(6)	EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

U.S. Defined Benefit Pension Plan

The company has a defined benefit pension plan (pension plan) that covers certain U.S. citizen employees and other employees who are permanent residents of the United States. Effective April 1, 1996, the pension plan was closed to new participation. In December 2009, the Board of Directors amended the pension plan to discontinue the accrual of benefits on December 31, 2010. This change did not affect benefits earned by participants prior to January 1, 2011. The company did not contribute to the pension plan during the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2018. The company did not contribute to the pension plan during the period from August 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017 (Successor) and the period from January 1, 2017 through July 31, 2017 (Predecessor), and currently is evaluating whether to contribute to the pension plan during the remaining quarter of calendar year 2018.

Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan

The company maintains a non-contributory, defined benefit supplemental executive retirement plan (supplemental plan) that provides pension benefits to certain employees in excess of those allowed under the company’s tax-qualified pension plan. Effective March 4, 2010, the supplemental plan was closed to new participation. The supplemental plan is a non-qualified plan and, as such, the company is not required to make contributions to the supplemental plan. During the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2018, the company contributed $0.3 million and $0.6 million, respectively. The company did not contribute to the supplemental plan during the period from August 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017 (Successor) and the period from January 1, 2017 through July 31, 2017 (Predecessor). The company expects to contribute $0.3 million to the supplemental plan during the fourth quarter of 2018.

A Rabbi Trust has been established for the benefit of participants in the supplemental plan. The Rabbi Trust assets, which were invested in a variety of marketable securities (but not the company’s stock), were recorded at fair value with unrealized gains or losses included in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) until the investments were sold in the March 2018 quarter. Investments held in the Rabbi Trust at September 30, 2018 (consisting only of money market funds) and December 31, 2017, were included in other assets at fair value. The following table summarizes the carrying value of the trust assets, including unrealized gains or losses at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017:

	Successor
	September 30,		December 31,
(In thousands)	2018		2017
Investments held in Rabbi Trust at fair value	$	38		8,908
Unrealized gains in fair value of trust assets		—		256
Obligations under the supplemental plan		23,711		32,508

The company’s obligations under the supplemental plan are included in ‘accrued expenses’ and ‘other liabilities’ on the consolidated balance sheet.

Jeffrey M. Platt retired from his position as the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and resigned as a member of the company’s board of directors (the “Board”), effective October 15, 2017. As a result of Mr. Platt’s retirement, he received in May 2018 an $8.9 million lump sum distribution in settlement of his supplemental executive retirement plan obligation. A settlement loss of approximately $0.3 million was recorded during the three months ended June 30, 2018.

Postretirement Benefit Plan

Qualified retired employees currently are covered by a plan which provides limited health care and life insurance benefits. Costs of the plan are based on actuarially determined amounts and are accrued over the period from the date of hire to the full eligibility date of employees who are expected to qualify for these benefits. This plan is funded through payments by the company as benefits are required. The company eliminated the life insurance portion of its post retirement benefit effective January 1, 2018.

Net Periodic Benefit Costs

The net periodic benefit cost for the company’s defined benefit pension plans and supplemental plan (referred to collectively as “Pension Benefits”) and the postretirement health care and life insurance plan (referred to collectively as “Other Benefits”) is comprised of the following components:

	Successor						Predecessor
				Period from			Period from
	Three Months			August 1, 2017			July 1, 2017
	Ended			through			through
(In thousands)	September 30, 2018			September 30, 2017			July 31, 2017
Pension Benefits:
Service cost	$	47			203			99
Interest cost		872			624			328
Expected return on plan assets		(481	)		(332	)		(173	)
Administrative expenses		3			2			1
Payroll tax of net pension costs		—			—			—
Amortization of net actuarial losses		—			—			—
Recognized actuarial loss		—			—			187
Settlement loss recognized		—			—			—
Net periodic pension cost	$	441			497			442
Other Benefits:
Service cost	$	15			12			6
Interest cost		29			30			16
Amortization of prior service cost		(75	)		—			(232	)
Recognized actuarial benefit		11			—			(83	)
Net periodic postretirement (benefit) cost	$	(20	)		42			(293	)

	Successor						Predecessor
				Period from			Period from
	Nine Months			August 1, 2017			January 1, 2017
	Ended			through			through
(In thousands)	September 30, 2018			September 30, 2017			July 31, 2017
Pension Benefits:
Service cost	$	118			203			812
Interest cost		2,656			624			2,304
Expected return on plan assets		(1,446	)		(332	)		(1,292	)
Administrative expenses		6			2			25
Payroll tax of net pension costs		—			—			56
Amortization of net actuarial losses		—			—			32
Recognized actuarial loss		—			—			1,195
Settlement loss recognized		335			—			—
Net periodic pension cost	$	1,669			497			3,132
Other Benefits:
Service cost	$	45			12			44
Interest cost		88			30			115
Amortization of prior service cost		(224	)		—			(2,015	)
Recognized actuarial benefit		32			—			(618	)
Net periodic postretirement (benefit) cost	$	(59	)		42			(2,474	)

The company also has a defined benefit pension plan that covers certain Norwegian citizen employees and other employees who are permanent residents of Norway. Benefits are based on years of service and employee compensation. The company did not contribute to the plan during the quarter ended September 30, 2018 and contributed 1.9 million NOK (approximately $0.2 million) during the nine months ended September 30, 2018. During the period from January 1, 2017 and July 31, 2017 (Predecessor) the company contributed approximately 3.0 million NOK (approximately $0.4 million) to the plan and did not contribute to the plan during the period from August 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017 (Successor). The company currently does not expect to contribute to the Norwegian defined benefit pension plan during the remaining quarter of calendar year 2018. The preceding net periodic benefit cost table includes the Norwegian pension plan.