EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Employee bonus plans

We currently sponsor an executive incentive bonus plan that distributes employee awards based on the achievement of predetermined targets. We recorded charges of $6.3 million, $2.1 million, and $1.5 million under this bonus plan for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively.

Employee Savings and Retirement Plans

We sponsor a 401(k) employee salary deferral plan that allows voluntary contributions by all full-time employees up to the Internal Revenue Service limits of their pretax earnings. We may also make matching contributions to this plan at our discretion. Employees are eligible for the matching plan if they contribute at least 2% of their compensation. Our contributions, when made, are limited to a maximum of 3% of the employee’s compensation if the company exceeds certain income levels. During the year ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, we made zero contributions to the plan.

We also sponsor an executive non-qualified deferred compensation plan (the “Plan”) that allows qualifying executives to defer current cash compensation. At December 31, 2016 Plan assets of $5.1 million, representing the cash surrender value of life insurance policies held by us, and liabilities of $6.1 million are included in our consolidated balance sheets under the captions “other assets” and “other liabilities,” respectively.

Postretirement Benefits

We have committed to providing lifetime postretirement medical and dental benefits to our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer and their spouses, commencing after retirement. These medical and dental benefits are similar to the benefits provided to all full-time employees while employed by us, except that we are paying the entire cost of these benefits.

The following table sets forth the amounts of unrecognized prior service cost and unrecognized actuarial (gain) loss included in accumulated other comprehensive loss:



In thousands	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Prior service cost	$	381		$	767
Net actuarial (gain) loss	(88		)	53
Amount included in accumulated other comprehensive income	$	293		$	820

The reconciliation of the beginning and ending balance of the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation and the fair value of plan assets is as follows:



In thousands	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	2,231		$	2,255
Interest cost	87			86
Actuarial gain	(448		)	(110		)
Benefit obligation at end of year	1,870			2,231
Funded status at end of year	$	(1,870	)	$	(2,231	)

Amounts recognized in the statement of financial position are included in noncurrent liabilities.

Weighted-average discount rates as of December 31, 2016 were 3.8% and 4.0% for each of the Chief Executive Officer’s plan and the Chief Financial Officer’s plan, respectively, as compared to 4.0% and 4.2%, as of December 31, 2015.

For measurement purposes, a 5% annual rate of increase in the per capita cost of covered health care benefits was assumed for the year ended December 31, 2016 and the rate was assumed to remain at 5% thereafter.

Components of net periodic benefit cost and other amounts are recognized in selling, general, and administrative expense on our Consolidated Statements of Operations are as follows:



In thousands	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Interest cost	$	87		$	86
Actuarial gain	$	(194	)	$	—
Net periodic benefit (gain) loss	$	(107	)	$	86

Other changes in plan benefit obligations from other comprehensive loss recognized in selling, general, and administrative expense on our Consolidated Statements of Operations are as follows:



In thousands	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Amortization of net loss	—			15
Total recognized from other comprehensive loss	$	—		$	15
Total recognized net periodic benefit (gain) loss and changes in plan benefit obligations	$	(107	)	$	101

The expected benefit payments are as follows:



	In thousands
2020 and thereafter	$	1,870
Total expected benefit payments	$	1,870

Assumed health care cost trend rates have a significant effect on the amounts reported for the health care plan. A one-percentage-point change in assumed health care cost trend rates would have the following effects:



	December 31, 2016
In thousands	1-Percentage- Point Increase		1-Percentage- Point Decrease
Effect on total of service and interest cost components	$	21.3	$	(21.3	)
Effect on postretirement benefit obligation	$	297	$	(245	)