Postretirement Benefit Plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Postretirement Benefit Plans

9.POSTRETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

Defined Benefit Pension Plans

The Company sponsors various funded qualified and unfunded non-qualified defined benefit pension plans, the most significant of which cover employees in the U.S. and U.K. locations. The U.S. and U.K. defined benefit pension plans are frozen and service benefits are no longer being accrued.

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost

	UNITED STATES
(In thousands)	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2024			2023
Interest cost	$	1,651		$	1,731
Expected return on plan assets		(2,116	)		(2,133	)
Amortization of net actuarial loss		(3	)		(6	)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	(468	)	$	(408	)

	UNITED KINGDOM
(In thousands)	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2024			2023
Interest cost	$	161		$	164
Expected return on plan assets		(183	)		(170	)
Amortization of net actuarial loss		80			81
Net periodic benefit cost	$	58		$	75

Employer Contributions

U.S. Plans

As a result of pension funding relief provisions included in the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, the Company is not required to make contributions to its funded U.S. qualified defined benefit plans. Approximately $316,000 is expected to be paid to the unfunded non-qualified plans in 2024. Of such amount, $129,000 had been paid to the non-qualified plans as of March 31, 2024.

U.K. Plan

The Company’s U.K. subsidiary does not expect to contribute to its defined benefit pension plan in 2024.

Defined Contribution Plans

The Company sponsors retirement defined contribution plans that cover eligible U.S. and U.K. employees. The Company’s U.S. retirement plans include two qualified plans, one of which is a 401(k) plan and one of which is an employee stock ownership plan (profit sharing plan), and one non-qualified supplemental executive plan. In the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company made contributions into the qualified retirement plans for U.S. employees and for certain non-U.S. employees. Profit sharing contributions were determined using a formula applied to Company earnings. Approximately 85 percent of union and non-union employees are eligible for either the Company's sponsored or statutory profit sharing contributions and 100 percent of U.S. based union and non-union employees are eligible for the Company's sponsored profit sharing contributions. In 2023 and 2024, profit sharing contributions for U.S. employees were made to the employee stock ownership plan. Profit sharing contributions are allocated to participant accounts based on participant base earnings.

Defined contribution plan expenses for the Company’s qualified contribution plans were as follows:

(In thousands)	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2024		2023
Retirement savings contributions	$	2,125	$	2,048
Profit sharing contributions		848		707
Total defined contribution plan expenses	$	2,973	$	2,755

The Company has a rabbi trust to fund the obligations of its non-qualified supplemental executive defined contribution plans (supplemental plans). The trust is comprised of various mutual fund investments selected by the participants of the supplemental plans. In accordance with the accounting guidance for rabbi trust arrangements, the assets of the trust and the obligations of the supplemental plans are reported on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company elected the fair value option for the mutual fund investment assets so that offsetting changes in the mutual fund values and defined contribution plan obligations would be recorded in earnings in the same period. Therefore, the mutual funds are reported at fair value with any subsequent changes in fair value recorded in the condensed consolidated statements of income. The liabilities related to the supplemental plans increase (i.e., supplemental plan expense is recognized) when the value of the trust assets appreciate and decrease when the value of the trust assets decline (i.e., supplemental plan income is recognized). At March 31, 2024, the balance of the trust assets was $559,000, which equaled the balance of the supplemental plan liabilities. See the long-term investments section in Note 3, Fair Value Measurements, of the notes to the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements (included in Item 1 of this Form 10-Q) for further information regarding the Company’s mutual fund assets.