v3.20.4
Retirement Plans
 9 Months Ended
Feb. 28, 2021
Compensation And Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]  
Retirement Plans

(7) Retirement Plans

We sponsor programs that provide retirement benefits to most of our employees. These programs include defined benefit pension plans, defined contribution plans and postretirement healthcare plans. Key terms of our retirement plans are provided in our Annual Report.

Our retirement plans costs for the periods ended February 28, 2021 and February 29, 2020 were as follows (in millions):

 

 

 

Three Months Ended

 

 

Nine Months Ended

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

Defined benefit pension plans, net

 

$

20

 

 

$

38

 

 

$

72

 

 

$

112

 

Defined contribution plans

 

 

182

 

 

 

147

 

 

 

493

 

 

 

425

 

Postretirement healthcare plans

 

 

21

 

 

 

21

 

 

 

62

 

 

 

64

 

Retirement plan mark-to-market (“MTM”) net loss

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

52

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

$

223

 

 

$

206

 

 

$

679

 

 

$

601

 

 

Net periodic benefit cost of the pension and postretirement healthcare plans for the periods ended February 28, 2021 and February 29, 2020 included the following components (in millions):

 

 

 

Three Months Ended

 

 

 

U.S. Pension Plans

 

 

International Pension Plans

 

 

Postretirement Healthcare Plans

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

Service cost

 

$

213

 

 

$

192

 

 

$

19

 

 

$

25

 

 

$

11

 

 

$

10

 

Other retirement plans (income) expense:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Interest cost

 

 

240

 

 

 

250

 

 

 

10

 

 

 

11

 

 

 

10

 

 

 

11

 

    Expected return on plan assets

 

 

(447

)

 

 

(400

)

 

 

(13

)

 

 

(13

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

   Amortization of prior service credit and other

 

 

(2

)

 

 

(26

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(1

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

(209

)

 

 

(176

)

 

 

(3

)

 

 

(3

)

 

 

10

 

 

 

11

 

 

 

$

4

 

 

$

16

 

 

$

16

 

 

$

22

 

 

$

21

 

 

$

21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nine Months Ended

 

 

 

U.S. Pension Plans

 

 

International Pension Plans

 

 

Postretirement Healthcare Plans

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

Service cost

 

$

638

 

 

$

576

 

 

$

68

 

 

$

73

 

 

$

33

 

 

$

31

 

Other retirement plans (income) expense:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Interest cost

 

 

719

 

 

 

750

 

 

 

31

 

 

 

33

 

 

 

29

 

 

 

33

 

    Expected return on plan assets

 

 

(1,339

)

 

 

(1,201

)

 

 

(38

)

 

 

(39

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

   Amortization of prior service credit and other

 

 

(6

)

 

 

(78

)

 

 

(1

)

 

 

(2

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

   MTM net loss

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

52

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

(626

)

 

 

(529

)

 

 

44

 

 

 

(8

)

 

 

29

 

 

 

33

 

 

 

$

12

 

 

$

47

 

 

$

112

 

 

$

65

 

 

$

62

 

 

$

64

 

We made voluntary contributions to our U.S. Pension Plans of $300 million during the nine months of 2021 and $1.0 billion during the nine months of 2020.

We incurred a pre-tax, noncash MTM net loss of $52 million in the second quarter of 2021 related to amendments to the TNT Express Netherlands Pension Plan. Benefits for approximately 2,100 employees were frozen effective December 31, 2020. On January 1, 2021, these employees began earning pension benefits under a separate, multi-employer pension plan. This $52 million net loss consists of a $106 million MTM loss due to a lower discount rate and a $54 million curtailment gain.

In 2020, we announced the closing of our U.S.-based defined benefit pension plans to new non-union employees hired on or after January 1, 2020. We will introduce an all-401(k)-plan retirement benefit structure for eligible employees with a higher company match of up to 8% across all U.S.-based operating companies in 2022. During calendar 2021, current eligible employees under the Portable Pension Account (“PPA”) pension formula will be given a one-time option to continue to be eligible for pension compensation credits under the existing PPA formula and remain in the existing 401(k) plan with its match of up to 3.5%, or to cease receiving compensation credits under the pension plan and move to the new 401(k) plan with the higher match of up to 8%. Changes to the new 401(k) plan structure become effective beginning January 1, 2022. While this new program will provide employees greater flexibility and reduce our long-term pension costs, it will not have a material impact on current or near-term financial results.