42 U.S.C. § 431 — Benefits for certain individuals interned by United States during World War II

submitted 91 years ago by Pub. L. 92-603 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 947 words · no verdicts yet

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This law boosts Social Security benefits for people the U.S. government interned as Japanese Americans during World War II. For benefit purposes, they are credited with extra wages for each week they were interned. This credit does not apply if another federal benefit already covers that same internment period.

This section gives extra Social Security credit to people held in U.S. internment camps during World War II. (a) "Internee" is defined as someone interned at any time from December 7, 1941, through December 31, 1946, at a place inside the United States that the U.S. government ran to intern U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry. (b) (1) When figuring a person's monthly Social Security benefits or lump-sum death payment for any month after December 1972 (or a death after that time), based on that person's wages, the person is treated as if they had earned extra wages for each full week they were an internee after turning 18 — on top of any wages they actually earned. If the person was not working right before their internment began, the extra weekly wage is 40 times the minimum hourly wage rate in effect at the time under section 206(a)(1) of title 29. If the person was working right before internment began, the extra weekly wage is 40 times whichever is higher: the highest hourly wage rate they actually earned in that job, or the minimum hourly wage rate then in effect. (2) This extra credit does not apply if: (A) a bigger benefit or payment would be paid without it; or (B) the benefit is based, in whole or in part, on that same internment period, and some other federal agency or wholly government-owned entity decides that a benefit is payable by it under a different law or its own system (this exception does not apply to a lump-sum payment that is really a stand-in for regular payments). But this exception in (B) does not apply if using it would only lower the person's primary insurance amount by 50 cents or less. This exception also does not apply for certain disability-related purposes under section 416(i)(3). (3) When someone applies for benefits, a recalculation, or a lump-sum death payment based on wages credited under this section, the Commissioner of Social Security must accept the Secretary of Defense's certification of the internment period and decide the claim without applying the exception in paragraph (2)(B) — unless the Commissioner has already been told by another federal agency that a benefit described in (2)(B) is payable for that same internment. If the Commissioner has not been told this, the Commissioner must ask other federal agencies whether such a benefit is payable. If any agency later decides such a benefit is payable, it must tell the Commissioner, who will then stop paying further benefits under this section or recompute the amount as needed. (4) Any federal agency or government-owned entity that pays benefits based, in whole or in part, on an internment period must, when the Commissioner asks, certify to the Commissioner whatever information about that internee the Commissioner needs to carry out paragraph (3). (c) Congress authorized money for the Social Security Trust Funds and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1978, in whatever amount the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary jointly decide is needed to put those funds back in the position they would have been in if this section had never been enacted.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a) “Internee” defined

For the purposes of this section the term “internee” means an individual who was interned during any period of time from December 7, 1941, through December 31, 1946, at a place within the United States operated by the Government of the United States for the internment of United States citizens of Japanese ancestry.

(b) Applicability in determining entitlement to and amount of monthly benefits and lump-sum death payments, and period of disability; effect of payment of benefits by other agency or instrumentality of United States

(1)

For purposes of determining entitlement to and the amount of any monthly benefit for any month after December 1972, or entitlement to and the amount of any lump-sum death payment in the case of a death after such month, payable under this subchapter on the basis of the wages and self-employment income of any individual, and for purposes of section 416(i)(3) of this title, such individual shall be deemed to have been paid during any period after he attained age 18 and for which he was an internee, wages (in addition to any wages actually paid to him) at a weekly rate of basic pay during such period as follows—

(A)

in the case such individual was not employed prior to the beginning of such period, 40 multiplied by the minimum hourly rate or rates in effect at any such time under section 206(a)(1) of title 29, for each full week during such period; and

(B)

in the case such individual who was employed prior to the beginning of such period, 40 multiplied by the greater of (i) the highest hourly rate received during any such employment, or (ii) the minimum hourly rate or rates in effect at any such time under section 206(a)(1) of title 29, for each full week during such period.

(2)

This subsection shall not be applicable in the case of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment if—

(A)

a larger such benefit or payment, as the case may be, would be payable without its application; or

(B)

a benefit (other than a benefit payable in a lump-sum unless it is a commutation of, or a substitute for, periodic payments) which is based, in whole or in part, upon internment during any period from December 7, 1941, through December 31, 1946, at a place within the United States operated by the Government of the United States for the internment of United States citizens of Japanese ancestry, is determined by any agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States to be payable by it under any other law of the United States or under a system established by such agency or instrumentality.

The provisions of clause (B) shall not apply in the case of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment under this subchapter if its application would reduce by $0.50 or less the primary insurance amount (as computed under section 415 of this title prior to any recomputation thereof pursuant to subsection (f) of such section) of the individual on whose wages and self-employment income such benefit or payment is based. The provisions of clause (B) shall also not apply for purposes of section 416(i)(3) of this title.

(3)

Upon application for benefits, a recalculation of benefits (by reason of this section), or a lump-sum death payment on the basis of the wages and self-employment income of any individual who was an internee, the Commissioner of Social Security shall accept the certification of the Secretary of Defense or his designee concerning any period of time for which an internee is to receive credit under paragraph (1) and shall make a decision without regard to clause (B) of paragraph (2) of this subsection unless the Commissioner has been notified by some other agency or instrumentality of the United States that, on the basis of the period for which such individual was an internee, a benefit described in clause (B) of paragraph (2) has been determined by such agency or instrumentality to be payable by it. If the Commissioner of Social Security has not been so notified, the Commissioner shall then ascertain whether some other agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States has decided that a benefit described in clause (B) of paragraph (2) is payable by it. If any such agency or instrumentality has decided, or thereafter decides, that such a benefit is payable by it, it shall so notify the Commissioner of Social Security, and the Commissioner of Social Security shall certify no further benefits for payment or shall recompute the amount of any further benefits payable, as may be required by this section.

(4)

Any agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States which is authorized by any law of the United States to pay benefits, or has a system of benefits which are based, in whole or in part, on any period for which any individual was an internee shall, at the request of the Commissioner of Social Security, certify to the Commissioner, with respect to any individual who was an internee, such information as the Commissioner of Social Security deems necessary to carry out the Commissioner’s functions under paragraph (3) of this subsection.

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Trust Funds and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1978, such sums as the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary jointly determine would place the Trust Funds and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund in the position in which they would have been if the preceding provisions of this section had not been enacted.

Source credit: (Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, title II, § 231, as added Pub. L. 92–603, title I, § 142(a), Oct. 30, 1972, 86 Stat. 1367; amended Pub. L. 98–369, div. B, title VI, § 2663(j)(2)(A)(iii), July 18, 1984, 98 Stat. 1170; Pub. L. 103–296, title I, § 107(a)(1), (4), (c), Aug. 15, 1994, 108 Stat. 1477, 1478, 1481.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1935Enacted · Pub. L. 92-603 · 86 Stat. 1367
1984Amended · Pub. L. 98-369 · 98 Stat. 1170
1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-296 · 108 Stat. 1477, 1478, 1481

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 92-603 on 1935-08-14.

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