EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

10.	EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

The Company participates in a multiple employer pension plan. The following represents the net periodic benefit (credit) cost and related components for the plan:


(in thousands)	Three months ended March 31,
	2016			2015
Interest cost	$	69		$	64
Expected return on plan assets		(102	)		(105	)
Amortization of net losses		21			19
Net periodic benefit (credit)	$	(12	)	$	(22	)

The Company made contributions to this plan of $180 thousand during the three months ended March 31, 2016.

The Company permits selected highly compensated employees to defer a portion of their compensation into a non-qualified Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”). The Company maintains certain securities in the SERP that have been classified as trading. The SERP assets are marked to market and totaled $6,429,000 as of March 31, 2016 and $6,491,000 as of December 31, 2015. The SERP assets are reported in other non-current assets on the consolidated balance sheets and changes to the fair value of the assets are reported in selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.

Trading losses related to the SERP assets totaled approximately $63,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2016, compared to trading gains of $53,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2015.

In connection with death of an executive officer during the first quarter of 2016, the Company recorded tax free gains of approximately $1.1 million comprised of the following: $556 thousand generated by the insurance death proceeds to be received of approximately $1.9 million after considering the previously recorded cash surrender value of $1.4 million under a Company-owned life insurance contract, and $500 thousand as a result of insurance death benefits to be received from a key-man life insurance policy. The net gain is reflected as part of selling, general and administrative expenses.