102 The Railroad Retirement Act
The Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) replaces the Social Security
Act for rail industry employers and employees and provides monthly
annuities for employees based on age and service or on disability.
The RRA is administered by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), an
independent agency in the Executive branch of the Federal
government. The RRB does not
administer the private pension plans of rail industry employers.
102.01 Benefits Subject to
Property Division
Annuities under the RRA may be comprised of several components,
with the most common components being known as Tier I and Tier II.
Prior to 1983, section 14 of the RRA (45 U.S.C. § 231m) prohibited the partition of any
part of an annuity under the RRA. See Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo, 439
U.S. 572. However, section 14 of the RRA was
amended in 1983 to provide that, with respect to annuity amounts
payable for months beginning with September 1983, the Board must
comply with a court order that characterizes the non-Tier I benefits
as property subject to distribution. (See
105.02 for a list of the divisible components.) The prohibition
on the partition of the Tier I component remains.
102.02 Spouse and Divorced
Spouse Annuity Entitlement
In addition to providing monthly annuities for employees of the
rail industry, the RRA also provides annuities for spouses, divorced
spouses and survivors who meet certain eligibility requirements.
However, such annuities are not subject to partition. See 20 CFR §
295.1(b). Furthermore, a court cannot mandate entitlement to an
auxiliary annuity. The RRB will disregard any mention in a state
court order of the divorced spouse or surviving divorced spouse
benefit. An eligible spouse or divorced spouse can receive an
annuity under the RRA in addition to any divisible portion of the
employee's annuity awarded to her/him as property by state court
order. In contrast to a partition award, which awards the spouse or
former spouse a share of the employee's annuity, the payment of an
annuity to an eligible spouse or divorced spouse does not reduce the
amount of the employee's annuity. Also, unlike a partition award,
which is dependent on the employee being entitled to and annuity,
section 2 (c) of the RRA (45 U.S.C §231a) was amended to
provide entitlement to a divorced spouse annuity, beginning August
17, 2007, even if the employee has not yet filed for an annuity. See
20 CFR 216.52. The requirements which must be met
to be entitled to a divorced spouse annuity are found in Appendix D,
(Form G-177c).
A booklet (Form IB-2) that explains retirement and survivor benefits under
the RRA may be obtained from any RRB office.
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