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Union Calendar No. 255

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2594

[Report No. 104–525]

To amend the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to reduce the waiting

period for benefits payable under that Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 8, 1995

Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. WISE, Mr.

RAHALL, and Mr. LIPINSKI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

APRIL 18, 1996

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union

and ordered to be printed

A BILL

To amend the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to

reduce the waiting period for benefits payable under that

Act, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Railroad Unemploy5 ment Insurance Amendments Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. WAITING PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

2 Subparagraph (A) of section 2(a)(1) of the Railroad

3 Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(1)(A)) is

4 amended to read as follows:

5 ‘‘(A) PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—

6 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise pro7 vided in this subparagraph, benefits shall be payable

8 to any qualified employee for each day of unemploy9 ment in excess of 4 during any registration period

10 within a period of continuing unemployment.

11 ‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRA12 TION PERIOD.—Benefits shall be payable to any

13 qualified employee for each day of unemployment in

14 excess of 7 during that employee’s first registration

15 period in a period of continuing unemployment if—

16 ‘‘(I) such registration period includes more

17 than 4 days of unemployment; and

18 ‘‘(II) such period of continuing unemploy19 ment is the employee’s initial period of continu20 ing unemployment in the benefit year.

21 ‘‘(iii) STRIKES.—

22 ‘‘(I) INITIAL 14-DAY WAITING PERIOD.—If

23 the Board finds that a qualified employee has

24 a period of continuing unemployment that in25 cludes days of unemployment due to a stoppage

26 of work because of a strike in the establish-
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1 ment, premises, or enterprise at which such em2 ployee was last employed, no benefits shall be

3 payable for such employee’s first 14 days of un4 employment due to such stoppage of work.

5 ‘‘(II) SUBSEQUENT DAYS OF UNEMPLOY6 MENT.—For subsequent days of unemployment

7 due to the same stoppage of work, benefits shall

8 be payable as provided in clause (i) of this sub9 paragraph.

10 ‘‘(III) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS OF CONTINU11 ING UNEMPLOYMENT.—If such period of con12 tinuing unemployment ends by reason of clause

13 (v) but the stoppage of work continues, the

14 waiting period established in clause (ii) shall

15 apply to the employee’s first registration period

16 in a new period of continuing unemployment

17 based upon the same stoppage of work.

18 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING

19 UNEMPLOYMENT.—Except as limited by clause (v),

20 for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term ‘pe21 riod of continuing unemployment’ means—

22 ‘‘(I) a single registration period that in23 cludes more than 4 days of unemployment;
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1 ‘‘(II) a series of consecutive registration

2 periods, each of which includes more than 4

3 days of unemployment; or

4 ‘‘(III) a series of successive registration pe5 riods, each of which includes more than 4 days

6 of unemployment, if each succeeding registra7 tion period begins within 15 days after the last

8 day of the immediately preceding registration

9 period.

10 ‘‘(v) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PE11 RIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period

12 of continuing unemployment ends when an employee

13 exhausts rights to unemployment benefits under sub14 section (c) of this section.

15 ‘‘(vi) LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF BENEFITS.—No

16 benefits shall be payable to an otherwise eligible em17 ployee for any day of unemployment in a registra18 tion period where the total amount of the remunera19 tion (as defined in section 1(j)) payable or accruing

20 to him for days within such registration period ex21 ceeds the amount of the base year monthly com22 pensation base. For purposes of the preceding sen23 tence, an employee’s remuneration shall be deemed

24 to include the gross amount of any remuneration

25 that would have become payable to that employee
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1 but did not become payable because that employee

2 was not ready or willing to perform suitable work

3 available to that employee on any day within such

4 registration period.’’.

5 SEC. 3. WAITING PERIOD FOR SICKNESS BENEFITS.

6 Subparagraph (B) of section 2(a)(1) of the Railroad

7 Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(1)(B))

8 is amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘(B) PAYMENT OF SICKNESS BENEFITS.—

10 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise pro11 vided in this subparagraph, benefits shall be payable

12 to any qualified employee for each day of sickness

13 after the 4th consecutive day of sickness in a period

14 of continuing sickness but excluding 4 days of sick15 ness in any registration period in such period of con16 tinuing sickness.

17 ‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRA18 TION PERIOD.—Benefits shall be payable to any

19 qualified employee for each day of sickness in excess

20 of 7 during that employee’s first registration period

21 in a period of continuing sickness if such registra22 tion period begins with 4 consecutive days of sick23 ness and includes more than 4 days of sickness, ex24 cept that the waiting period established in this

25 clause shall not apply to the first registration period
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1 in any subsequent period of continuing sickness that

2 begins in the same benefit year.

3 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING

4 SICKNESS.—For the purposes of this subparagraph,

5 a period of continuing sickness means—

6 ‘‘(I) a period of consecutive days of sick7 ness, whether from 1 or more causes; or

8 ‘‘(II) a period of successive days of sick9 ness due to a single cause without interruption

10 of more than 90 consecutive days which are not

11 days of sickness.

12 ‘‘(iv) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PE13 RIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period

14 of continuing sickness ends when an employee ex15 hausts rights to sickness benefits under subsection

16 (c) of this section.’’.

17 SEC. 4. MAXIMUM DAILY BENEFIT RATE.

18 Paragraph (3) of section 2(a) of the Railroad Unem19 ployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(3)) is amended

20 to read as follows:

21 ‘‘(3) The maximum daily benefit rate computed by

22 the Board under section 12(r)(2) shall be the product of

23 the monthly compensation base, as computed under sec24 tion 1(i)(2) for the base year immediately preceding the

25 beginning of the benefit year, multiplied by 5 percent. If
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1 the maximum daily benefit rate so computed is not a mul2 tiple of $1, it shall be rounded down to the nearest mul3 tiple of $1.’’.

4 SEC. 5. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 2 of the

6 Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(c))

7 is amended to read as follows:

8 ‘‘(c) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.—

9 ‘‘(1) NORMAL BENEFITS.—

10 ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—The maximum number

11 of days of unemployment within a benefit year

12 for which benefits may be paid to an employee

13 shall be 130, and the maximum number of days

14 of sickness within a benefit year for which bene15 fits may be paid to an employee shall be 130.

16 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—The total amount of

17 benefits that may be paid to an employee for

18 days of unemployment within a benefit year

19 shall in no case exceed the employee’s com20 pensation in the base year; and the total

21 amount of benefits that may be paid to an em22 ployee for days of sickness within a benefit year

23 shall in no case exceed the employee’s com24 pensation in the base year, except that notwith25 standing section 1(i), in determining the em-
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1 ployee’s compensation in the base year for the

2 purpose of this sentence, any money remunera3 tion paid to the employee for services rendered

4 as an employee shall be taken into account

5 that—

6 ‘‘(i) is not in excess of $775 in any

7 month before 1989; and

8 ‘‘(ii) in any month in a base year

9 after 1988, is not in excess of an amount

10 that bears the same ratio to $775 as the

11 monthly compensation base for that year

12 as computed under section 1(i) bears to

13 $600.

14 ‘‘(2) EXTENDED BENEFITS.—

15 ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—With respect to an

16 employee who has 10 or more years of service

17 as defined in section 1(f) of the Railroad Re18 tirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily

19 retire and (in a case involving exhaustion of

20 rights to normal benefits for days of unemploy21 ment) did not voluntarily leave work without

22 good cause, and who had current rights to nor23 mal benefits for days of unemployment or days

24 of sickness in a benefit year but has exhausted

25 such rights, the benefit year in which such
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1 rights are exhausted shall be deemed not to be

2 ended until the last day of the extended benefit

3 period determined under this paragraph, and

4 extended unemployment benefits or extended

5 sickness benefits (depending on the type of nor6 mal benefit rights exhausted) may be paid for

7 not more than 65 days of unemployment or 65

8 days of sickness within such extended benefit

9 period.

10 ‘‘(B) BEGINNING DATE.—An employee’s

11 extended benefit period shall begin on the em12 ployee’s first day of unemployment or first day

13 of sickness, as the case may be, following the

14 day on which the employee exhausts the em15 ployee’s then current rights to normal benefits

16 for days of unemployment or days of sickness

17 and shall continue for 7 consecutive 14-day pe18 riods, each of which shall constitute a registra19 tion period, but no such extended benefit period

20 shall extend beyond the beginning of the first

21 registration period in a benefit year in which

22 the employee is again qualified for benefits in

23 accordance with section 3 on the basis of com24 pensation earned after the first of such con25 secutive 14-day periods has begun.
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1 ‘‘(C) TERMINATION WHEN EMPLOYEE

2 REACHES AGE OF 65.—Notwithstanding any

3 other provision of this paragraph, an extended

4 benefit period for sickness benefits shall termi5 nate on the day next preceding the date on

6 which the employee attains age 65, except that

7 it may continue for the purpose of paying bene8 fits for days of unemployment.

9 ‘‘(3) ACCELERATED BENEFITS.—

10 ‘‘(A) GENERAL RULE.—With respect to an

11 employee who has 10 or more years of service

12 as defined in section 1(f) of the Railroad Re13 tirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily

14 retire, and (in a case involving unemployment

15 benefits) did not voluntarily leave work without

16 good cause, who has 14 or more consecutive

17 days of unemployment, or 14 or more consecu18 tive days of sickness, and who is not a qualified

19 employee with respect to the general benefit

20 year current when such unemployment or sick21 ness commences but is or becomes a qualified

22 employee for the next succeeding general bene23 fit year, such succeeding general benefit year

24 shall, in that employee’s case, begin on the first
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1 day of the month in which such unemployment

2 or sickness commences.

3 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—In the case of a suc4 ceeding benefit year beginning in accordance

5 with subparagraph (A) by reason of sickness,

6 such sentence shall not operate to permit the

7 payment of benefits in the period provided for

8 in such sentence for any day of sickness begin9 ning with the date on which the employee at10 tains age 65, and continuing through the day

11 preceding the first day of the next succeeding

12 general benefit year.

13 ‘‘(C) DETERMINATION OF AGE.—For the

14 purposes of this subsection, the Board may rely

15 on evidence of age available in its records and

16 files at the time determinations of age are

17 made.’’.

18 (b) REPEAL OF DEADWOOD PROVISION.—Section

19 2(h) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45

20 U.S.C. 352(h)) is repealed.

21 (c) REPEAL OF EXPIRED PROVISION.—Section 17 of

22 the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C.

23 368), relating to payment of supplemental unemployment

24 benefits, is repealed.
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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

3 on the date of the enactment of this Act.

Union Calendar No. 255

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2594

[Report No. 104–525]

A BILL

To amend the Railroad Unemployment Insurance

able under that Act, and for other purposes.Act to reduce the waiting period for benefits payAPRIL 18, 1996

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union and ordered to be printed