(ii) service rendered to any express company, sleeping-car company or carrier by railroad which was a predecessor of a company which on August 29, 1935, was an employer as defined in paragraph (i) of subsection (a)(1) irrespective of whether such predecessor was an employer at the time such service was rendered; and

(iii) service rendered to a person not an employer in the performance of operations involving the use of standard railroad equipment if such operations were performed by an employer on August 29, 1935.

(g)(1) For purposes of section 3(i)(2) of this Act, an individual shall be deemed to have been in "military service" when commissioned or enrolled in the active service of the land or naval forces of the United States and until resignation or discharge therefrom; and the service of any individual in any reserve component of the land or naval forces of the United States, while serving in the land or naval forces of the United States for any period, even though less than thirty days, shall be deemed to have been active service in such force during such period.

(2) For purposes of section 3(i)(2) of this Act, a "war service period" shall mean (A) any war period, or (B) with respect to any particular individual, any period during which such individual (i) having been in military service at the end of a war period, was required to continue in military service, or (ii) was required by call of the President, or by any Act of Congress or regulation, order, or proclamation pursuant thereto, to enter and continue in military service, or (C) any period after September 7, 1939, with respect to which a state of national emergency was duly declared to exist which requires a strengthening of the national defense. For purposes of section 3(i)(2) of this Act, the period beginning on June 15, 1948, and ending on December 15, 1950, shall be deemed to be a war service period with respect to any individual who without intervening employment not covered by this Act rendered service as an employee to an employer under this Act in the year such individual was released from active military service or in the year immediately following such year.

(3) For purposes of section 3(i)(2) of this Act, a "war period" shall be deemed to have begun on whichever of the following dates is the earliest: (A) the date on which the Congress of the United States declared war; or (B) the date as of which the Congress of the United States declared that a state of war has existed; or (C) the date on which war was declared by one or more foreign states against the United States; or (D) the date on which any part of the United States or any territory under its jurisdiction was invaded or attacked by any armed force of one or more foreign states; or (E) the date on which the United States engaged in armed hostilities for the purpose of preserving the Union or of maintaining in any State of the Union a republican form of government.

(4) For purposes of section 3(i)(2) of this Act, a "war period" shall be deemed to have ended on the date on which hostilities ceased.

(h)(1) The term "compensation" means any form of money remuneration paid to an individual for services rendered as an employee to one or more employers, or as an employee representative,

including remuneration paid for time lost as an employee, but remuneration paid for time lost shall be deemed earned in the month in which such time is lost. A payment made by an employer to an individual through the employer's payroll shall be presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be compensation for service rendered by such individual as an employee of the employer in the period with respect to which the payment is made. Compensation earned in any calendar month before 1947 shall be deemed paid in such month regardless of whether or when payment will have been in fact made, and compensation earned in any calendar year after 1946 but paid after the end of such calendar year shall be deemed to be compensation paid in the calendar year in which it will have been earned if it is so reported by the employer before February 1 of the next succeeding calendar year or if the employee establishes, subject to the provisions of section 9, the period during which such compensation will have earned.

(2) An employee shall be deemed to be paid "for time lost" the amount he is paid by an employer with respect to an identifiable period of absence from the active service of the employer, including absence on account of personal injury, and the amount he is paid by the employer for loss of earnings resulting from his displacement to a less remunerative position or occupation. If a payment is made by an employer with respect to a personal injury and includes pay for time lost, the total payment shall be deemed to be paid for time lost unless, at the time of payment, a part of such payment is specifically apportioned to factors other than time lost, in which event only such part of the payment as is not so apportioned shall be deemed to be paid for time lost.

(3) Solely for purposes of determining amounts to be included in the compensation of an employee, the term "compensation” shall also include cash tips received by an employee in any calendar month in the course of his employment by an employer unless the amount of such cash tips is less than $20.

(4) Tips included as compensation by reason of the provisions of subdivision (3) shall be deemed to be paid at the time a written statement including such tips is furnished to the employer pursuant to section 6053(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 or, if no statement including such tips is so furnished, at the time received. Tips so deemed to be paid in any month shall be deemed paid for services rendered in such month.

(5) In determining compensation, there shall be attributable as compensation paid to an employee in calendar months in which he is in military service creditable under section 3(i)(2), in addition to any other compensation paid to him with respect to such months(i) for each such calendar month prior to 1968, $160;

(ii) for each such calendar month after 1967 and prior to 1975, $260; and

(iii) for each such calendar month after 1974, the amount which is creditable as such individual's "wages" under section 209(d) of the Social Security Act.

(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding subdivisions of this subsection, the term "compensation" shall not include

(i) tips, except as is provided under subdivision (3) of this subsection;

(ii) remuneration for service which is performed by a nonresident alien individual for the period he is temporarily present in the United States as a nonimmigrant under subparagraph (F) or (J) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, and which is performed to carry out the purpose specified in subparagraph (F) or (J), as the case may be;

(iii) remuneration earned in the service of a local lodge or division of a railway-labor-organization employer with respect to any calendar month in which the amount of such remuneration is less than $25;

(iv) remuneration for service as a delegate to a national or international convention of a railway-labor-organization employer if the individual rendering such service has not previously rendered service, other than as such a delegate, which may be included in his "years of service";

(v) the amount of any payment (including any amount paid by an employer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to provide for any such payment) made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of his dependents under a plan or system established by an employer which makes provision for his employees generally (or for his employees generally and their dependents) or for a class or classes of his employees (or for a class or classes of his employees and their dependents), on account of sickness or accident disability or medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability; and

(vi) an amount paid specifically either as an advance, as reimbursement or allowance for traveling or other bona fide and necessary expense incurred or reasonably expected to be incurred in the business of the employer provided any such payment is identified by the employer either by a separate payment or by specifically indicating the separate amounts where both wages and expense reimbursement or allowance are combined in a single payment.

(7) The term "compensation" includes any separation allowance or subsistence allowance paid under any benefit schedule provided under section 701 of title VII of the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 and any termination allowance paid under section 702 of that Act, but does not include any other benefits payable under that title. The total amount of any subsistence allowance paid under a benefit schedule provided pursuant to section 701 of the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 shall be considered as having been earned in the month in which the employee first timely filed a claim for such an allowance.

(8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, for the purposes of sections 3(a)(1), 4(a)(1), and 4(f)(1), the term "compensation" includes any payment from any source to an employee or employee representative if such payment is subject to tax under section 3201 or 3211 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

(i) The term "Board" means the Railroad Retirement Board. (j) The term "company" includes corporations, associations, and joint-stock companies.

(k) The term "employee" includes an officer of an employer. (1) The term "person" means an individual, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, a corporation, or the United States or any other governmental body.

(m) The term "United States," when used in a geographical sense, means the States and the District of Columbia.

(n) The term "Social Security Act" means the Social Security Act as amended from time to time.

(0) An individual shall be deemed to have a "current connection with the railroad industry" at the time an annuity begins to accrue to him and at death if, in any thirty consecutive calendar months before the month in which an annuity under this Act begins to accrue to him or the month in which he dies if that first occurs, he will have been in service as an employee in not less than twelve calendar months and, if such thirty calendar months do not immediately precede such month, he will not have been engaged in any regular employment other than employment for an employer or employment with the Department of Transportation, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Surface Transportation Board, the National Mediation Board, the National Transportation Safety Board, the State-owned railroad (as defined in the Alaska Railroad Transfer Act of 1982), so long as it is an instrumentality of the State of Alaska, or the Railroad Retirement Board in the period before such month and after the end of such thirty months. For purposes of section 2(b) and section 2(d) only, an individual shall be deemed also to have a "current connection with the railroad industry" if, after having completed twenty-five years of service, such individual involuntarily and without fault ceased rendering service as an employee under this Act and did not thereafter decline an offer of employment in the same class or craft as the individual's most recent employee service. For purposes of section 2(d) only, an individual shall be deemed to have a "current connection with the railroad industry" if a pension will have been payable to that individual under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 or a retirement annuity based on service of not less than 10 years (as computed in awarding the annuity) will have begun to accrue to that individual prior to 1948 under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937. For the purposes of section 2(d) only, an individual shall be deemed also to have a "current connection with the railroad industry" if he will have completed ten years of service and (A) he would be neither fully nor currently insured under the Social Security Act if his service as an employee after December 31, 1936, were included in the term "employment" as defined in that Act, or (B) he has no quarters of coverage under the Social Security Act.

(p) 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.

(q) The terms "quarter" and "calendar quarter" shall mean a period of three calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31.

(r) For purposes of this Act, a person shall be considered to be permanently insured under the Social Security Act on December 31, 1974, if he or she would be fully insured within the meaning of section 214(a) of that Act when he or she attains age 62 solely

on the basis of his or her quarters of coverage under that Act acquired prior to January 1, 1975.

(45 U.S.C. 231)

ANNUITY ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

SEC. 2. (a)(1) The following-described individuals, if they shall have completed ten years of service and shall have filed application for annuities, shall, subject to the conditions set forth in subsections (e), (f), and (h), be entitled to annuities in the amounts provided under section 3 of this Act

(i) individuals who have attained retirement age (as defined in section 216(1) of the Social Security Act);

(ii) individuals who have attained the age of sixty and have completed thirty years of service;

(iii) individuals who have attained the age of sixty-two and have completed less than thirty years of service, but the annuity of such individuals shall be reduced by 1/180 for each of the first 36 months that he or she is under retirement age (as defined in section 216(1) of the Social Security Act) when the annuity begins to accrue and by 1/240 for each additional month that he or she is under retirement age (as defined in section 216(1) of the Social Security Act) when the annuity begins to accrue;

(iv) individuals who have a current connection with the railroad industry, whose permanent physical or mental condition is such as to be disabling for work in their regular occupation, and who (A) have completed twenty years of service or (B) have attained the age of sixty; and

(v) individuals whose permanent physical or mental condition is such that they are unable to engage in any regular employment.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (iv) of subdivision (1), the Board, with the cooperation of employers and employees, shall secure the establishment of standards determining the physical and mental conditions which permanently disqualify employees for work in the several occupations in the railroad industry, and the Board, employers, and employees shall cooperate in the promotion of the greatest practicable degree of uniformity in the standards applied by the several employers. An individual's condition shall be deemed to be disabling for work in his regular occupation if he will have been disqualified by his employer for service in his regular occupation in accordance with the applicable standards so established; if the employee will not have been so disqualified by his employer, the Board shall determine whether his condition is disabling for work in his regular occupation in accordance with the standards generally established; and, if the employee's regular occupation is not one with respect to which standards will have been established, the standards relating to a reasonably comparable occupation shall be used. If there is no such comparable occupation, the Board shall determine whether the employee's condition is disabling for work in his regular occupation by determining whether under the practices generally prevailing in industries in which such occupation exists such condition is a permanent disqualification for