Note 13. Employee Benefit Plans

The Partnership sponsors and maintains the Global Partners LP 401(k) Savings and Profit Sharing Plan (the “Global 401(k) Plan”), a qualified defined contribution plan. Eligible employees may elect to contribute up to 100% of their eligible compensation to the Global 401(k) Plan for each payroll period, subject to annual dollar limitations which are periodically adjusted by the IRS. The General Partner makes safe harbor matching contributions to the Global Partners 401(k) Plan equal to 100% of the participant’s elective contributions that do not exceed 3% of the participant’s eligible compensation and 50% of the participant’s elective contributions that exceed 3% but do not exceed 5% of the participant’s eligible compensation. The General Partner also makes discretionary non‑matching contributions for certain groups of employees in amounts up to 2% of eligible compensation. Profit‑sharing contributions may also be made at the sole discretion of the General Partner’s board of directors.

GMG sponsors and maintains the Global Montello Group Corp. 401(k) Savings and Profit Sharing Plan (the “GMG 401(k) Plan”), a qualified defined contribution plan. Eligible employees may elect to contribute up to 100% of their eligible compensation to the GMG 401(k) Savings and Profit Sharing Plan for each payroll period, subject to annual dollar limitations which are periodically adjusted by the IRS. GMG makes safe harbor matching contributions to the 401(k) Savings and Profit Sharing Plan equal to 100% of the participant’s elective contributions that do not exceed 3% of the participant’s eligible compensation and 50% of the participant’s elective contributions that exceed 3% but do not exceed 5% of the participant’s eligible compensation. Profit‑sharing contributions may also be made at the sole discretion of GMG’s board of directors.

The Global 401(k) Plan and the GMG 401(k) Plan collectively had expenses of approximately $2.7 million, $2.4 million and $2.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively, which are included in selling, general and administrative expenses in the accompanying statements of operations.

In addition, the General Partner sponsors and maintains the Global Partners LP Pension Plan (the “Global Pension Plan),” a qualified defined benefit pension plan. Effective December 31, 2009, the Global Pension Plan was amended to freeze participation and benefit accruals. In order to reduce the adverse effects of the pension freeze on employees with substantial service who may not have time to replace future pension accruals with retirement savings before reaching the normal retirement age of 65, employees meeting certain age and service requirements received increased benefits, including under the Global 401(k) Plan, effective December 31, 2009.

GMG sponsors and maintains the Global Montello Group Corp. Pension Plan (the “GMG Pension Plan”), a qualified defined benefit pension plan. On March 15, 2012, the GMG Pension Plan was amended to freeze participation and benefit accruals. In order to reduce the adverse effects of the pension freeze on employees with substantial service who may not have time to replace future pension accruals with retirement savings before reaching the normal retirement age of 65, employees meeting certain age and service requirements received increased benefits, including under the Global 401(k) Plan and the GMG 401(k) Plan, effective in 2012.

The following table presents each plan’s funded status and the total amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets at December 31 (in thousands):

 

 

Total actual return on plan assets was $1.5 million and ($0.2 million) in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The following presents the components of the net periodic change in benefit obligation for the Pension Plans for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):

 

 

The following presents the weighted-average actuarial assumptions used in determining each plan’s annual pension expense for the years ended December 31:

 

 

The discount rates were selected by performing a cash flow/bond matching analysis based on the Citigroup Above‑Median Pension Discount Curve. The expected long-term rate of return on plan assets is determined by using each plan’s respective target allocation and historical returns for each asset class.

The fundamental investment objective of each of the Pension Plans is to provide a rate of return sufficient to fund the retirement benefits under the applicable Pension Plan at a reasonable cost to the applicable plan sponsor. At a minimum, the rate of return should equal or exceed the discount rate assumed by the Pension Plan’s actuaries in projecting the funding cost of the Pension Plan under the applicable Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) standards. To do so, the General Partner’s Pension Committee (the “Committee”) may appoint one or more investment managers to invest all or portions of the assets of the Pension Plans in accordance with specific investment guidelines, objectives, standards and benchmarks.

The following presents the Pension Plans’ benefits as of December 31, 2016 expected to be paid in each of the next five fiscal years and in the aggregate for the next five fiscal years thereafter (in thousands):

 

 

The cost of annual contributions to the Pension Plans is not significant to the General Partner, the Partnership or its subsidiaries. Total contributions made by the General Partner, the Partnership and its subsidiaries to the Pension Plans were $0.3 million, $0.6 million and $0.2 million in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.