Note 11. Employee Retirement Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

Employee Retirement Plans

We sponsor a defined contribution plan (the "401(k) plan") that provides retirement income for eligible employees. Additionally, we sponsor a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan ("SERP"), which is our only remaining defined benefit plan and is frozen to new participants. The annual measurement date of the benefit obligations and funded status is December 31.

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost and Other Retirement Expenses

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023		2022		2021
	(in millions)
Defined contribution expense	$	10.1	$	9.1	$	8.6
Net periodic benefit cost – Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (1)	$	0.7	$	0.7	$	0.7

(1) The non-service cost components of net periodic benefit cost are included in other, net (income) expense in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Obligations and funded status

At December 31, 2023 and 2022, the projected benefit obligations and net funded status of our SERP were $11.1 million and $11.2 million, respectively, which are included in accrued liabilities in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Amounts recognized in other comprehensive income

Amounts recognized in other comprehensive income related to actuarial gains and the amortization of actuarial gains or losses during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021 were not significant in relation to the Consolidated Financial Statements. At December 31, 2023, AOCI included unrecognized actuarial losses related to our SERP of $2.6 million ($1.4 million net of related income taxes). Actuarial losses included in AOCI and expected to be recognized in net periodic pension cost for the year ended December 31, 2024 are $0.1 million ($0.1 million, net of related income taxes).

Pension Plan Termination

In September 2019, our Board of Directors approved the termination of the Trinity Industries, Inc. Consolidated Pension Plan (the "Pension Plan"), effective December 31, 2019. The Pension Plan was settled in the fourth quarter of 2020, which resulted in the Company no longer having any remaining funded pension plan obligations.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, as permitted by applicable regulations, we used $10.9 million of the Pension Plan surplus to fund obligations associated with the Company's profit sharing plans and used $2.5 million to fund pension administrative expenses required to finalize the settlement of the Pension Plan. Additionally, we received a $6.4 million net refund upon final settlement of the annuity contract, which resulted in a remaining surplus of the Pension Plan of $16.6 million. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we reverted $16.0 million of the surplus pension assets to the Company and incurred an excise tax of approximately $3.2 million. These activities are included in the pension plan settlement line in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. As of December 31, 2021, the remaining surplus of the Pension Plan was $0.6 million.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we used $0.2 million to fund pension administrative expenses, resulting in a remaining surplus of the Pension Plan of $0.4 million at December 31, 2022.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we reverted the remaining surplus pension assets of $0.4 million to the Company and incurred an excise tax of approximately $0.1 million. Following the completion of this transaction, there are no longer any pension assets reported in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Funding of Defined Contribution Plans

The Company's 401(k) plan utilizes a qualified automatic contribution arrangement safe harbor plan structure. The matching structure provides for a dollar-for-dollar Company match on up to 6% of participants' eligible compensation, subject to a two-year cliff vesting period. Employer contributions to the 401(k) plan and the Trinity Industries, Inc. Deferred Compensation Plan for the year ending December 31, 2024 are expected to be $10.6 million, compared to $10.1 million contributed during 2023.