(2) Where the employee was not entitled to benefits subject to this part at the time of the notice by the Deputy General Counsel that the Board will honor the decree or property settlement, but the employee becomes so entitled at a later time, the Board will attempt to contact the spouse or former spouse at the most recent address shown in the Board's records. The notice will inform the spouse or former spouse that an annuity has been awarded, that the spouse or former spouse may, upon submission of all required documentation, receive a portion of the annuity, and that the spouse or former spouse should contact the Board within three months from the date of the notice. The Associate Executive Director for Retirement Claims will initiate

withholding of the amount awarded to the spouse or former spouse from the employee's monthly benefit, and will continue to withhold this amount for three successive months; provided, that an initial annuity payment for a retroactive period shall count as one monthly benefit payment. If after the third month's payment has been withheld the Board has received no response from the spouse or former spouse, the amount withheld from the employee's benefit shall be paid to the employee, and the Board take no further action regarding the decree until the spouse or former spouse contacts the board.

or

(3) Benefits withheld from the employee may not be paid to a spouse or former spouse until the spouse former spouse has furnished all supporting documentation required pursuant to §295.3 of this part. The Board shall allow a reasonable time, not to exceed three months from the date of the initial response from the spouse or former spouse, for the submission of all required documentation. If the documentation is not furnished within the time allowed, payment of the amounts withheld shall be made to the employee.

(4) Any payments made to the employee subsequent to the three-month notice period specified in paragraphs (d)(2) and (3) of this section, and prior to receipt of a response or required documentation from the spouse or former spouse, shall be considered properly paid to the employee and the board

shall have no further liability to the spouse or former spouse with respect to such amounts.

§ 295.5 Limitations.

(a) Employee benefit entitlement. Payments will be made to a spouse or former spouse under this part only if the employee has been awarded an annuity under the Railroad Retirement Act. Payments to a spouse or former spouse shall be made only for months and from such amounts with respect to which an annuity is payable to the employee, and shall be suspended or terminated for any month in which the annuity of the employee is suspended or terminated. No arrearage accrues to the spouse or former spouse with respect to any month for which the annuity of the employee is suspended or reduced as required under the Act.

(b) Minimum amount. The amount of payment to a spouse or former spouse may not be less than one dollar per month.

(c) Prospective payment. Payment to a spouse or former spouse may accrue no earlier than the later of the date of delivery, pursuant to §295.3 of this part, of a court decree or property settlement which will be honored under this part, or from October 1, 1983. The amount to be paid the spouse or former spouse under this part will not be increased to satisfy an arrearage due from the employee.

(d) Payees. Payment of an amount awarded to a spouse or former spouse by a court decree or property settlement will be made only to the spouse or former spouse except where the Board determines that another person shall be recognized to act in behalf of the spouse or former spouse as provided by part 266 of this chapter, relating to incompetence. Payment will not be made to the heirs, legatees, creditors or assignees of a spouse or former spouse, except that where an amount is payable to a spouse or former spouse pursuant to this part, but is unpaid at the death of that spouse or former spouse, the unpaid amount may be paid in accordance with §234.1 of this chapter, pertaining to employee annuities unpaid at death.

(e) Net amount of benefits. Notwithstanding the terms of the decree or

property settlement, the amount of benefits payable to the employee which are subject to this part shall not include:

(1) Amounts deducted to satisfy a debt due the United States, including any amount withheld to recover erroneous payments under the Railroad Retirement Act, Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, or any other acts administered by the Board; and

(2) Benefits which are waived pursuant to §243.6 of this chapter.

(f) Termination. Payments to a spouse or former spouse terminate on the earlier of

(1) The date on which the employee annuity terminates;

(2) The date required by the court decree or property settlement or the law of the jurisdiction in which the court decree or property settlement was entered; or

(3) The last day of the month before the month in which the spouse or former spouse dies.

(g) Priority. In the event that the Deputy General Counsel receives more than one decree or property settlement from competing parties, benefits shall be available to satisfy the decrees or property settlements on a first come, first served basis governed by the date of receipt by the Deputy General Counsel. Conflicting decrees or property settlements received on the same day shall be accorded priority based upon the earliest date upon which the decree or property settlement became final.

[51 FR 12845, Apr. 16, 1986, as amended at 53 FR 35807, Sept. 15, 1988; 62 FR 67724, Dec. 30, 1997]

$ 295.6 Disclosure of information.

(a) Immunity from process. The provision for the payment of benefits under this part pursuant to a court decree or property settlement shall not be construed to be a waiver of the sovereign immunity of the Railroad Retirement Board as an agency of the U.S. Government. The Board may not be joined in a suit for divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation, or otherwise subjected to the jurisdiction of any state court. Subpoenas, notices of joinder, interrogatories, orders for production of documents, and like state process issued in connection with a suit for

divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation will be treated as requests for disclosure of information under this section.

(b) Request for information. A response to request for information to be used in connection with a suit for divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation may be made by the Deputy General Counsel or his or her designee, by the Associate Executive Director for Retirement Claims, or by a contact representative of the Board's field serv

ice.

(c) Information available. In the absence of signed authorization from the employee, a spouse or former spouse who is a party to a suit for divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation, or his or her legal representative, may be furnished the amount of benefits the employee is currently receiving. If the employee is not currently entitled to benefits, the Board may furnish the amount of any estimated benefit to which the employee would be entitled if he or she were of retirement age at the time of the request, as reflected by the records of the Board, to the extent it is possible for the Board to compute such amount. The Board shall not be required to furnish the present value of future benefits, the amount of benefits payable at a future date, or any other computations based on statistics or procedures not maintained by the Board in the normal course of administration of the Act.

(d) Certification. A letter or statement prepared by a Board official in the regular course of duty from the official records of the Board, which refers to the authority of this section and bears his or her signature, shall be a sufficient response for purposes of discharging the responsibilities of the Board under this section. A certification in accordance with this section may be considered a public document for purposes of admissibility as evidence of present or potential benefits under the Act for use in a divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation proceeding.

§ 295.7 Miscellaneous.

(a) Disbursement cycle. In honoring and complying with a court decree or property settlement, the Board shall

not be required to disrupt its normal disbursement cycle, despite any special schedule of accrual or payment of amounts due the spouse or former spouse set forth in the decree or settlement. A decree or settlement received too late to be honored during the disbursement cycle in which it was received shall be honored with respect to the next payment due the employee.

(b) Liability for payments. Neither the Board nor any of its employees shall be liable with respect to any payment made to any individual from moneys due from or payable by the Board pursuant to a court decree or property settlement regular on its face, if such payment is made in accordance with this part.

(c) Liability for disclosures. No employee of the Board whose duties include responding to requirements contained in this part shall be subject under any law to any disciplinary action or civil or criminal liability or penalty for, or on account of, any disclosure of information made by such employee in connection with the per

formance of the employee's duties in making such response.

(d) Applicable law. For purposes of a proceeding under this part, the Board will apply the law of the jurisdiction in which the court decree or property settlement was issued unless it comes to the attention of the Board that the state of issuance has no contact with the plaintiff or defendant in the action; in which case, the Board may, in its sole discretion, apply the law of any jurisdiction with significant interest in the matter.

(e) Erroneous payments. If a spouse or former spouse receives a payment pursuant to this part from an employee's benefit, and the Board later determines that the employee was not entitled to all or part of those benefits for any month, the amount of the employee's benefits which was paid to the spouse or former spouse in excess of the amount which was actually payable shall be an erroneous payment to the spouse or former spouse within the meaning of section 10 of the Railroad Retirement Act.

PART 300-DEFINITIONS

AUTHORITY: Sec. 12, 52 Stat. 1107, as amended; 45 U.S.C. 362. Interprets or applies sec. 1, 52 Stat. 1094, as amended; 45 U.S.C. 351.

§ 300.1 Words and phrases.

For the purposes of the regulations in this part, except where the language or context indicates otherwise:

(a) The term "act" means the Railroad Unemployment Insurance act.

(b) The term "employer" means an employer as defined in the act and part 201 of this chapter.

(c) The term "Board" means the Railroad Retirement Board.

(d) The term "person" includes an individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, joint stock company, company, corporation, and institution.

(e) The term "United States", when used in a geographical sense, means the States and the District of Columbia.

(f) The term "State" means any of the States or the District of Columbia. (g) The term "employment" means service performed as an employee.

(h) The term "local lodges and divisions" and the term "local lodge or division" as used in section 1(a) and 1(d), respectively, of the act, shall be construed to include any subordinate unit of a national railway labor organization defined as an "employer" under the act, which unit functions in the same manner as, or similar to "local lodges" as that term is ordinarily used, irrespective of the designation of such unit by its national organization.

[Board Order 40-368 and Board Order 40-385, 5 FR 2717, Aug. 1, 1940, as amended by Board Order 68-72, 33 FR 11114, Aug. 6, 1968]

PART 301-EMPLOYERS UNDER THE ACT

Sec.

301.1 Statutory provisions. 301.4 Who are employers.

AUTHORITY: 45 U.S.C. 362(1).

§ 301.1 Statutory provisions.

(a) The term "employer" means any carrier (as defined in subsection (b) of this section), and any company which is directly or indirectly owned or controlled by one or more such carriers or under common control therewith, and which operates any equipment or facility or performs any service (except trucking service, casual service, and the casual operation of equipment or facilities) in connection with the transportation of passengers or property by railroad, or the receipt, delivery, elevation, transfer in transit, refrigeration or icing, storage, or handling of property transported by railroad, and any receiver, trustee, or other individual or body, judicial or otherwise, when in the possession of the property or operating all or any part of the business of any such employer: Provided, however, That the term "employer” shall not include any street, interurban, or suburban electric railway, unless such railway is operating as a part of a general steam-railroad system of transportation, but shall not exclude any part of the general steam-railroad system of transportation now or hereafter operated by any other motive power. The Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby authorized and directed upon request of the Board, or upon complaint of any party interested, to determine after hearing whether any line operated by electric power falls within the terms of this proviso. The term "employer" shall also include railroad associations, traffic associations, tariff bureaus, demurrage bureaus, weighing and inspection bureaus, collection agencies, and other associations, bureaus, agencies, or organizations controlled and maintained wholly or principally by two or more employers as hereinbefore defined and engaged in the performance of services in connection with or incidental to railroad transportation; and railway labor organizations, national in scope, which have been or may be organized in accordance with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, and their State and National legislative committees and their general committees and their insurance departments and their local lodges and divisions, established pursuant to the constitution and bylaws of such organizations.

The term "employer" shall not include any company by reason of its being engaged in the mining of coal, the supplying of coal to an employer where delivery is not beyond the mine tipple, and the operation of equipment or facilities therefor, or in any of such activities. * * *

(b) The term "carrier" means an express company, sleeping-car company, or carrier

§ 302.1 Introduction.

This part sets forth the base year service and compensation required of an employee to qualify for benefits under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act with respect to a benefit year. Under the Act, only employees who satisfy the qualifying conditions of section 3 of the Act may be paid benefits. No provision is made for payment of dependents benefits for an employee's spouse or children. A qualified employee who claims benefits must demonstrate that he or she is eligible for benefits in accordance with the other provisions of the Act and this chapter. However, a qualified employee who is disqualified under any of the provisions of section 4 of the Act does not forfeit his or her status as a qualified employee.

§ 302.2 Definitions.

Base year. The term "base year" means the completed calendar year im

mediately preceding the beginning of the benefit year.

Benefit year. The term "benefit year" means the 12-month period beginning July 1 of any year and ending June 30 of the next year. If a registration period begins in June and ends in July, the benefit year ending date is deemed to be the last day of such registration period. If an employee is eligible for payment of extended benefits, the benefit year ending date for such employee will be June 30, or the last day of his or her extended benefit period, whichever date is later.

Compensation. The term "compensation" means generally any form of earnings or money remuneration earned on the basis of railroad employment during any month, excluding any amount in excess of the monthly compensation base for that month and also excluding payments of the character described in §302.4 of this part.

Monthly compensation base. The term "monthly compensation base" means the greater of $600, or the amount calculated using the following formula:

For the purpose of this formula, "MCB" is the dollar amount of the monthly compensation base, and "A" is the amount of the Tier I tax base under section 3231(e)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code for the calendar year for which the monthly compensation base is being computed. If the dollar amount computed under this formula is not a multiple of $5, it shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of $5. If the dollar amount computed is equidistant between two multiples of $5, it shall be rounded up the nearest multiple of $5.

Registration period. With respect to unemployment benefits, the term "registration period" has the meaning given in §325.1(c) of this chapter. With respect to sickness benefits, the term "registration period" has the meaning given in §335.1(d) of this chapter.

[56 FR 6966, Feb. 21, 1991; 56 FR 10302, Mar. 11, 1991]