[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 20, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 20CFR255.4]

[Page 503-504]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
                  CHAPTER II--RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
 
PART 255_RECOVERY OF OVERPAYMENTS--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  255.4  Persons from whom overpayments may be recovered.

    (a) Overpaid individual. The Board may recover an overpayment from 
the individual to whom the overpayment has been made by any method 
permitted by this part, or by the Federal Claims Collection Standards (4 
CFR chapter 2) (Example 1 of this section). If the overpaid individual 
dies before recovery is completed, then recovery may be effected by 
recovery from the estate or the heirs of such individual.
    (b) Other than overpaid individual. The Board may recover an 
overpayment from a person other than the overpaid individual if such 
person is receiving benefits based upon the same record of compensation 
as the overpaid individual under a statute administered by the Board. In 
such a case, the Board will ordinarily recover the overpayment by setoff 
against such benefits as are provided for in Sec.  255.6 of this part 
(Example 2 of this section). However, the Board may ask for a cash 
refund of the overpayment.
    (c) Individual not in the same household. Recovery under paragraph 
(b) of this section may be made from an individual who was not living in 
the same household, as defined in part 216 of this chapter, as the 
overpaid individual at the time of the overpayment, if the individual 
from whom recovery is to be made either was aware that benefits were 
being paid incorrectly or benefitted from the overpayment. (Example 3 of 
this section).
    (d) Examples. This section may be illustrated by the following 
examples:

    Example (1). An employee receiving a disability annuity returns to 
work without notifying the Board. The Board discovers that the employee 
is working and determines that the employee has recovered from his 
disability and has been overpaid. The Board requests that the employee 
repay the overpayment by cash refund either in one lump sum or in 
installment payments. If the employee refuses, the Board may refer the 
debt to a collection agency or the Department of Justice for civil suit 
or may collect the debt in any other manner permitted by law.
    Example (2). The employee in Example 1 agrees to refund the 
overpayment by cash installment payments. However, the employee dies 
before repaying the total amount of the overpayment. At his death the 
employee's widow, who was living with the employee at the time the 
overpayment was incurred, becomes entitled to a widow's annuity. The 
Board may recover the remainder of the overpayment from any benefits due 
the widow.
    Example (3). C, a child of a deceased employee by his first 
marriage, is receiving a disability annuity on the employee's record of 
compensation. W, the employee's second wife, is receiving a widow's 
annuity on the

[[Page 504]]

employee's record of compensation. C lives with his mother, the 
employee's first wife. C marries without notifying the Board. Marriage 
terminates a child's annuity. W is not aware of C's marriage. Upon 
discovery of C's marriage, the Board demands that C refund the overpaid 
annuities; C refuses. Even though W is receiving an annuity based upon 
the same record of compensation as that of C, the Board will not recover 
the overpayment from W because she is not in the same household as C, 
was not aware of the incorrect benefits paid, and did not benefit from 
them.