General Motors 2015 Annual Report Download - page 81

Table of Contents
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



Defined benefit pension plans covering eligible U.S. hourly employees (hired prior to October 2007) and Canadian hourly employees generally provide
benefits of negotiated, stated amounts for each year of service and supplemental benefits for employees who retire with 30 years of service before normal
retirement age. The benefits provided by the defined benefit pension plans covering eligible U.S. (hired prior to January 1, 2001) and Canadian salaried
employees and employees in certain other non-U.S. locations are generally based on years of service and compensation history. Accrual of defined pension
benefits ceased in 2012 for U.S. and Canadian salaried employees. There is also an unfunded nonqualified pension plan covering primarily U.S. executives
for service prior to January 1, 2007 and it is based on an “excess plan” for service after that date.
The funding policy for qualified defined benefit pension plans is to contribute annually not less than the minimum required by applicable laws and
regulations or to directly pay benefit payments where appropriate. At December 31, 2015 all legal funding requirements had been met. We expect to
contribute $71 million to our U.S. non-qualified plans and $947 million to our non-U.S. pension plans in 2016. We also expect to make a discretionary
contribution of $2.0 billion to our U.S. hourly pension plan by mid-2016 which is expected to be financed by debt. The following table summarizes
contributions made to the defined benefit pension plans (dollars in millions):




U.S. hourly and salaried $ 95
$ 143
$ 128
Non-U.S. 1,120
770
886
Total $ 1,215
$ 913
$ 1,014
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Certain hourly and salaried defined benefit plans provide postretirement medical, dental, legal service and life insurance to eligible U.S. and Canadian
retirees and their eligible dependents. Certain other non-U.S. subsidiaries have postretirement benefit plans, although most non-U.S. employees are covered
by government sponsored or administered programs. We made contributions to the U.S. OPEB plans of $340 million, $354 million and $393 million in the
years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013. Plan participants' contributions were insignificant in the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

We have defined contribution plans for eligible U.S. salaried and hourly employees that provide discretionary matching contributions. Contributions are
also made to certain non-U.S. defined contribution plans. We made contributions to our defined contribution plans of $535 million, $513 million and $502
million in the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013.


In September 2013 we amended the U.S. salaried life insurance plan effective January 1, 2014 to eliminate benefits for retirees and eligible employees
retiring on or after August 1, 2009. The remeasurement, settlement and curtailment resulted in a decrease in the OPEB liability of $319 million, a decrease in
the net pre-tax actuarial loss component of Accumulated other comprehensive loss of $236 million and a pre-tax gain of $83 million.
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