3(f) (1), cannot operate to reduce the combined monthly benefit subjeet thereto below $1200 nor can it operate to reduce the social security level component of the spouse's annuity as computed under section

Subsection (d) of section 4 provides cost-of-living increases in the spouse's annuity component determined under section 4(b). Any such reases will be by the same percentage, or percentages, as the employee's annuity was increased under the provisions of section 3(g) after such annuity became effective. Through the operation of section 4(b), the spouse's annuity when computed reflected any cost-of-living increases in the employee's annuity prior to its effective date, subject to the limitation on the total amount of a spouse's annuity as provided under the second proviso of section 4(b). Thus, this component of the sponse's annuity will be increased whenever the comparable component of the employee's annuity is increased, even if the spouse was not receiving an annuity at the time a particular increase became effective.

The dual benefits for spouses of employees, in cases where either the employee was "qualified" under both the Social Security Act and the Railroad Retirement Act or the employee was "qualified" under the Railroad Retirement Act and the spouse was "qualified" under the Social Security Act, are provided by subsection (e) of section 4. Subdivision (1) provides that if (A) the employee had engaged in railroad service during 1974, or had a current connection with the railroad industry on December 31, 1974, or at the time his annuity began to accrue, or had 25 years of service prior to January 1, 1975, and (B) the employee had 10 years of service on Dece er 31, 1974. and the spouse was permanently insured under the Sal Security Act on that date, the spouse will be entitled to a dual benefit equal to the smaller of a social security benefit based on her own earnings prior to January 1, 1975, or a social security wife's or husband's benefit based on the employee's railroad earnings after December 31, 1936, and before January 1, 1975, but not less than 50 percent of the employee's dual benefit, if any, under section 3 (h) (1) without regard to any increases under section 3 (h) (5).

For the purposes of the computations under this subdivision and subdivision (2), the hypothetical social security benefits will be in the amount that the spouse would have received at age 65, or, if the spouse attained age 65 prior to January 1, 1975, the amount which she would have received for the month of January 1975, under the provisions of the Social Security Act as in effect on December 31, 1974.

Subdivision (2) provides the dual benefit where the employee did not meet the conditions specified in clause (A) of the preceding paragraph, but where the employee did have 10 years of service prior to January 1, 1975, and the spouse was permanently insured under the Social Security Act as of the end of the year prior to 1975 in which the employee last engaged in railroad service. The dual benefit in such a case will be determined in the same manner as the dual benefit provided by subdivision (1), except that only the spouse's social security earnings as of the end of the year in which the employee last engaged in railroad service will be used in determining the amount of the social security benefit to which the spouse would have been entitled on the basis of her own earnings.

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The dual benefit for the spouse of an employee, in a case where the employee is entitled to a dual benefit under section 3(h) (1) or 3(h) (3) but the spouse is not entitled to a dual benefit under subdivision (1) or (2) of section 4(e), will, as is provided by subdivision (3) of section 4(e), be equal to 50 percent of the employee's dual benefit under section 3 (h) (1) or 3(h) (2) prior to any increases under subdivision (5) of section 3(h).

The amount of a dual benefit provided under the first three subdivisions of section 4(e) will be increased, under subdivision (4), by the percentages of any cost-of-living increases in social security wife's or husband's insurance benefits pursuant to the automatic cost-ofliving provisions of section 215 (i) of the Social Security Act which became effective after December 31, 1974, and before the date on which the employee's annuity under section 2(a) (1) began to accrue, or by the percentages of any such increases which would have been provided during that period under those provisions if no social security general benefit increases had been provided.

The amounts of the annuities awarded to survivors of deceased employees under section 2(d) is determined under the provisions of subsections (f), (g), and (h) of section 4. Subsection (f) provides that a survivor (ie., a qualified widow, widower, parent, or child) will receive an amount equal to the amount that would have been payable to her or him, as a survivor, under the Social Security Act if the railroad service after 1936 of the employee upon whose earnings her or his survivor's annuity is based were included in the term employment as defined in that Act.

As in the case of a disabled employee annuitant, a child or a widow or widower who is entitled to an annuity as such based on disability under section 2 of the 1974 Act is deemed to meet the social security requirement for disability benefits as a child or as a widow or widower, as the case may be.

Paragraph (1) of subsection (f) (2) provides that a widow or widower or a parent who is entitled to a survivor's annuity under section 2 of the 1974 Act on the basis of age and who has not attained age 62 shall be deemed to be age 62. The proviso in this pargraph, however, renders this deeming provision inapplicable in cases where the widow or widower received an annuity based on disability in the month prior to the month in which she or he attained the age of eligibility (60) for an aged widow's or widower's annuity.

This provision, which continues in effect the similar provision contained in the social security minimum guaranty provision of the 1937 Act, reduces the age reduction which would otherwise be made in the widow's or widower's social security level benefit. In the case of parents, since an otherwise qualified parent can receive an annuity under the new Railroad Retirement Act when he or she attains age 60, as was also true under the 1937 Act, but would have to attain age 62 in order to be eligible for a social security benefit, the deeming provision provides a parent under age 62 with the social security level annuity amount which would have been paybale to that parent if he or she were age 62.

The second component of a survivor's annuity is provided under the provisions of subsection (g), and will be equal to 30 percent of the amount which is payable to the survivor under subsection (f), or

which would be payable to the survivor under subsection (f) if he or she were entitled to no other monthly benefit, such as a benefit based on his or her own earnings record, under either this Act or the Social Security Act. The provisos of section 4(g) continue in effect the socalled spouse minimum provision contained in the 1937 Act. This provision assures that the total annuity amounts, without regard to dual benefit amounts, payable to a widow or widower under this Act will not be less than the annuity amounts, again without regard to dual benefit amounts, which the widow or widower may have received under the Act as a spouse in the month preceding the employee's death.

Subsection (h) provides dual benefits for widows and widowers eligible for benefits as such under section 2(d) in cases where the deceased employee had completed 10 years of service prior to January 1, 1975, and the widow or widower was permanently insured under the Social Security Act on December 31, 1974. The amount of the dual benefit will be equal to the difference between (A) the sum of (i) a railroad retirement widow's or widower's insurance benefit (other than such a benefit computed under the social security minimum guaranty provision) based on the employee's railroad earnings prior to January 1, 1975, and (ii) a social security benefit based on the widow's or widower's social security earnings prior to January 1, 1975, minus (B) a widow's or widower's benefit equal to 130 percent of that which would have been payable on the basis of the deceased employee's combined railroad and social security earnings after December 31, 1936 and before January 1, 1975, assuming that the widow is entitled to no other monthly benefit. The 110 percent social security minimum guaranty provision in the 1937 Act assured, insofar as survivors were concerned, that a survivor's annuity under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 would not be less than 110 percent of the amount that the survivor would have received as such, on the basis of the deceased employee's combined railroad and nonrailroad earnings, if the emplovee's railroad earnings after December 31, 1936, had been covered under the Social Security Act; a 130 percent factor is used in the 1974 Act, since this is the factor applicable to the general level of survivor benefits. The computations under clause (A) of this subdivision will be in the amount that the widow or widower would have received at age 65 under the law in effect on December 31, 1974.

The amount of the dual benefit provided under subdivision (1) will be increased, under subdivision (2), by the percentages of any cost-ofliving increases in social security widow's and widower's insurance benefits pursuant to the automatic cost-of-living provisions of section 215(1) of the Social Security Act which become effective after December 31, 1974, and before the earlier of the date of the employee's death or the date on which the employee's annuity under section 2(a) (1) began to accrue, or by the percentages of any such increases which would have been provided during that period under those provisions if no social security general benefit increases had been provided.

As section 3(m) of the new Act provides with respect to an employee, subsection (1) (1) of section 4 eliminates the windfall element of dual railroad retirement and social security benefit entitlement in the case of a spouse by providing that the social security level component of a spouse's annuity will be reduced by the amount of any wife's

or husband's insurance benefit which the spouse receives under the Social Security Act. Rights to dual benefit amounts which have accrued to spouses prior to 1975 are preserved by subsection (e) of section 4. Subdivision (2) of section 4 (i) provides that the social security level component of a spouse's or survivor's railroad retirement annuity will be reduced by the social security level component of any employee annuity to which the spouse or survivor may be entitled on the basis of her or his own railroad service. Thus the social security level component of an employee railroad retirement annuity will have the same effect on the social security level component of a spouse or survivor annuity as an old-age or disability insurance benefit payable under the Social Security Act.

"Although section 4 (i) (2) of the new Act provides that the social security level component of a spouse's railroad retirement spouse's annuity will be reduced by the social security level component of the spouse's employee annuity, it was not intended that the total amount. of a spouse's railroad retirement annuity be reduced because of her entitlement to an employee annuity based on her own railroad service unless, as is provided by section 2(h) (3) of the new Act, both the husband and wife first entered railroad service subsequent to December 31, 1974. Accordingly, the second proviso of section 4 (b) increases the staff component of the spouse annuity by the amount of any such reduction in the social security level component of her annuity." Section 5

Section 5 of the new Act contains the annuity beginning and ending date provisions and the application requirements for all payments made under the Act. Subsection (a) provides, in effect, that annuities are to begin on the first day of the month during which the annuitant satisfies the eligibility requirements, but not more than twelve months prior to the month in which the annuity application is filed. Also, if an applicant desires a later beginning date than the earliest date provided by law, the provisions of this subsection permit him to select the date desired.

Finally, as is provided by paragraph (iii) of subsection (a), the annuity of an employee or a spouse under section 2 of the Act cannot begin until the date following the day on which the employce or spouse, as the case may be, has ceased compensated service in accordance with section 2(e) (1) of the Act. In this regard, it may be noted that, since the requirement that an employee relinquish rights to railroad employment contained in section 2(e) (2) of the Act is only a condition of payment of an annuity, once the employee has relinquished rights in accordance with that section, his annuity can begin prior to the date on which he actually satisfied the condition. Of course, if the employee refused to relinquish his rights to railroad employment, his annuity application could be denied, and thereafter, if he subsequently decided to relinquish such rights, he would be required to file a new annuity application.

Subsection (b) of section 5 sets forth the requirement that an application for an annuity must be made and filed in the manner and form prescribed by the Board. An annuity application filed with the Board is, unless the applicant specifies otherwise, deemed to be an application

for any benefit to which the applicant may be entitled, whether under this Act or the Social Security Act. Thus, the application requirements of both Acts can be satisfied by the filing of a single application. The application requirements for an age annuity are also deemed to have been met if an employee was receiving a disability annuity in the month before he became age 65, or if a widow or widower was receiving a disability annuity in the month before she or he became age 60. Subsection (c) of section 5 sets forth the conditions under which annuities and supplemental annuities provided by the new Act will cease to be payable. Such conditions are the same as those provided under the 1937 Act, except that a disability annuity payable to an employee will terminate, under the new Act, when the employee attains age 65, at which time the employee will begin receiving an age annuity. Under the 1937 Act, a disability annuity continued after the employee attained age 65. In this regard, it may be noted that since a widow's or widower's entitlement to a survivor annuity under section 2(d) terminates, as is provided in subdivisions (4), (5), and (6) of subsection (c), when the widow or widower remarries after the employee's death, such widow or widower would never become entitled to an annuity under section 2(d) if the remarriage occurred prior to the time the widow or widower became otherwise eligible for such an annuity. The same situation applies with respect to a parent under the provisions of subdivision (8) of section 5(c).

Section 6

The various benefits payable in a lump sum under the provisions of the new Railroad Retirement Act are all provided by section 6 of the

Act.

Subsection (a) provides for the disposition of any railroad retirement annuities which are due to a person who is entitled to an annuity under this Act but which are unpaid at the annuitant's death. Such provisions are the same as the corresponding provisions contained in Section 3(f) of the 1937 Act. Generally speaking, benefits due but unpaid at death are payable in the following order of priority: (1) the decedent's spouse if that spouse was living with the decedent at the time of his death or to the employee in the case of annuities due a spouse of a living employee, (2) the payer of the deceased employee's burial expenses in certain cases involving employee and spouse annuities, (3) the employee's children, (4) the employee's grandchildren, (5) the employee's parents, or (6) the employee's brothers and sisters. Lump-sum death payments are provided under subsection (b) of section 6 in cases where an employee dies, if such employee had completed ten years of service and had a current connection with the railroad industry at the time of his death. If the employee had completed ten years of service prior to January 1, 1975, any such lump-sum payment will, as is provided in subdivision (1), be made in accordance with the provisions of section 5(f) (1) of the 1937 Act, as in effect on December 31, 1974, on the basis of his combined railroad and nonrailroad earnings after 1936 and before 1975. Any such lump-sum payment will be in an amount computed as if the employee had died on January 1, 1975. Section 5(f) (1) of the 1937 Act provides a lump