Prepared by Public Affairs 312-751-4777
Monthly benefits may be payable under the
Railroad Retirement Act to the surviving widow(er), children, and certain
other dependents of a railroad employee if the employee was “insured” under that
Act at the time of death. Lump-sum death benefits may also be payable to
qualified survivors in some cases.
The following questions and answers describe the survivor benefits payable by
the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) and the eligibility requirements for these
benefits.
1. What are the general service requirements
for railroad retirement survivor benefits?
With the exception of one type of lump-sum death benefit, eligibility for
survivor benefits depends on whether or not a deceased employee was “insured”
under the Railroad Retirement Act. An employee is insured if he or she has at
least 10 years of railroad service, or 5 years performed after 1995, and a
“current connection” with the railroad industry at the time of retirement or
death, whichever occurs first.
Generally, an employee who worked for a railroad in at least 12 months in the 30
months immediately preceding the month his or her railroad retirement annuity
begins will meet the current connection requirement. If an employee dies before
retirement, railroad service in at least 12 months in the 30 months before death
will meet the current connection requirement for the purpose of paying survivor
benefits.
If an employee does not qualify on this basis, but has 12 months of service in
an earlier 30-month period, he or she may still meet the current connection
requirement. This alternative generally applies if the employee did not have any
regular employment outside the railroad industry after the end of the last
30-month period which included 12 months of railroad service and before the
month the annuity begins or the date of death.
Full or part-time work for a nonrailroad employer in the interim between the end
of the last 30-month period including 12 months of railroad service and the
beginning date of an employee’s annuity, or the date of death if earlier, can
break a current connection.
Self-employment in an unincorporated business will not break a current
connection; however, self-employment can break a current connection if the
business is incorporated.
Working for certain U.S. Government agencies -- Department of Transportation,
National Transportation Safety Board, Surface Transportation Board, National
Mediation Board, Railroad Retirement Board, Transportation Security
Administration -- will not break a current connection. State employment with the
Alaska Railroad, so long as that railroad remains an entity of the State of
Alaska, will not break a current connection. Also, railroad service in Canada
for a Canadian railroad will neither break nor preserve a current connection.
In some cases, a current connection may be deemed for survivor benefit purposes
for employees with 25 years of service who were involuntarily terminated without
fault from the rail industry on or after October 1, 1975, and did not thereafter
decline an offer of employment in the same class or craft in the rail industry,
regardless of the distance to the new position.
Once a current connection is established at the time the railroad retirement
annuity begins, an employee never loses it no matter what kind of work is
performed thereafter.
2. What if these service requirements are
not met?
If a deceased employee did not have an insured status, jurisdiction of any
survivor benefits payable is transferred to the Social Security Administration
and survivor benefits are paid by that agency instead of the RRB. Regardless of
which agency has jurisdiction, the deceased employee’s railroad retirement and
social security credits will be combined for benefit computation purposes.
3. What are the age and other eligibility
requirements for widow(er)s?
Widow(er)s’ benefits are payable at age 60 or over. They are payable at any age
if the widow(er) is caring for an unmarried child under age 18 of the deceased
employee or a disabled child of any age who became permanently disabled before
age 22. Widow(er)s’ benefits are also payable at ages 50-59 if the widow(er) is
totally and permanently disabled and unable to work in any regular employment.
The disability must have begun within 7 years after the employee’s death or
within 7 years after the termination of an annuity based on caring for a child
of the deceased employee, or 7 years after the termination of an earlier
entitlement to a disability annuity. In most cases, a 5-month waiting period is
required after the onset of disability before disability payments can begin.
Generally, the widow(er) must have been married to the employee for at least 9
months prior to death, unless she or he was the natural parent of their child,
the employee’s death was accidental or while on active duty in the U.S. Armed
Forces, the widow(er) was potentially entitled to certain railroad retirement or
social security benefits in the month before the month of death, or the marriage
was postponed due to State restrictions on divorce due to mental incompetence or
similar incapacity.
4. Can surviving divorced spouses and
remarried widow(er)s also qualify for benefits?
Survivor benefits may also be payable to a surviving divorced spouse or
remarried widow(er) under certain conditions, but benefits are limited to social
security level tier I amounts and therefore are generally less than the total of
the tier I and tier II benefit amounts otherwise payable by the RRB. However, a
former spouse may be paid a court-ordered partition amount.
A surviving divorced spouse may qualify for social security level tier I
benefits if she or he was married to the employee for at least 10 years, and is
age 60 or older (age 50 if disabled). A surviving divorced spouse who is
unmarried can qualify at any age if caring for the employee’s child and the
child is under age 16 or disabled, in which case the 10-year marriage
requirement does not apply. A widow(er) or surviving divorced spouse who
remarries after age 60, or a disabled widow(er) or disabled surviving divorced
spouse who remarries after age 50 may also receive benefits; however, remarriage
prior to age 60 (or age 50 if disabled) would not prevent eligibility if that
remarriage ended. Such social security level benefits may also be paid to a
younger widow(er) or surviving divorced spouse caring for the employee’s child
who is under age 16 or disabled, if the remarriage is to a person receiving
railroad retirement or social security benefits or the remarriage ends.
5. When are survivor benefits payable to
children and other dependents?
Monthly survivor benefits are payable to an unmarried child under age 18, and to
an unmarried child age 18 in full-time attendance at an elementary or secondary
school or in approved homeschooling until the student attains age 19 or the end
of the school term in progress when the student attains age 19. In most cases
where a student attains age 19 during the school term, benefits are limited to
the two months following the month age 19 is attained. An unmarried disabled
child over age 18 may qualify if the child became totally and permanently
disabled before age 22. An unmarried dependent grandchild meeting any of these
requirements may also qualify if both the grandchild’s parents are deceased or
disabled.
Monthly survivor benefits are also payable to a surviving parent at age 60 who
was dependent on the employee for at least half of the parent’s support. If the
employee was also survived by a widow(er), surviving divorced spouse or child
who can qualify for benefits, the parent’s annuity is limited to the tier I
amount.
6. How are railroad retirement widow(er)s’
benefits computed?
The tier I amount of a two-tier survivor benefit is based on the deceased
employee’s combined railroad retirement and social security earnings credits,
and is computed using social security formulas. In general, the survivor tier I
amount is equal to the amount of survivor benefits that would have been payable
under social security.
December 2001 legislation established an “initial minimum amount” which yields,
in effect, a widow(er)’s tier II benefit equal to the tier II benefit the
employee would have received at the time of the award of the widow(er)’s
annuity, minus any applicable age reduction.
However, such a tier II benefit will not receive annual cost-of-living increases
until such time as the widow(er)’s annuity, as computed under prior law with all
interim cost-of-living increases otherwise payable, exceeds the widow(er)’s
annuity as computed under the initial minimum amount formula.
The average annuity awarded to widow(er)s in fiscal year 2008, excluding
remarried widow(er)s and surviving divorced spouses, was $1,625 a month.
Children received $1,153 a month, on the average. Total family benefits for
widow(er)s with children averaged $3,390 a month. The average annuity awarded to
remarried widow(er)s or surviving divorced spouses in fiscal year 2008 was $914
a month.
A widow(er) who received a spouse annuity from the RRB is guaranteed that the
amount of any widow(er)’s benefit payable will never be less than the annuity
she or he was receiving as a spouse in the month before the employee died.
7. Are survivor benefits subject to any
reduction for early retirement or disability retirement?
Yes. A widow(er), surviving divorced spouse or remarried widow(er) whose annuity
begins at full retirement age or later receives the full tier I amount unless
the deceased employee received an annuity that was reduced for early retirement.
The eligibility age for a full widow(er)’s annuity is gradually rising from age
65 to age 67. The maximum age reductions will range from 17.1 percent to 20.36
percent, depending on the widow(er)’s date of birth. For a surviving divorced
spouse or remarried widow(er), full retirement age increases but the maximum
reduction is 28.5 percent. For a disabled widow(er), disabled surviving divorced
spouse or disabled remarried widow(er), the maximum reduction is 28.5 percent,
even if the annuity begins at age 50.
8. Are these benefits subject to offset for
the receipt of other benefits?
Under the Railroad Retirement Act, the tier I portion of a survivor annuity is
subject to reduction if any social security benefits are also payable, even if
the social security benefit is based on the survivor’s own earnings. This
reduction follows the principles of social security law which, in effect, limit
payment to the highest of any two or more benefits payable to an individual at
one time.
The tier I portion of a widow(er)’s annuity may also be reduced for the receipt
of any Federal, State or local government pension based on the widow(er)’s own
earnings. The reduction generally does not apply if the employment on which the
public pension is based was covered under the Social Security Act throughout the
last 60 months of public employment. (There are some exceptions to this 60-month
requirement.) However, most military service pensions and payments from the
Department of Veterans Affairs will not cause a reduction. For those subject to
the public pension reduction, the tier I reduction is equal to 2/3 of the amount
of the public pension.
A survivor annuitant should notify the RRB promptly if she or he becomes
entitled to any such benefits.
9. What if a widow(er) was also a railroad
employee and is eligible for a railroad retirement employee annuity as well as
monthly survivor benefits?
If both the widow (er) and the deceased employee started railroad employment
after 1974, the survivor annuity payable to the widow(er) is reduced by the
amount of the employee annuity.
If either the deceased employee or the survivor annuitant had some service
before 1975 but had not completed 120 months of railroad service before 1975,
the employee annuity and the tier II portion of the survivor annuity would be
payable to the widow(er). The tier I portion of the survivor annuity would be
payable only to the extent that it exceeds the tier I portion of the employee
annuity.
A special guaranty applies if either the deceased employee or the survivor
annuitant completed 120 months of railroad service before 1975. In effect, the
widow, or dependent widower, would receive both an employee annuity and a
survivor benefit, without a full dual benefit reduction.
10. What types of lump-sum death benefits
are payable under the Railroad Retirement Act?
A lump-sum death benefit is payable to certain survivors of an employee with 10
or more years of railroad service, or less than 10 years if at least 5 years
were after 1995, and a current connection with the railroad industry if there is
no survivor immediately eligible for a monthly annuity upon the employee’s
death.
If the employee did not have 10 years of service before 1975, the lump sum is
limited to $255 and is payable only to the widow(er) living in the same
household as the employee at the time of the employee’s death.
If the employee had less than 10 years of service but had 5 years after 1995, he
or she must have met social security’s insured status requirements for the lump
sum to be payable.
If the employee had 10 years of service before 1975, the lump sum is payable to
the living-with widow(er). If there is no such widow(er), the lump sum may be
paid to the funeral home or the payer of the funeral expenses. These lump sums
averaged $989 in fiscal year 2008.
The railroad retirement system also provides, under certain conditions, a
residual lump-sum death benefit which ensures that a railroad family receives at
least as much in benefits as the employee paid in railroad retirement taxes
before 1975. This benefit is, in effect, a refund of an employee’s pre-1975
railroad retirement taxes, after subtraction of any benefits previously paid on
the basis of the employee’s service. This benefit is seldom payable.
11. How does a person get an estimate of, or
apply for, survivor benefits?
Active or retired employees who are concerned about the amount of benefits which
would be payable to their survivors may receive estimates from the nearest RRB
field office.
Applications for railroad retirement or survivor benefits are generally filed at
one of the RRB’s field offices, or with an RRB representative at one of the
office’s Customer OutReach Program (CORP) service locations, or by telephone and
mail. Persons can contact an office of the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) by
calling toll free at 1-877-772-5772 or at www.rrb.gov. Most RRB offices are open
to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on
Federal holidays.
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