The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government. The RRB's primary function is to administer comprehensive retirement-survivor and unemployment-sickness benefit programs for the nation's railroad workers and their families, under the Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts. In connection with the retirement program, the RRB has administrative responsibilities under the Social Security Act for certain benefit payments and railroad workers' Medicare coverage.
During fiscal year 2007, retirement-survivor benefits of some $9.8 billion were paid to about 616,000 beneficiaries, while net unemployment-sickness benefits of $74 million were paid to approximately 29,000 claimants. At the end of fiscal year 2007, the average annuity paid to retired rail employees was over $1,940 a month, spouse benefits averaged $710 a month, and benefits for aged widow(er)s averaged $1,170 a month. The maximum biweekly rate for unemployment and sickness benefits was $590.
Development of the Railroad Retirement and Unemployment Insurance Systems
The RRB was created in the 1930's by legislation establishing a retirement benefit program for the nation's railroad workers. Private industrial pension plans had been pioneered in the railroad industry; the first industrial pension plan in North America was established on a railroad in 1874. By the 1930's, pension plans were far more developed in the railroad industry than in most other businesses or industries; but these plans had serious defects which were magnified by the Great Depression.
Retirement Program
The economic conditions of the 1930's demonstrated the need for retirement plans on a national basis, because few of the nation's elderly were covered under any type of retirement program. While the social security system was in the planning stage, railroad workers sought a separate railroad retirement system which would continue and broaden the existing railroad programs under a uniform national plan. The proposed social security system was not scheduled to begin monthly benefit payments for several years and would not give credit for service performed prior to 1937, while conditions in the railroad industry called for immediate benefit payments based on prior service.
Legislation was enacted in 1934, 1935, and 1937 to establish a railroad retirement system separate from the social security program legislated in 1935. Such legislation, taking into account particular circumstances of the rail industry, was not without precedent. Numerous laws pertaining to rail operations and safety had already been enacted since the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. Since passage of the Railroad Retirement Acts of the 1930's, numerous other railroad laws have subsequently been enacted.
While the railroad retirement system has remained separate from the social security system, the two systems are closely coordinated with regard to earnings credits, benefit payments, and taxes. The financing of the two systems is linked through a financial interchange under which, in effect, the portion of railroad retirement annuities that is equivalent to social security benefits is coordinated with the social security system. The purpose of this financial coordination is to place the social security trust funds in the same position they would be in if railroad service were covered by the social security program instead of the railroad retirement program.
Legislation enacted in 1974 restructured railroad retirement benefits into two tiers, so as to coordinate them more fully with social security benefits. The first tier is based on combined railroad retirement and social security credits, using social security benefit formulas. The second tier is based on railroad service only and is comparable to the pensions paid over and above social security benefits in other industries.
Unemployment Program
The railroad unemployment insurance system was also established in the 1930's. The Great Depression demonstrated the need for unemployment compensation programs, and State unemployment programs had been established under the Social Security Act in 1935. While the State unemployment programs generally covered railroad workers, railroad operations which crossed State lines caused special problems. Unemployed railroad workers were denied compensation by one State because their employers had paid unemployment taxes in another State. Although there were cases where employees appeared to be covered in more than one State, they often did not qualify in any.
A Federal study commission, which reported on the nationwide State plans for unemployment insurance, recommended that railroad workers be covered by a separate plan because of the complications their coverage had caused the State plans. Congress subsequently enacted the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act in June 1938. The Act established a system of benefits for unemployed railroaders, financed entirely by railroad employers and administered by the RRB. Sickness benefits were added in 1946.
