How non-railroad work affects an employee disability annuity.

(a) General. An employee's disability annuity is not payable and the employee must return the annuity payment for any month in which the employee earns more than the monthly allowable earnings amount (after deduction of impairment-related work expenses) in employment or self-employment of any kind. If earnings in any one calendar month are for accruals in more than one calendar month, such earnings shall be deemed to have been paid in each of the months in which accrued. Any annuity amounts withheld because the annuitant earned over the monthly allowable earnings amount in a month may be paid after the end of the year, as shown in § 220.164. The monthly allowable earnings amount no longer applies when the employee attains retirement age and the disability annuity is converted to a full age annuity. See § 220.145 for the definition of impairment-related work expenses. (b) Monthly allowable earnings amount. (1) Calendar years 2006 and earlier. The monthly allowable earnings amount for calendar years 2006 and earlier is $400. (2) Calendar year 2007. The monthly allowable earnings amount for calendar year 2007 is $700. (3) Calendar years 2008 and later. For calendar years 2008 and later, the monthly allowable earnings amount is the larger of: (i) The amount for the previous year, or (ii) The amount calculated by multiplying $700 by the ratio of the national average wage index for the year 2 calendar years before the year for which the amount is being calculated to the national average wage index for the year 2005. An amount calculated under this paragraph will be rounded to the nearest multiple of $10 (amounts ending in $5 will be rounded up.) (4) Annual notice. The Board will publish an annual notice of the monthly allowable earnings amount for calendar years after 2026 on its website and provide notice directly to disability annuitants of the amount.