How do railroad retirement survivor benefits compare to social security survivor benefits?
Most railroad retirement survivor benefits include a portion called a tier I amount, plus an additional tier II amount. The survivor tier I amount is based on the deceased employee’s combined railroad retirement and social security credits, and is computed using social security formulas. In general, the survivor tier I amount is equal to the amount of survivor benefits that would have been payable under social security. Tier II is based on railroad retirement credits only and the survivor tier II amount is a percentage of the deceased employee’s tier II amount. A widow(er) generally receives 50% of the employee’s tier II amount, each child receives 15%, and each surviving parent receives 35%. The minimum total tier II amount payable to a family is 35% of the employee’s tier II amount, and the maximum, 80%. The average railroad retirement survivor benefit awarded at the end of fiscal year 1996 to aged and disabled widow(er)s was $875 a month compared to about $670 for widow(er)s covered
