As previously explained, you must stop all railroad work in order to qualify for an employee annuity. A railroad employer is any company or labor organization covered under the RRA. Covered railroad employers include railroads that engage in interstate business, railroad associations, and national railway labor organizations.
Actual Railroad Service
Your employer reports your railroad service and earnings to the RRB under your social security number. Shortly after each year in which you have railroad earnings, the RRB mails Form BA-6 Certificate of Service Months and Compensation to you. This annual statement has a record of your creditable subsequent service months and compensation after 1936 and verified military service credits.
You can also call the RRB at 1-877-772-5772, to request Form G-90c, Service and Compensation History Statement, for a record of your railroad earnings.
Deemed Railroad Service
For years after 1984, you may be entitled to additional railroad service months if you did not actually work in every month of the year. For additional service months to be deemed, your compensation for the year must exceed an amount equal to 1/12 of the tier 2 maximum multiplied by the number of railroad service months you actually worked. The excess amount is then divided by 1/12 of the Tier 2 maximum. The result, rounded up to a whole number, is the number of deemed railroad service months.
In order to qualify for these deemed railroad service months, you must have had an employment relation for the months you did not perform actual railroad service. This means that you were:
- on bona fide leave of absence from the employer;
- not retired or discharged, but by reason of continuous disability, unable to return to service;
- out of service by reason of discharge later determined to be wrongful; or,
- an employee representative or employee of an employee representative.
Deemed service months cannot be given for months after the beginning date of your annuity or after the date you relinquish rights to railroad employment.