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Employee Benefit Plans
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]  
Employee Benefit Plans
Employee Benefit Plans
On April 23, 2012, the Company, approved changes to The Hartford Retirement Plan for U.S. Employees ("The Plan") its non-contributory, tax qualified defined benefit pension plan, to freeze participation and benefit accruals. As a result, employees will not accrue further benefits under the cash balance formula of the plan, although interest will continue to accrue to existing account balances. The freeze will be effective December 31, 2012. Compensation earned by employees up to December 31, 2012 shall be used for purposes of calculating benefits under the Plan but there will be no future benefit accruals after this date. Participants as of December 31, 2012 will continue to earn vesting credit with respect to their frozen accrued benefits as they continue to work. The freeze also applies to The Hartford Excess Pension Plan II, the Company's non-qualified excess benefit plan for certain highly compensated employees, effective December 31, 2012. The Company announced these changes in April 2012.
As a result of these actions, the Company remeasured the pension benefit obligations of the affected plans effective April 30, 2012, causing an increase in the pension benefit obligation of $117 pre-tax with a decrease in accumulated other comprehensive income of $76 after-tax in the second quarter of 2012. The increase primarily reflects a decrease in the discount rates used to remeasure the pension plan obligation from 4.75% at December 31, 2011 to 4.50% at April 30, 2012, reflecting the change in market interest rates. The expected long-term rate of return of 7.3% remains unchanged from December 31, 2011. A curtailment of benefits occurs as a result of this action because it eliminates all future service for active employees in the domestic pension plans. Accordingly, the Company recognized an after-tax curtailment gain of $7 during the second quarter of 2012, which is the remaining unamortized prior service cost at April 30, 2012.
Effective January 1, 2013, the Company will increase benefits under The Hartford’s Investment and Savings Plan, its defined contribution 401(k) savings plan, and The Hartford Excess Savings Plan. The Company's contributions will be increased to include a non-elective contribution of 2% of eligible compensation and a dollar-for-dollar matching contribution of up to 6.00% of eligible compensation contributed by the employee each pay period. Eligible compensation will be expanded to include overtime and bonuses. The plan will qualify for a “safe harbor” from annual discrimination testing. Currently, employee contributions of up to 6.00% of base pay are matched at a 50% rate, by the Company. Additionally, in 2012, employees who had earnings of less than $110,000 in the preceding year receive a floor contribution of 1.5% of base pay and employees who had earnings of $110,000 or more in the preceding year receive a floor contribution of 0.5% of base pay.
Also, in April 2012 changes to the Company's other postretirement medical, dental and life insurance coverage plans ("other postretirement plans") were approved to no longer provide subsidized coverage for current employees who retire on or after January 1, 2014. The Company announced these changes in April 2012.
As a result of these actions, the Company remeasured the other postretirement benefit obligations effective April 30, 2012, causing a decrease in the other postretirement plans benefit liability of $111 pre-tax with an increase in accumulated other comprehensive income of $72 after-tax in the second quarter of 2012. The decrease is primarily a result of the plan change which eliminates benefits and service costs for all employees eligible to retire as of January 1, 2014 offset by a decrease in the discount rates used to remeasure the other postretirement plans obligations from 4.50% at December 31, 2011 to 4.00% at April 30, 2012 reflecting the change in market interest rates. A curtailment of benefits occurs as a result of this action because it eliminates all future service for active employees in the domestic other postretirement plans. Accordingly, the Company recognized an after-tax curtailment gain of less than less than $1, during the second quarter of 2012, which is the remaining unamortized prior service cost at April 30, 2012.


10. Employee Benefit Plans (continued)
Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost
Net periodic benefit cost includes the following components:
 
Pension Benefits
 
Other Postretirement Benefits
 
Three Months Ended
September 30,
 
Three Months Ended
September 30,
 
2012
 
2011
 
2012
 
2011
Service cost
$
20

 
$
24

 
$
—

 
$
2

Interest cost
64

 
64

 
3

 
5

Expected return on plan assets
(78
)
 
(74
)
 
(4
)
 
(3
)
Amortization of prior service credit
(2
)
 
(2
)
 
(2
)
 
(1
)
Amortization of actuarial loss
52

 
40

 
—

 
—

Curtailment gain due to plan freeze
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

Net periodic benefit cost
$
56

 
$
52

 
$
(3
)
 
$
3


 
Pension Benefits
 
Other Postretirement Benefits
 
Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
2012
 
2011
 
2012
 
2011
Service cost
$
70

 
$
76

 
$
2

 
$
4

Interest cost
188

 
194

 
11

 
15

Expected return on plan assets
(234
)
 
(223
)
 
(11
)
 
(10
)
Amortization of prior service credit
(7
)
 
(7
)
 
(3
)
 
(1
)
Amortization of actuarial loss
171

 
119

 
—

 
—

Curtailment gain due to plan freeze
(11
)
 
—

 
—

 
—

Net periodic benefit cost
$
177

 
$
159

 
$
(1
)
 
$
8