Opinion ID: 483294
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the amount of crown's widower's annuity

Text: 6 The first issue raised on appeal is whether the Board correctly determined that the amount of Crown's widower's annuity must be reduced by the amount of his retirement annuity. In deciding this issue, our review is limited to determining whether the Board's decision is supported by substantial evidence and has a reasonable basis in law. Schafer v. Railroad Retirement Board, 217 F.2d 874, 875 (7th Cir.1954). In this case, the essential facts are not in dispute, thus, the question is whether the Board's determination has a reasonable basis in law. Because Congress has entrusted to the Board the primary responsibility for administering the Railroad Retirement Act, the Board's interpretation of the Act is entitled to deference. See Environmental Protection Agency v. National Crushed Stone Association, 449 U.S. 64, 83, 101 S.Ct. 295, 306, 66 L.Ed.2d 268 (1980); E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. v. Collins, 432 U.S. 46, 54-55, 97 S.Ct. 2229, 2234, 53 L.Ed.2d 100 (1977); Itel Corp. v. United States Railroad Retirement Board, 710 F.2d 1243, 1245 (7th Cir.1983). 7 45 U.S.C. Sec. 231a(d)(1)(i) of the Railroad Retirement Act entitles widowers of qualified deceased railroad employees to annuity benefits if the widower has not remarried and has attained the age of 60. Section 231a(d)(1) directs the Board to refer to Sec. 231c to determine the amount of the annuity payment. A widower's annuity under Sec. 231c consists of two tiers. The first tier is computed in accordance with Sec. 231c(f)(1), which provides that the amount of the widower's annuity shall be in an amount equal to the amount ... of the widower's insurance benefits ... to which he or she would have been entitled under the Social Security Act ... if the deceased employee's service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term 'employment' as defined in that Act.... Thus, this first tier is the amount of the widower's benefit payable under the Social Security Act based upon the same earnings' period. The Social Security Act has its own distinct entitlements section, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 402(f)(3)(A). This section entitles a person in Crown's situation to an annuity equal to the primary insurance amount ... of his deceased wife. In this case, the Board computed Deloris Crown's primary insurance amount, after an age reduction, to be $487. 8 The first tier annuity amount may be reduced, however, under a provision of the Railroad Retirement Act, Sec. 231c(i)(2), which provides that the widower's annuity must be reduced by the amount of the retirement benefits the widower is receiving. In this case, Crown's own primary insurance amount was $659. This amount exceeds the amount of Deloris Crown's primary insurance amount. Accordingly, the Board determined that under the Social Security portion of the computation (tier I), Crown was not entitled to any benefit. 9 The second tier of the widower's annuity is computed in accordance with Sec. 231c(g) which provides for certain increases in the annuity amount derived from the first tier calculation. Section 231c(g) provides that a widower is entitled to an additional annuity amount which is 50% of the deceased railroad worker's tier II amount. The Board found Deloris Crown's tier II amount, reduced by 50%, to be $181.42. After the age reduction required in the statute, the Board concluded that Crown was entitled to $150.40 under the tier II calculation. This is the amount Crown was awarded by the Board. 10 Crown does not point to any of the above computations as incorrect. Instead, he refers us to Railroad Retirement Board Booklet 1B-2 (1982), entitled Railroad Retirement Survivors Benefits for Railroad Workers and Families. This booklet, in a section entitled, Widows or Widowers Also Receiving Railroad Retirement Employee Annuities, states [i]f a ... widower is qualified for a railroad retirement employee annuity as well as a survivor annuity, a special guarantee applies if either the deceased employee or the survivor annuitant completed 120 months of railroad service before 1975. In effect, the ... widower would receive both an employee annuity and a survivor annuity, without a full dual benefit reduction. Although Crown contends that both he and the Board's employees relied upon this section in estimating the amount of his annuity, he does not indicate how this language was applied incorrectly in his case. The Board takes the position that the phrase without a full dual benefit reduction means only that a widower's annuity will not be completely eliminated as is done in the case of dual social security benefits. Since Crown does not offer any other interpretation of the phrase and the Board has conceded that Crown received erroneous information from Board employees, we do not see how Crown's reliance upon this language aids his argument that the Board erroneously determined the amount of his widower's annuity benefits. 11 Crown also argues that he is entitled to the restored amount provided by Sec. 231c(g)(4). Section 231c(g)(4) states, in relevant part: 12 If a ... widower of a deceased employee is entitled to an annuity under section 231a(a)(1) of this title and if either such ... widower or deceased employee will have completed 10 years of service prior to January 1, 1975, the amount of the annuity of such ... widower ... shall be increased by an amount equal to the amount, if any, by which (A) the ... widower's insurance annuity to which such ... widower would have been entitled, upon attaining age 65, under section 5(a) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 [45 U.S.C. Sec. 228e(a) ], as in effect on December 31, 1974 ... exceeds (B) the total of the annuity amounts to which such ... widower was entitled (after any reductions pursuant to subsection (i)(2) of this section but before any deduction on account of work) under the preceding provisions of this subsection, subsection (f) of this section.... 13 The Board asserts that the only widowers entitled to this restored amount are widowers who would have been entitled to an annuity under Sec. 5(a) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 as it was in effect and being administered on December 31, 1974. Under Sec. 5(a) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 (the 1937 Act), as it was being administered on December 31, 1974, Crown could not have qualified for a widower's annuity because he was a nondependent male. 14 The legislative history of Sec. 231c(g)(4) indicates that Congress believed the Board's interpretation to be correct. The Committee report accompanying Sec. 231c(g)(4) indicates that the amendment was technical. Its purpose was merely to eliminate certain unforeseen inequities that the Board had encountered in interpreting the 1974 Act. H.R. 1465, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 17-19, reprinted in 1976 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News, 5601, 5617-19. The amendment provides for an increase in the tier II amount of a widow's or widower's annuity in a case where the 1937 Act would have provided a larger widow's or widower's annuity based on the deceased employee's service before 1975, than does the 1974 Act's formula after the tier I is reduced due to the widow's or widower's receipt of a railroad retirement employee's annuity. The increased amount is equal to the difference between what the widow or widower would have received under the 1937 Act and the amount payable to the widow or widower under the 1974 Act, after tier I is reduced due to the widow's or widower's receipt of a railroad retirement employee's annuity. Section 231c(g)(4) does not increase Crown's widower's annuity because he was a nondependent male and under the 1937 Act was not entitled to any annuity. 1