PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

When Social Security changes rules after December 31, 1974 so more people can get retirement, disability, survivor, or health benefits, the Railroad Retirement Board must update railroad annuities and health coverage to match. If Social Security adds a new class of beneficiaries after that date, people in that class get railroad annuities equal to the monthly Social Security benefit they would have gotten if railroad work after December 31, 1936 had counted as employment. If Medicare or related health benefits are expanded or made easier to get after December 31, 1974, railroad employees and their survivors get the same changes. The Board has the same power as the Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide benefits for workers who have completed ten years of service (or five or more years of service if all those years are after December 31, 1995). There are limits. The law stops duplicate payments from Social Security or any other federal law made after December 31, 1974. To get annuities from these Social Security changes, the worker must have the required service (ten years, or five or more years all after December 31, 1995), and a survivor must show the worker had a current railroad connection when he or she died. If later law lets people collect more than one Social Security monthly benefit, or if these new rules would duplicate other railroad benefits, the railroad payments are reduced so no one gets paid twice. Reductions cannot make payments go below zero.

Title 45, §231r

Railroads, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Reduced benefits

If title II of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.] is amended at any time after December 31, 1974, to reduce the eligibility requirements for old-age insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, wife’s insurance benefits payable to a wife, husband’s insurance benefits, child’s insurance benefits payable to a child of a deceased individual, widow’s insurance benefits payable to a widow, widower’s insurance benefits, mother’s insurance benefits payable to a widow, or parent’s insurance benefits, such reduced eligibility requirements shall be applicable, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Board, to individuals, spouses, or survivors, as the case may be, under section 231a of this title to the extent that such reduced eligibility requirements would provide such individuals, spouses, or survivors with entitlement to annuities under such section 231a of this title to which they would not be entitled except for such reduced eligibility requirements: Provided, however, That no annuity shall be paid to any person pursuant to the provisions of this subsection if that person does not satisfy an eligibility requirement imposed by section 231a of this title of a kind not imposed by the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.] on December 31, 1974, or an eligibility requirement imposed by section 231a of this title of a kind which was imposed by the Social Security Act on December 31, 1974, but which was not reduced by the amendment to that Act: Provided further, That the annuity amounts to which such individuals, spouses, or survivors will be entitled under this subchapter by reason of the provisions of this subsection shall be only such amounts as are determined under the provisions of section 231b(a), 231c(a), or 231c(f), respectively, of this title.

(b)Additional eligible beneficiaries

If title II of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.] is amended at any time after December 31, 1974, to provide monthly insurance benefits under that Act to a class of beneficiaries not entitled to such benefits thereunder prior to January 1, 1975, every person who is a member of such class of beneficiaries shall be entitled to annuities under section 231a of this title, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Board, in an amount equal to the amount of the monthly insurance benefit to which such person would have been entitled under the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.] if service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term “employment” as defined in that Act.

(c)Reduced conditions of entitlement; expanded benefits

If section 226 [42 U.S.C. 426] or title XVIII [42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.] of the Social Security Act is amended at any time after December 31, 1974, to reduce the conditions of entitlement to, or to expand the nature of, the benefits payable thereunder, or if health care benefits in addition to, or in lieu of, the benefits payable under such section 226 or such title XVIII are provided by any provision of law which becomes effective at any time after December 31, 1974, such reductions in the conditions of entitlement to benefits, such expanded benefits, or such additional, or substituted, health care benefits shall be available to every employee (as defined in this subchapter), and those deriving from him, in the same manner, and to the same extent, as if his service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term “employment” as defined in the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.]. The Board shall have the same authority, in accordance with regulations prescribed by it, to determine the rights of employees who will have completed ten years of service (or five or more years of service, all of which accrues after December 31, 1995), and of those deriving from such employees, to benefits provided by reason of the provisions of this subsection as the Secretary of Health and Human Services has with respect to individuals insured under the Social Security Act.

(d)Limitations

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section— (1)

(2)No annuity shall be payable to a person by reason of subsection (a) or (b) of this section unless the individual upon whose compensation and years of service such annuity would be based will have (A) completed ten years of service (or five or more years of service, all of which accrues after December 31, 1995), and (B) in the case of a survivor, had a current connection with the railroad industry at the time of his death.

(3)If the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.] is amended after December 31, 1974, to remove any, or all, restriction on the receipt of more than one monthly insurance benefit thereunder, annuity amounts provided a person under section 231b(h), 231c(e), or 231c(h) of this title, or under section 204(a)(3), 204(a)(4), 206(3), or 207(3) of title II of this Act, shall be reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of any annuity provided such person under this subchapter by reason of such amendment.

(4)If and to the extent that an annuity or other benefit payable to a person by reason of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section duplicates an annuity or other benefit then payable to such person under other provisions of this subchapter, such annuity or other benefit then payable under other provisions of this subchapter shall be reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of the annuity or other benefit payable by reason of subsection (a), (b), or (c).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Social Security Act, referred to in subsecs. (a), (b), (c), and (d)(1), (3), is act Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, 49 Stat. 620, which is classified generally to chapter 7 (§ 301 et seq.) of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. Titles II and XVIII of the Social Security Act are classified generally to subchapters II (§ 401 et seq.) and XVIII (§ 1395 et seq.), respectively, of chapter 7 of Title 42. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1305 of Title 42 and Tables. section 204(a)(3), 204(a)(4), 206(3), 207(3) of title II of this Act, referred to in subsec. (d)(3), are section 204(a)(3), 204(a)(4), 206(3), 207(3) of title II of Pub. L. 93–445 and are set out as part of a Transitional Provisions note under section 231 of this title.

Amendments

2001—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 107–90, § 103(h)(1), inserted “(or five or more years of service, all of which accrues after

December 31, 1995)” after “ten years of service”. Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 107–90, § 103(h)(2), inserted “(or five or more years of service, all of which accrues after

December 31, 1995)” after “ten years of service”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

“Secretary of Health and Human Services” substituted for “Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare” in subsec. (c) pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96–88 which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.

Effective Date

of 2001 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 107–90 effective Jan. 1, 2002, see section 103(j) of Pub. L. 107–90, set out as a note under section 405 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.

§231r Automatic Benefit Eligibility Requirement Adjustments