Pension and Other Post-Employment Benefits

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Compensation And Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension and other Post-Employment Benefits

11.	Pension and Other Post-Employment Benefits

We maintain retirement, post-retirement medical and long-term benefit plans in several countries.

In the U.S., we sponsor the Covia Holdings Corporation Pension Plan, formerly known as the Unimin Corporation Pension Plan (the “Pension Plan”), a defined benefit plan for hourly and salaried employees, and the Covia Holdings Corporation Restoration Plan, formerly known as the Unimin Corporation Pension Restoration Plan (the “Restoration Plan”), a non-qualified supplemental benefit plan. The Pension Plan is a funded plan. Minimum funding and maximum tax-deductible contribution limits for the Pension Plan are defined by the Internal Revenue Service. The Restoration Plan is unfunded. Under the Restoration Plan, salaried participants accrue benefits based on service and final average pay. Hourly participants' benefits are based on service and a benefit formula. The Pension Plan was closed to new entrants effective January 1, 2008, and union employee participation in the Pension Plan at the last three unionized locations participating in the Pension Plan was closed to new entrants effective November 1, 2017. Until the Restoration Plan was amended to exclude new entrants on August 15, 2017, all salaried participants eligible for the Pension Plan were also eligible for the Restoration Plan. The Pension Plan was frozen as of December 31, 2018 for all non-union employees, and the Restoration Plan was frozen for all participants as of December 31, 2018.

An independent trustee has been appointed for the Pension Plan whose responsibilities include custody of plan assets as well as recordkeeping. A pension committee consisting of members of senior management provides oversight of the Pension Plan. In addition, an independent advisor has been engaged for the Pension Plan to provide advice on the management of the plan assets. The primary risk of the Pension Plan is the volatility of the funded status. Liabilities are exposed to interest rate risk and demographic risk (e.g., mortality, turnover, etc.). Assets are exposed to interest rate risk, market risk, and credit risk.

In addition to the Restoration Plan and the Pension Plan in the U.S., we offer a retiree medical plan in the U.S. to certain union employees that is exposed to risk of increases in health care costs. The retiree medical plan previously covered certain salaried employees and certain groups of hourly employees, but effective December 31, 2018, the retiree medical plan was terminated for salaried employees. The retiree medical plan remains open to certain groups of union employees.

In Canada, we sponsor three defined benefit retirement plans. Two of the plans are for hourly employees and one is for salaried employees. Salaried employees were eligible to participate in a plan consisting of a defined benefit portion that has been closed to new entrants since January 1, 2008 and a defined contribution portion for employees hired after January 1, 2018. Minimum funding is required under the provincial Pension Benefits Act (Ontario) and related regulations and maximum funding is set in the Federal Income Tax Act of Canada and regulations. The defined benefit retirement plans are administered by Covia Canada Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Covia Holdings Corporation (“Covia Canada”). A pension committee exists to ensure proper administration, management and investment review with respect to the benefits of the defined benefit retirement plans through implementation of governance procedures. In addition, there are two post-retirement medical plans in Canada. The medical plans are administered by an insurance company with Covia Canada having the ultimate responsibility for all decisions.

In Mexico, we sponsor four retirement plans, two of which are seniority premium plans as defined by Mexican labor law. The remaining plans are defined benefit plans with a minimum benefit equal to the severance payment that would have been paid in the event of termination for other than just cause, required by Mexican labor law. Minimum funding is not required, and maximum funding is defined according to the actuarial cost method registered with the Mexican Tax Authority. Investment decisions are made by an administrative committee of Grupo Materias Primas de Mexico S. de R. L. de C.V., a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Covia Holdings Corporation. All plans in Mexico pay lump sums on retirement and pension plans pay benefits through five annual payments conditioned on compliance with non-compete covenants.

As part of the Merger, we assumed the two defined benefit pension plans of Fairmount Santrol, the Wedron Silica Company Hourly Employees’ Pension Plan (the “Wedron Pension Plan”) and the Pension Plan for Hourly Bargaining Unit of Technisand – Troy Grove (the “Troy Grove Pension Plan”). These plans cover union employees at certain facilities and provide benefit units based upon years of service. Benefits under the Wedron Pension Plan were frozen effective December 31, 2012. Benefits under the Troy Grove Pension Plan were frozen effective December 31, 2016.

The Pension Plan, Restoration Plan, Wedron Pension Plan and Troy Grove Pension Plan were merged into one plan, effective December 31, 2019 (the “Covia Pension Plan”). For 2018 and 2017, the Wedron Pension Plan and Troy Grove Pension Plan are collectively referred to as the “Fairmount Pension Plans.” The post-retirement medical plans in the United States and Canada are collectively referred to as the “Postretirement Medical Plans.”

We have applied settlement accounting in the three months ended March 30, 2020 and 2019 due to distributions exceeding the current period service and interest costs. These amounts are included in other non-operating expense, net on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Loss. As a result of the distributions, we re-measured our obligations under the Covia Pension Plan and the discount rate was increased from 3.15% at January 1, 2020 to 3.35% at March 31, 2020. There were no other changes to the assumptions used to calculate the obligation at March 31, 2020.

The following tables summarize the components of net periodic benefit costs. Service costs incurred for plant personnel are included in cost of goods sold. Service costs incurred for corporate personnel and retirees are included in selling, general, and administrative expenses. All other components of net period benefit cost are included in other non-operating expense, net on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Loss, for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 as follows:

	Covia Pension Plan
	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020			2019
	(in thousands)
Components of net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	126		$	551
Interest cost		971			2,084
Expected return on plan assets		(1,263	)		(2,308	)
Amortization of prior service cost		27			82
Amortization of net actuarial loss		476			522
Settlement loss		2,011			1,679
Net periodic benefit cost	$	2,348		$	2,610

	Postretirement Medical Plans
	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020		2019
	(in thousands)
Components of net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	79	$	73
Interest cost		35		120
Amortization of net actuarial loss		15		40
Net periodic benefit cost	$	129	$	233

We contributed $1.3 million and $0.3 million to the Covia Pension Plan for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Contributions into the Covia Pension Plans for the year ended December 31, 2020 are expected to be $4.0 million.

Covia Holdings Corp 10-Q/A