CONTENTS Judge Charles M. Hay, Railroad Labor Executives. W. W. Royster, Railroad Employees National Pension Association___ Frank E. McAllister, Railroad Employees National Pension Associa- III RAILROAD RETIREMENT THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1937 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The committee this day met at 10 a. m., Hon. Clarence Lea (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order, please. We have met this morning for hearings on H. R. 6956, a bill to amend an act entitled "An act to establish a retirement system for employees of carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, and for other purposes", approved August 29, 1935. (The bill above referred to is printed in the record as follows:) [H. R. 6956, 75th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To amend an Act entitled "An Act to establish a retirement system for employees of carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, and for other purposes", approved August 29, 1935 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, PART I That the Act of August 29, 1935, entitled "An Act to establish a retirement system for employees of carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, and for other purposes", be, and it is hereby, amended to read as follows: DEFINITIONS SECTION 1. For the purpose of this Act— (a) The term "employer" means any express company, sleeping-car company, or carrier by railroad, subject to part I of the Interstate Commerce Act, and any company which may be directly or indirectly owned or controlled thereby or under common control therewith, and which operates any equipment or facilities or performs any service (other than trucking service) 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 main1 tained 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 of employees, national in scope, which have been or may be organized in accordance with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, including their State and National legislative and general committees and insurance departments, established pursuant to the constitution and bylaws of such organizations. (b) The term "employee" means any person in the service of one or more employers for compensation and any person who is in the employment relation to one or more employers. The term "employee" shall also include any officer or official representative of an organization of employees other than a labor organization included in the term "employer" as defined in section 1 (a) who before or after the enactment date was in the service of an employer as defined in section 1 (a) and who is duly authorized and designated to represent employees in accordance with the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and any person who is regularly assigned to or regularly employed by such officer or official representative in connection with the duties of his office, and such employees are hereinafter sometimes called "employee representatives." (c) A person is in the service of an employer wherever his service is rendered if he is subject to the continuing authority of the employer to supervise and direct the manner of rendition of his service, which service he renders for compensation: Provided, however, That a person shall be deemed to be in the service of an employer not conducting the principal part of its business in the United States only when he is rendering service to it in the United States. (d) A person is in the employment relation to an employer if he is on furlough, subject to call for service within or outside the United States and ready and willing to serve, or on leave of absence, or absent on account of sickness or disability; all in accordance with the established rules and practices in effect on the employer: Provided, however, That a person shall not be deemed to have been on the enactment date in the employment relation to an employer not conducting the principal part of its business in the United States unless during the last pay-roll period in which he rendered service to it prior to the enactment date, he rendered service to it in the United States: And provided further, That a person shall not be deemed to have been, on the date he became eligible to receive an annuity under this Act. in the employment relation to an employer not conducting the principal part of its business in the United States unless during the last pay-roll period in which he rendered service to it prior to that date, he rendered service to it in the United States. (e) The term "United States", when used in a geographical sense, means the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia. (f) The term "years of service" shall mean the number of years a person as an employee shall have rendered service to one or more employers for compensation or received wages for time lost, computed in accordance with the provisions of section 3 (b): Provided, however, That, where service prior to the enactment date may be included in the computation date may be included in the computation of years of service as provided in subdivision 1 of section 3 (b), it may be included as to service rendered to an employer subject to this Act on the enactment date, irrespective of whether at the time such service was rendered the employer was an employer as defined in section 1 (a). Twelve calendar months, consecutive or otherwise, in each of which an employee has rendered such service or received such wages for time lost, shall constitute a year of service. An ultimate fraction of six months or more shall be taken as one year. An ultimate fraction of less than six months shall be taken at its actual value. (g) The term "annuity" means a monthly sum which is payable on the first day of each calendar month for the accrual during the preceding calendar month. (h) The term "compensation" means any form of money remuneration earned by a person for services rendered as an employee to one or more employers, including wages paid for time lost as an employee, but wages paid for time lost shall be deemed earned in the month in which such time is lost. (i) The term "Board" means the Railroad Retirement Board. ANNUITIES SEC. 2. (a) The following-described persons, if they shall have been employees on or after the enactment date, shall be eligible for annuities after they shall have ceased to engage in employer service and relinquished all rights to return to employer service, irrespective of when they shall have relinquished such rights, except that the requirement of reliquishment of rights to return to employer service shall not apply to the persons mentioned in 2 (b) and subdivision 3 of this subsection prior to attaining age sixty-five: 1. Persons who on or after the enactment date shall be sixty-five years of age or over. 2. Persons who on or after the enactment date shall be sixty years of age or over and (a) either have completed thirty years of service or (b) have become totally and permanently disabled for regular employment for hire, but the annuity of such persons shall be reduced at the date of one-fifteenth for each year or monthly fraction thereof that they are under age sixty-five when the annuity begins to accrue. 3. Persons, without regard to age, who on or after the enactment date are totally and permanently disabled for regular employment for hire and shall have completed thirty years of service. Such satisfactory proof of the permanent total disability and of the continuance of such disability until age sixty-five shall be made from time to time as may be prescribed by the Board. If the person fails to comply with the requirements prescribed by the Board as to proof of the disability or the continuance of the disability until age sixty-five, his right to an annuity under subdivision 2 or subdivision 3 of this subsection by reason of such disability shall, except for good cause shown to the Board cease, but without prejudice to his rights under subdivision 1 or 2 (a) of this subsection. If, prior to attaining age sixty-five, such a person recovers and is no longer disabled for regular employment for hire, his annuity shall cease upon the last day of the month in which he so recovers and if after such recovery the person is granted an annuity under subdivision 1 or 2 (a) of this subsection, the amount of such annuity shall be reduced on an actuarial basis to be determined by the Board so as to compensate for the annuity previously received under this subdivision. (b) An annuity shall begin to accrue as of a date to be specified in a written application to be signed by the person entitled thereto, and approved by the Board, which date shall not be more than sixty days before the filing of the application: Provided, however, That in no case shall the annuity begin to accrue before the date the applicant shall cease employer service. COMPUTATION OF ANNUITIES SEC. 3. (a) The annuity shall be computed by multiplying a person's "years of service" by the following percentages of his "monthly compensation": 2 per centum of the first $50; 1% per centum of the next $100; and 1 per centum of the next $150. (b) The "years of service" of a person shall be determined as follows: (1) In the case of a person who was an employee on the enactment date and on the date he became eligible to receive an annuity under this Act, and also in the case of a person who was an employee on the enactment date, but prior to the date he became eligible to receive an annuity under this Act had ceased active service for an employer because of a permanent physical or mental disability, the years of service shall include all his service subsequent to December 31, 1936, and if the total number of such years is less than thirty, then the years of service shall also include his service prior to January 1, 1937, but not so as to make his total years of service exceed thirty: Provided, however, That with respect to any such person who rendered service to any employer after January 1, 1937, and who on enactment date was not an employee of an employer conducting the principal part of its business in the United States no greater proportion of his service rendered prior to January 1, 1937, shall be included in his "years of service" than his total compensation (including compensation in any month in excess of $300) for service after January 1, 1937, rendered anywhere to an employer conducting the principal |