Pre-claims scrambled earnings are involved.

The field office (FO) follows RM 03870.045.

FO discovers scrambled earnings during development for a claim.

Develop the Social Security (SS) earnings in the usual manner, using procedures in RM 03870.048. For RR earnings, develop following instructions in this section to forward the claim to the processing center.

If you are processing a claim and an award is still possible without including the disputed earnings, process a partial award of benefits while developing for scrambled or conflict RR earnings.

The FO will process the partial award using an A-101 and will include remarks on pending development of earnings by the RRB.

RRB investigation completed.

The PC reviews the NH’s earnings record to determine if SSA can or cannot use the RR earnings for insured status or to increase an SSA benefit.

If there is a change in benefits, the PC notifies the NH of the change. If there is no change, the PC sends a letter to the NH reporting the results of RRB’s investigation.

NH not insured without questioned earnings.

Forward the claim unadjudicated to the PC, with comments in Remarks explaining the issue. Annotate the cover sheet “RRB Scrambled Earnings Case”.