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Employee Benefit Plans
 12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2012
Employee Benefit Plans [Abstract]  
EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

NOTE 5 — EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Defined Contribution Plan.     All of Transcat’s U.S. based employees are eligible to participate in a defined contribution plan, the Long-Term Savings and Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (the “Plan”), provided certain qualifications are met.

In the long-term savings portion of the Plan (the “401K Plan”), plan participants are entitled to a distribution of their vested account balance upon termination of employment or retirement. Plan participants are fully vested in their contributions while Company contributions are fully vested after three years of service. The Company’s matching contributions to the 401K Plan were $0.4 million in fiscal year 2012 and $0.3 million in fiscal year 2011. The Company temporarily suspended matching contributions to the 401K Plan for fiscal year 2010.

In the deferred profit sharing portion of the Plan, Company contributions are made at the discretion of the Board of Directors. The Company made no profit sharing contributions in fiscal years 2012, 2011 and 2010.

Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan.     Effective April 1, 2011, the Company has available a non-qualified deferred compensation plan (the “NQDC Plan”) for directors and officers. Participants are fully vested in their contributions. At its discretion, the Company may elect to match employee contributions, subject to legal limitations in conjunction with the 401K Plan, which fully vest after three years of service. During fiscal year 2012, the Company made matching contributions of less than $0.1 million. Participant accounts are adjusted to reflect performance, whether positive or negative, of selected investment options chosen by each participant during the deferral period. In the event of bankruptcy, the assets of the NQDC Plan are available to satisfy the claims of general creditors. The liability for compensation deferred under the NQDC Plan was $0.2 million as of March 31, 2012 and is included as a component of other liabilities (non-current) on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Postretirement Health Care Plans.     The Company has two defined benefit postretirement health care plans. One plan provides limited reimbursement to eligible non-officer participants for the cost of individual medical insurance coverage purchased by the participant following qualifying retirement from employment with the Company (the “Non-Officer Plan”). During fiscal year 2012, the Non-Officer Plan was discontinued with future benefits being paid only to employees who had met the plan’s eligibility requirements on or before March 31, 2012. The other plan provides long-term care insurance benefits, medical and dental insurance benefits and medical premium reimbursement benefits to eligible retired corporate officers and their eligible spouses (the “Officer Plan”).

The change in the postretirement benefit obligation is as follows:

 

                 
    FY 2012     FY 2011  

Postretirement benefit obligation, at beginning of fiscal year

   $ 706     $ 651  

Service cost

     127       134  

Interest cost

     40       39  

Benefits paid

     (12 )      (20 ) 

Actuarial loss (gain)

     71       (98 ) 

Curtailment gain

     (152 )      —  
   

 

 

    

 

 

  

Postretirement benefit obligation, at end of fiscal year

     780       706  

Fair value of plan assets, at end of fiscal year

     —       —  
   

 

 

    

 

 

  

Funded status, at end of year

   $ (780 )    $ (706 ) 
   

 

 

    

 

 

  

Accumulated postretirement benefit obligation, at end of fiscal year

   $ 780     $ 706  
   

 

 

    

 

 

  

The accumulated postretirement benefit obligation is included as a component of other liabilities (non-current) in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The components of net periodic postretirement benefit cost and other amounts recognized in other comprehensive income are as follows:

 

                         
    FY 2012     FY 2011     FY 2010  

Net periodic postretirement benefit cost:

                        

Service cost

   $ 127     $ 134     $ 85  

Interest cost

     40       39       33  

Amortization of prior service cost

     13       13       13  
   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

  
      180       186       131  
   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

  

Benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive income:

                        

Amortization of prior service cost

     (13 )      (13 )      (13 ) 

Net loss (gain)

     65       (108 )      77  
   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

  
      52       (121 )      64  
   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

  

Total recognized in net periodic benefit cost and other comprehensive income

   $ 232     $ 65     $ 195  
   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

  

Amount recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income, at end of fiscal year:

                        

Unrecognized prior service cost

   $ 258     $ 206     $ 327  
   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

  

 

The prior service cost was amortized on a straight-line basis over the average remaining service period of active participants for the Non-Officer Plan and is amortized over the average remaining life expectancy of active participants for the Officer Plan. The estimated prior service cost that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive gain into net periodic postretirement benefit cost during fiscal year 2013 is less than $0.1 million.

The postretirement benefit obligation was computed by an independent third party actuary. Assumptions used to determine the postretirement benefit obligation and the net periodic benefit cost were as follows:

 

                         
    March 31,
2012		     March 26,
2011		     March 27,
2010		  

Weighted average discount rate

     4.7 %      5.8 %      6.1 % 

Medical care cost trend rate:

                        

Trend rate assumed for next year

     8.5 %      8.5 %      8.5 % 

Ultimate trend rate

     5.0 %      5.0 %      5.0 % 

Year that rate reaches ultimate trend rate

     2020       2019       2018  

Dental care cost trend rate:

                        

Trend rate assumed for next year and remaining at that level thereafter

     5.0 %      5.0 %      5.0 % 

Benefit payments are funded by the Company as needed. Payments toward the cost of a retiree’s medical and dental coverage, which are initially determined as a percentage of a base coverage plan in the year of retirement as defined in the plan document, are limited to increase at a rate of no more than 3% per year. The following benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are expected to be paid as follows:

 

         

Fiscal Year

   Amount  

2013

   $ 49  

2014

     54  

2015

     61  

2016

     58  

2017

     62  

Thereafter

     496  

Increasing the assumed health care cost trend rate by one percentage point would increase the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation and the annual net periodic cost by less than $0.1 million. A one percentage point decrease in the healthcare cost trend would decrease the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation and the annual net periodic cost by less than $0.1 million.