8)	Employee Benefit Plans

We have defined contribution 401(k) profit sharing plans covering substantially all U.S. employees. All eligible employees may enroll in the plans on the first day of the month following their employment date. A participant may elect to contribute between 1% and 60% of their compensation to the plans, subject to Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) dollar limitations. Participants age 50 and older may defer an additional amount up to the applicable IRS Catch Up Provision Limit. We provide a matching contribution, which is determined on an individual, participating company basis. All participant contributions are immediately vested at 100%. Contributions for all U.S. employees were $2.3 million, $0.2 million and $0.8 million in 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively.

Post-Employment Benefit Liabilities

We provide certain post-employment benefits to employees at our Pinerolo and Veenendaal plants that are either required by law or are local labor practice. There is a plan at each of our Pinerolo and Veenendaal plants, which are described below.

In accordance with Italian law, we have an unfunded severance plan under which all Italian employees are entitled to receive severance indemnities (Trattamento di Fine Rapporto or “TFR”) upon termination of their employment.

Effective January 1, 2007, the amount payable, based on salary paid, is remitted to a pension fund managed by a third party. The severance indemnities paid to the pension fund accrue approximately at the rate of 1/13.5 of the gross salaries paid during the year. The amounts accrued become payable upon termination of the individual employee, for any reason, e.g., retirement, dismissal or reduction in work force. Employees are fully vested in TFR benefits after their first year of service.

We have a plan that covers our Veenendaal plant employees that provides an award for employees who achieve 25 or 40 years of service and an award for employees upon retirement. The plan is unfunded and the benefits are based on years of service and rate of compensation at the time the award is paid.

The amounts shown in the table below represent the actual liabilities at December 31, 2016 and 2015 reported under accrued post-employment benefits in the Consolidated Balance Sheets for both plans combined.


	2016			2015
Beginning balance	$	5,189		$	6,024
Amounts accrued		135			53
Payments to employees/government managed plan		(452	)		(266	)
Foreign currency impacts		(165	)		(622	)

Ending balance	$	4,707		$	5,189

Defined Benefit Plan

Effective with the Autocam acquisition on August 29, 2014, we sponsor a defined benefit pension plan (the “Pension Plan”) for substantially all employees of the Bouverat, France plant. These benefits are calculated based on each employee’s years of credited service and most recent monthly compensation and service category. Employees become vested in accordance with governmental regulations in place at the time of retirement.

For the purpose of calculating the 2016 actuarial present value of the benefit obligation under the Pension Plan, the discount rates assumed were 1.6%. The compensation growth rate was assumed was 3.0% for 2016. The measurement date was December 31, 2016.

For the purpose of calculating the 2015 actuarial present value of the benefit obligation under the Pension Plan, the discount rates assumed were 2.2%. The compensation growth rate was assumed was 3.0% for 2015. The measurement date was December 31, 2016.

Set forth below is projected benefit obligation information for the Pension Plan and the plan activity for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015:


	2016			2015
Accumulated benefit obligation at measurement date	$	949		$	950
Effect of salary increases		533			494

Projected benefit obligation at measurement date	$	1,482		$	1,444

Projected benefit obligation at date of acquisition	$	1,444		$	1,537
Service and interest costs		113			103
Actuarial gains (losses)		118			(15	)
Benefits paid		(141	)		(22	)
Effect of foreign currency translation gains and other		(50	)		(159	)

Projected benefit obligation at measurement date	$	1,484		$	1,444

Set forth below is net periodic benefit cost information for the Pension Plan for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015:


	2016			2015
Service and interest costs	$	113		$	103
Expected return on plan assets		(10	)		(11	)
Amortization of prior service costs		27			28

Net periodic benefit cost	$	130		$	120

We expect benefit payments under the Pension Plan to be:


Year ending December 31,
2017	$	14
2018		7
2019		—
2020		25
2021		9
2022-2026		213

Total benefit payments		268

Set forth below is plan asset information for the Pension Plan:


	2016			2015
Plan assets at fair value at measurement date	$	426		$	515
Projected benefit obligations at measurement date		(1,482	)		(1,444	)

Funded status	$	(1,056	)	$	(929	)

Plan assets at fair value at date of acquisition	$	515		$	589
Actual return on plan assets		64			9
Benefits paid		(141	)		(22	)
Effect of foreign currency translation gains		(13	)		(61	)

Plan assets at fair value at measurement date	$	425		$	515

The assumed rate of return on assets of the Pension Plan was 2.0% for all periods presented. We have a targeted goal of allocating plan assets one-third to equity and two-thirds to fixed income securities. Actual allocations of Pension Plan assets between equity and fixed income securities were 35% and 65%, respectively, as of December 31, 2016. Our expected funding obligations under the Pension Plan in 2017 is approximately $0.1 million.

Even though we do use other observable inputs (Level 2 inputs under the GAAP hierarchy), the calculation of fair value for pension plan assets and liabilities would be most consistent with Level 3 under the GAAP hierarchy.