SSR 64-8: SECTIONS 209 and 215. -- COMPUTATION OF BENEFITS -- ACCRUED WAGES PAID AFTER WORKER'S DEATH BUT WITHIN YEAR OF DEATH

SSR 64-8

The worker, G, while on active duty in the United States Air Force, was

reported missing in action on August 26, 1962. He was carried on the rolls

of his unit as missing until November 1962, when the Air Force determined

that he had died on August 28, 1962, and paid to his widow the accrued pay

(minus appropriate social security and income tax deductions) due the

worker. The widow filed application November 30, 1962, on G's earnings

record for mother's insurance benefits for herself, and for child's

insurance benefits on behalf of their minor daughter. In connection with

these claims, the Air Force certified to the Social Security

Administration as wages of G paid in 1962 (pursuant to section 205(p) of

the Social Security Act) an amount which included all accrued pay; the

certification showed that the accrued amount was paid November 27, 1962,

to the widow.

The widow and child meet all requirements for entitlement to the monthly

benefits claimed, beginning August 1962, the month in which G died. Under

sections 202(g) and (d) of the Act, a mother's and a child's insurance

benefit on a deceased worker's earnings record are each equal to

three-fourths of the worker's primary insurance amount.

Under section 215 of the Social Security Act, the primary insurance

amount depends upon a worker's average monthly wage; and in computing the

average monthly wage for purposes of survivor's benefits, wages paid in

the year of death must be used if evidence available at the time of

computation shows that such wages would increase the primary insurance

amount.

The question in this case is whether that portion of G's 1962 wages which

was paid after his death to his widow, is includible as wages paid in 1962

for purposes of computing G's average monthly wage. If so, G's total wages

for 1962 will be sufficiently high to increase the primary insurance

amount and, therefore, the benefits to which the widow and daughter are

entitled.

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amount.

The question in this case is whether that portion of G's 1962 wages which

was paid after his death to his widow, is includible as wages paid in 1962

for purposes of computing G's average monthly wage. If so, G's total wages

for 1962 will be sufficiently high to increase the primary insurance

amount and, therefore, the benefits to which the widow and daughter are

entitled.

"Wages" are defined in section 209 as remuneration for employment, and

"employment" is defined in section 210 as service performed by an employee

for his employer (both definitions being subject to exceptions not

pertinent here). The fact that an employee's death intervenes between his

performance of services and the payment of remuneration for such services

does not prevent such remuneration from being wages. The provisions of

section 215, dealing with computation of a worker's average monthly wage

and primary insurance amount, do not limit wages which may be used in such

computation to those wages paid to the worker personally or to those paid

before his death. Under this section, a worker's wages paid in the year of

his death are includible for purposes of computing the amount of any

survivor benefit, regardless of whether they were paid before or after his

death, or (as in the present case) after the calendar quarter in which the

worker died.

Accordingly, it is held that G's wages paid in 1962, including the

accrued amount paid after his death, and within the year of his death, may

be included in computing G's primary insurance amount and the amounts of

the mother's and child's insurance benefits.