[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 20, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 20CFR226.73]



[Page 465]

 

                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS

 

                  CHAPTER II--RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

 

PART 226_COMPUTING EMPLOYEE, SPOUSE, AND DIVORCED SPOUSE ANNUITIES

--Table of Contents

 

 Subpart F_Reduction for Workers' Compensation and Disability Benefits 

              Under a Federal, State, or Local Law or Plan

 

Sec.  226.73  Changes in reduction amount.



    The reduction amount is not changed when a tier I benefit increases 

because of a recomputation or a general adjustment in annuity rates, 

such as a cost-of-living increase. However, the reduction amount may 

change for the following reasons:

    (a) A spouse or divorced spouse becomes entitled to a tier I benefit 

after the effective date of the reduction. The reduction amount is 

recomputed as if the spouse or divorced spouse were entitled to a tier I 

benefit on the date the reduction first applied. The new reduction 

amount applies beginning with the date the spouse or divorced spouse 

tier I benefit begins.



    Example: An employee became entitled to an annuity with a tier I 

component of $500 on May 1, 1991. He was also receiving a state 

disability benefit of $300 a month based on employment not covered under 

the Social Security Act. On June 1, 1991, the employee's tier I 

increased to $520.70. On October 1, 1991, the employee's wife becomes 

entitled to an annuity with a tier I benefit of $260.00. The tier I 

amount ($250) that would have been payable to the wife on May 1, 1991 

(assuming she had been eligible for a benefit at that time) is used to 

determine the reduction for other disability benefits beginning October 

1, 1991.



    (b) The tier I benefit of a spouse or divorced spouse annuity ends 

after the effective date of the reduction. The new reduction amount is 

computed using the tier I rate to which the employee was entitled when 

the reduction first applied. The new reduction amount applies beginning 

with the month after the month in which the spouse or divorced spouse 

tier I benefit ends.

    (c) The average current earnings are redetermined, as shown in Sec.  

226.74.

    (d) The amount of the other disability benefit changes. The 

reduction amount is recomputed to use the new benefit rate beginning 

with the date on which the new rate is payable. Any increases in the 

tier I amounts which were effective after the reduction first applied 

are not included in computing the new reduction amount.



    Example: The employee's tier I benefit is $500 on May 1, 1991, when 

the annuity is first reduced for other disability benefits. The tier I 

increases to $520 effective June 1, 1991. When the amount of the 

disability benefit changes on October 1, 1991, $500, not $520, is used 

as the employee tier I amount in recomputing the reduction amount.