I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4868

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

AUGUST 1, 1994

Mr. SWIFT (for himself and Mr. OXLEY) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

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 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. WAITING PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

7 Section 2(a)(1)(A) of the Railroad Unemployment In8 surance Act is amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘(A) WAITING PERIOD.—
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1 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as other2 wise provided in this subparagraph, bene3 fits shall be payable to any qualified em4 ployee for each day of unemployment in ex5 cess of 4 during any registration period

6 within a period of continuing unemploy7 ment.

8 ‘‘(ii) FIRST REGISTRATION PERIOD.—

9 Benefits shall be payable to any qualified

10 employee for each day of unemployment in

11 excess of 7 during that employee’s first

12 registration period in a period of continu13 ing unemployment if—

14 ‘‘(I) such registration period in15 cludes more than 4 days of unemploy16 ment; and

17 ‘‘(II) such period of continuing

18 unemployment is the employee’s initial

19 period of continuing unemployment in

20 the benefit year.

21 ‘‘(iii) STRIKES.—

22 ‘‘(I) INITIAL 14-DAY WAITING PE23 RIOD.—If the Board finds that a

24 qualified employee has a period of

25 continuing unemployment that in-
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1 cludes days of unemployment due to a

2 stoppage of work because of a strike

3 in the establishment, premises, or en4 terprise at which such employee was

5 last employed, no benefits shall be

6 payable for such employee’s first 14

7 days of unemployment due to such

8 stoppage of work.

9 ‘‘(II) SUBSEQUENT DAYS OF UN10 EMPLOYMENT.—For subsequent days

11 of unemployment due to the same

12 stoppage of work, benefits shall be

13 payable as provided in clause (i) of

14 this subparagraph.

15 ‘‘(III) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS OF

16 CONTINUING UNEMPLOYMENT.—If

17 such period of continuing unemploy18 ment ends by reason of clause (v) but

19 the stoppage of work continues, the

20 waiting period established in clause

21 (ii) shall apply to the employee’s first

22 registration period in a new period of

23 continuing unemployment based upon

24 the same stoppage of work.
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1 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CON2 TINUING UNEMPLOYMENT.—Except as lim3 ited by clause (v), for the purposes of this

4 subparagraph, the term ‘period of continu5 ing unemployment’ means—

6 ‘‘(I) a single registration period

7 that includes more than 4 days of un8 employment;

9 ‘‘(II) a series of consecutive reg10 istration periods, each of which in11 cludes more than 4 days of unemploy12 ment; or

13 ‘‘(III) a series of successive reg14 istration periods, each of which in15 cludes more than 4 days of unemploy16 ment, if each succeeding registration

17 period begins within 15 days after the

18 last day of the immediately preceding

19 registration period.

20 ‘‘(v) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END

21 OF PERIOD.—For purposes of applying

22 clause (ii), a period of continuing unem23 ployment ends when an employee exhausts

24 rights to unemployment benefits under

25 subsection (c) of this section.
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1 ‘‘(vi) LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF BENE2 FITS.—No benefits shall be payable to an

3 otherwise eligible employee for any day of

4 unemployment in a registration period

5 where the total amount of the remunera6 tion (as defined in section 1(j) of this Act)

7 payable or accruing to him for days within

8 such registration period exceeds the

9 amount of the base year monthly com10 pensation base. For this purpose, an em11 ployee’s remuneration shall be deemed to

12 include the gross amount of any remunera13 tion that would have become payable to

14 that employee but did not become payable

15 because that employee was not ready or

16 willing to perform suitable work available

17 to that employee on any day within such

18 registration period.’’.

19 SEC. 3. WAITING PERIOD FOR SICKNESS BENEFITS.

20 Section 2(a)(1)(B) of the Railroad Unemployment

21 Insurance Act is amended to read as follows:

22 ‘‘(B) WAITING PERIODS.—

23 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as other24 wise provided in this subparagraph, bene25 fits shall be payable to any qualified em-
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1 ployee for each day of sickness after the

2 fourth consecutive day of sickness in a pe3 riod of continuing sickness but excluding 4

4 days of sickness in any registration period

5 in such period of continuing sickness.

6 ‘‘(ii) FIRST REGISTRATION PERIOD.—

7 Benefits shall be payable to any qualified

8 employee for each day of sickness in excess

9 of 7 during that employee’s first registra10 tion period in a period of continuing sick11 ness if such registration period begins with

12 4 consecutive days of sickness and includes

13 more than 4 days of sickness, except that

14 the waiting period established in this

15 clause shall not apply to the first registra16 tion period in any subsequent period of

17 continuing sickness that begins in the

18 same benefit year.

19 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CON20 TINUING SICKNESS.—For the purposes of

21 this subparagraph, a period of continuing

22 sickness means—

23 ‘‘(I) a period of consecutive days

24 of sickness, whether from 1 or more

25 causes; or
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1 ‘‘(II) a period of successive days

2 of sickness due to a single cause with3 out interruption of more than 90 con4 secutive days which are not days of

5 sickness.

6 For purposes of applying clause (ii), a pe7 riod of continuing sickness ends when an

8 employee exhausts rights to sickness bene9 fits under subsection (c) of this section.’’.

10 SEC. 4. MAXIMUM DAILY BENEFIT RATE.

11 Section 2(a)(3) of the Railroad Unemployment Insur12 ance Act is amended as follows:

13 ‘‘(3) The maximum daily benefit rate computed

14 by the Board under section 12(r)(2) shall be the

15 product of the monthly compensation base, as com16 puted under section 1(i)(2) for the base year imme17 diately preceding the beginning of the benefit year,

18 multiplied by 5 percent. If the maximum daily bene19 fit rate so computed is not a multiple of $1.00, it

20 shall be rounded down to the nearest multiple of

21 $1.00.’’.

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

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2(c) of the Railroad Un24 employment Insurance Act is amended to read as follows:

25 ‘‘(c) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) NORMAL BENEFITS.—

2 ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—The maximum number

3 of days of unemployment within a benefit year

4 for which benefits may be paid to an employee

5 shall be 130, and the maximum number of days

6 of sickness within a benefit year for which bene7 fits may be paid to an employee shall be 130.

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

9 benefits that may be paid to an employee for

10 days of unemployment within a benefit year

11 shall in no case exceed the employee’s com12 pensation in the base year; and the total

13 amount of benefits that may be paid to an em14 ployee for days of sickness within a benefit year

15 shall in no case exceed the employee’s com16 pensation in the base year, except that notwith17 standing section 1(i), in determining the em18 ployee’s compensation in the base year for the

19 purpose of this sentence, any money remunera20 tion paid to the employee for services rendered

21 as an employee shall be taken into account

22 that—

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

24 month before 1989; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) in any month in a base year

2 after 1988, is not in excess of an amount

3 that bears the same ratio to $775 as the

4 monthly compensation base for that year

5 as computed under section 1(i) bears to

6 $600.

7 ‘‘(2) EXTENDED BENEFITS.—

8 ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—With respect to an

9 employee who has 10 or more years of service

10 as defined in section 1(f) of the Railroad Re11 tirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily

12 retire and (in a case involving exhaustion of

13 rights to normal benefits for days of unemploy14 ment) did not voluntarily leave work without

15 good cause, and who had current rights to nor16 mal benefits for days of unemployment or days

17 of sickness in a benefit year but has exhausted

18 such rights, the benefit year in which such

19 rights are exhausted shall be deemed not to be

20 ended until the last day of the extended benefit

21 period determined under this paragraph, and

22 extended unemployment benefits or extended

23 sickness benefits (depending on the type of nor24 mal benefit rights exhausted) may be paid for

25 not more than 65 days of unemployment or 65
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1 days of sickness within such extended benefit

2 period.

3 ‘‘(B) BEGINNING DATE.—An employee’s

4 extended benefit period shall begin on the em5 ployee’s first day of unemployment or first day

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

7 day on which the employee exhausts the em8 ployee’s then current rights to normal benefits

9 for days of unemployment or days of sickness

10 and shall continue for 7 consecutive 14-day pe11 riods, each of which shall constitute a registra12 tion period, but no such extended benefit period

13 shall extend beyond the beginning of the first

14 registration period in a benefit year in which

15 the employee is again qualified for benefits in

16 accordance with section 3 on the basis of com17 pensation earned after the first of such con18 secutive 14-day periods has begun.

19 ‘‘(C) TERMINATION WHEN EMPLOYER

20 REACHES AGE OF 65.—Notwithstanding any

21 other provision of this paragraph, an extended

22 benefit period for sickness benefits shall termi23 nate on the day next preceding the date on

24 which the employee attains age 65, except that
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1 it may continue for the purpose of paying bene2 fits for days of unemployment.

3 ‘‘(3) ACCELERATED BENEFITS.—

4 ‘‘(A) FIRST YEAR.—With respect to an

5 employee who has 10 or more years of service

6 as defined in section 1(f) of the Railroad Re7 tirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily

8 retire, and (in a case involving unemployment

9 benefits) did not voluntarily leave work without

10 good cause, who has 14 or more consecutive

11 days of unemployment, or 14 or more consecu12 tive days of sickness, and who is not a qualified

13 employee with respect to the general benefit

14 year current when such unemployment or sick15 ness commences but is or becomes a qualified

16 employee for the next succeeding general bene17 fit year, such succeeding general benefit year

18 shall, in that employee’s case, begin on the first

19 day of the month in which such unemployment

20 or sickness commences.

21 ‘‘(B) SUCCEEDING YEAR.—In the case of a

22 succeeding benefit year beginning in accordance

23 with the preceding sentence by reason of sick24 ness, such sentence shall not operate to permit

25 the payment of benefits in the period provided
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1 for in such sentence for any day of sickness be2 ginning with the date on which the employee at3 tains age 65, and continuing through the day

4 preceding the first day of the next succeeding

5 general benefit year.

6 ‘‘(C) DETERMINATION OF AGE.—For the

7 purposes of this subsection, the Board may rely

8 on evidence of age available in its records and

9 files at the time determinations of age are

10 made.’’.

11 (b) REPEAL OF DEADWOOD PROVISION.—Section

12 2(h) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act is re13 pealed.

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

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

16 368), relating to payment of supplemental unemployment

17 benefits, is repealed.

18 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

19 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

20 on the date of the enactment of this Act.

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