EMPLOYER STATUS DETERMINATION 

Samuels Pacific Industries, Incorporated

NOV 2 1 2002

This is the determination ofthe Railroad Retirement Board concerning the

continued status of Samuels Pacific Industries, Inc. (BA number 9747) as an

employer under the Railroad Retirement Act (45 U.S.C. § 231 et seep) and the

Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. § 351 et seq.).

In Board Coverage Decision 00-3, dated January 19, 2000, the Board determined

Samuels Pacific Industries (Samuels Pacific) to be an employer under the Acts

effective February 13, 1997 by reason of being under common control with a rail

carrier employer, and performing a service in connection with the transportation of

passengers or property by railroad. As recounted by that decision, Samuels Pacific

was wholly owned by Richard Samuels, who also owned the Oregon Pacific

Railroad, a covered rail carrier employer under the Acts. Samuels Pacific assumed

the business ofsalvaging and scrapping or repairing abandoned rail line track and

used locomotives which had been conducted by Mr. Samuels through another

company; it also repaired and maintained railroad equipment and leased

locomotives. At the time ofthe decision, yearly Samuels Pacific revenues derived

from the rail carrier affiliate ranged from 57 to 75 percent.

Samuels Pacific requested reconsideration of B.C.D. 00-3 by letter dated January

23, 2001, which was received by the Board January 31, 2001. The employer stated

that due to decline in the demand for scrap metal and competition with larger firms

leasing locomotives, Samuels Pacific ceased doing business as of December 31,

2000. In B.C.D. 01-35, the Board dismissed the reconsideration request as filed

outside the one-year period specified by section 259.3 ofthe Board’s regulations 

(20 CFR 259.3), but directed that an investigation be conducted into the

continued status of Samuels Pacific as an employer. The Audit and Compliance

Section ofthe Board’s Bureau of Fiscal Operations now advises that records ofthe 

Oregon Secretary of State, Corporate Division, show that while Samuels Pacific has

not been dissolved, it was reclassified as an inactive corporation April 13, 2001.

Regulations ofthe Board at 20 CFR 202.11 provide that:

BA# 9747
Samuels Pacific Industries, Incorporated

202.11 Termination of employer status.

The employer status of any company or person shall terminate 

whenever such company or person loses any ofthe characteristics 

essential to the existence of an employer status.

Section 202.12(b) ofthe regulations further provides in part that:

202.12 Evidence of termination of employer status.

(b) The actual date of cessation of employer status shall be the date upon

which final or complete cessation of an essential employer characteristic 

occurs. The following indicate but do not delimit the type of evidence that

will be considered in determining the actual date of cessation of an employer

status: stoppage of business or operations * * *

The evidence is that Samuels Pacific ceased operations December 31, 2000, and

became an inactive corporation April 13, 2001. Accordingly, the Board determines

that Samuels Pacific ceased to be an employer under the Railroad Retirement and

Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts effective with the close of business on

December 31, 2000.

Jerome F. Kever