of actuarial loss	772			47		376
Settlement and other related gain	—			—		(59		)
Curtailment gain	(1,699		)	—		(1,607		)
Net pension period cost	$	1,819		$	3,082	$	1,935

Settlement and other related gains for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 were insignificant. Curtailment gains of $1.7 million and $1.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2013, respectively, related to restructuring activities in the Company’s Rousset and Nantes operations in France and in the Philippines and were recorded as a credit to restructuring charges upon termination of the affected employees during the fourth quarter of 2013 and 2015, respectively.

The change in projected benefit obligation and the accumulated benefit obligation, were as follows:



	December 31, 2015			December 31, 2014
	(in thousands)
Projected benefit obligation at beginning of the year	$	49,836		$	38,916
Service costs	1,352			1,526
Interest costs	1,394			1,509
Curtailment gain	(1,699		)	—
Actuarial (gains) losses	(3,354		)	8,753
Benefits paid	(705		)	(483		)
Foreign currency exchange rate changes	(7,225		)	(385		)
Projected benefit obligation at end of the year	$	39,599		$	49,836
Accumulated benefit obligation at end of the year	35,470			46,092

As the defined benefit plans are unfunded, the liability recognized on the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2015 was $39.6 million, of which $0.7 million is included in accrued and other liabilities and $38.9 million is included in other long-term liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. The liability recognized on the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2014 was $49.8 million, of which $0.6 million is included in accrued and other liabilities and $49.3 million is included in other long-term liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.

Actuarial assumptions used to determine benefit obligations for the plans were as follows:



	Years Ended
	December 31, 2015	December 31, 2014	December 31, 2013
Assumed discount rate	1.93%-2.57%	1.49-2.15%	3.1-4.0%
Assumed compensation rate of increase	2.9%-3.0%	2.9-3.0%	2.4-3.0%

The discount rate is based on the quarterly average yield for Euros treasuries with a duration of 30 years, plus a supplement for corporate bonds (Euros, AA rating).

Future estimated expected benefit payments over the next 10 years are as follows:



Years Ending December 31:
	(in thousands)
2016	$	673
2017	550
2018	847
2019	1,064
2020	1,056
2021 through 2025	8,472
	$	12,662

The Company’s pension liability represents the present value of estimated future benefits to be paid.

With respect to the Company’s unfunded pension plans in Europe, for the year ended December 31, 2015, a change in assumed discount rate and compensation rate used to calculate the present value of pension obligation resulted in an decrease in pension liability of $7.1 million, which was recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income in stockholders’ equity.

The Company’s net pension period cost for 2016 is expected to be approximately $2.7 million. Cash funding for benefits paid was $0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2015. The Company expects total contribution to these plans to be approximately $0.7 million in 2016.

Net actuarial gains (losses) are expected to be minimal and will be recognized as a component of net periodic pension benefit cost during 2016, which is included in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity as of December 31, 2015.