I retired from home depot in august 2013. IN 2015 I needed to go back to work I went back to home depot. I was only gettin tier 2 railroad which was 488.13 a month. When i went back to work for home depot railroad said they had to cut the 488.13 in half . My husband retired from the railroad after 36 years. I do not think thats right to do that.

Hi,

You don't mention your age or your status with regard to Social Security benefits, so I'm not able to offer you much help. I'm not an expert on Railroad Retirement (RR) benefits, but my understanding is that working outside of the railroad industry wouldn't affect your RR Tier 2 benefits. However, if you are also receiving RR Tier 1 or Social Security benefits and you are below full retirement age, those benefits can be withheld if you earn more than the applicable Social Security earnings test exempt amount (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html). And if your Social Security benefits are being paid through the Railroad Retirement system, maybe those were the benefits that were affected by your earnings.

Best, Jerry

Best, Jerry