Under the
Railroad Retirement Act, a "current
connection with the railroad industry" is
one of the eligibility requirements for
occupational disability annuities and
supplemental annuities, and is one of the
criteria for determining whether the
Railroad Retirement Board or the Social
Security Administration has jurisdiction
over the payment of monthly benefits to
survivors of a railroad employee.
The following questions and answers
describe the current connection
requirement and the ways the requirement
can be met.
1. How is a current connection
determined under the Railroad Retirement
Act?
To meet the current connection
requirement, an employee must generally
have been credited with railroad service
in at least 12 months of the 30 months
immediately preceding the month his or her
railroad retirement annuity begins. If the
employee died 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.
However, if an employee does not qualify
on this basis, but has 12 months' 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 in the period between the end of
the last 30-month period including 12
months of railroad service and the month
the annuity begins, or the month of death
if earlier.
A current connection established at the
time the railroad retirement annuity
begins is permanent. The employee never
loses it no matter what kind of work is
performed thereafter.
2. Can
nonrailroad work before retirement break a
former railroad employee's current
connection?
Full or part-time work for a
nonrailroad employer in an 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, if the business is
incorporated, compensated service will
break a current connection.
Federal employment with the Department of
Transportation, the National
Transportation Safety Board, the National
Mediation Board, the Surface
Transportation Board or the Railroad
Retirement Board will not break a current
connection. Also, neither State employment
with the Alaska Railroad, so long as that
railroad remains an entity of the State of
Alaska, nor non-creditable Canadian
railroad service will break a current
connection.
3. Are there
any exceptions to these normal procedures
for determining a current connection?
A current connection can be maintained
for purposes of supplemental and survivor annuities if the employee completed 25
years of railroad service, was
involuntarily terminated without fault
from the railroad industry, and did not
thereafter decline an offer to return to
work in the same class or craft as his or
her most recent railroad service, regardless of the location of the work
offered.
If all of these requirements are met, an
employee's current connection may not be
broken, even if the employee works in
regular nonrailroad employment after the
30-month period and before retirement or
death. This exception to the normal
current connection requirement became
effective October 1, 1981, but only for
employees still living on that date who
left the rail industry on or after October
1, 1975, or who were on leave of absence,
on furlough, or absent due to injury on
October 1, 1975.
4. Would the
acceptance of a buy-out have any effect on
determining whether an employee could
maintain a current connection under this
exception provision?
In cases
where an employee has no option to remain
in the service of his or her employer, the
termination of the employment is
considered involuntary, regardless of
whether the employee does or does not
receive a buy-out.
However, an employee who chooses a buy-out
instead of keeping his or her seniority
rights to railroad employment in his or
her last class or craft would, for
railroad retirement purposes, generally be
considered to have voluntarily terminated
railroad service, and consequently would
not maintain a current connection under
the exception provision.
5. An
employee with 25 years of service is
offered a buy-out with the option of
either taking payment in a single lump sum
or of receiving monthly payments until
retirement age. Could the method of
payment affect the employee's current
connection under the exception provision?
If the employee had the choice to
remain in employer service and voluntarily
relinquished job rights to accept the
payments, his or her current connection
would not be maintained under the
exception provision, regardless of which
payment option is chosen. Therefore,
nonrailroad work after the 30-month period
and before retirement or death could break
the employee's current connection. Such an
employee could only meet the current
connection requirement under the normal
procedures.
An employee considering accepting a
buy-out should also be aware that if he or
she relinquishes job rights to accept the
buy-out, the compensation cannot be used
to credit additional service months beyond
the month in which the employee severed
his or her employment relation, regardless
of whether payment is made in a lump sum
or on a periodic basis.
6. What if the buy-out agreement allows
the employee to retain job rights and
receive monthly payments until retirement
age?
The Board considers the buy-out a
dismissal allowance if the employee
retains job rights and receives monthly
payments credited to the months for which
they are allocated under the dismissal
allowance agreement. This is true even if
the employee later relinquishes job rights
after the end of the period for which a
monthly dismissal allowance was paid.
If the payments continued until retirement
age, this could extend the employee's rail
service until that time and thereby also
maintain his or her current connection,
regardless of years of service.
7. Could the exception provision apply
in cases where an employee has 25 years of
railroad retirement coverage and a company
reorganization results in the employee's
job being placed under social security
coverage?
The exception provision has been
considered applicable by the Board in
cases where a 25-year employee's job
changed from railroad retirement coverage
to social security coverage and the
employee had, in effect, no choice
available to remain in railroad retirement
covered service. Such 25-year employees
have been deemed to have a current
connection for purposes of supplemental
and survivor annuities.
8. Where can a person get more specific
information on the current connection
requirement?
Railroaders and former employees can
contact the nearest
field office of the
Railroad Retirement Board for information
on how their eligibility for benefits is
affected by this requirement.
Persons can find the address and phone
number of the Board office serving their
area by calling the automated toll-free
RRB Help Line at 1-800-808-0772 or by
checking the Board's Web site at
www.rrb.gov. Most Board field 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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