Union Calendar No. 379

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4868

[Report No. 103–693]

A BILL

To amend the Railroad Unemployment Insurance

able under that Act, and for other purposes.Act to reduce the waiting period for benefits payAUGUST 10, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 379

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4868

[Report No. 103–693]

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

AUGUST 10, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on August 1, 1994]

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Railroad Unemployment

3 Insurance Amendments Act of 1994’’.

4 SEC. 2. WAITING PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

5 Section 2(a)(1)(A) of the Railroad Unemployment In6 surance Act is amended to read as follows:

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

8 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise provided

9 in this subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any

10 qualified employee for each day of unemployment in

11 excess of 4 during any registration period within a

12 period of continuing unemployment.

13 ‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRATION

14 PERIOD.—Benefits shall be payable to any qualified

15 employee for each day of unemployment in excess of

16 7 during that employee’s first registration period in

17 a period of continuing unemployment if—

18 ‘‘(I) such registration period includes more

19 than 4 days of unemployment; and

20 ‘‘(II) such period of continuing unemploy21 ment is the employee’s initial period of continu22 ing unemployment in the benefit year.

23 ‘‘(iii) STRIKES.—

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

25 the Board finds that a qualified employee has a

26 period of continuing unemployment that in-
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1 cludes days of unemployment due to a stoppage

2 of work because of a strike in the establishment,

3 premises, or enterprise at which such employee

4 was last employed, no benefits shall be payable

5 for such employee’s first 14 days of unemploy6 ment due to such stoppage of work.

7 ‘‘(II) SUBSEQUENT DAYS OF UNEMPLOY8 MENT.—For subsequent days of unemployment

9 due to the same stoppage of work, benefits shall

10 be payable as provided in clause (i) of this sub11 paragraph.

12 ‘‘(III) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS OF CONTINU13 ING UNEMPLOYMENT.—If such period of continu14 ing unemployment ends by reason of clause (v)

15 but the stoppage of work continues, the waiting

16 period established in clause (ii) shall apply to

17 the employee’s first registration period in a new

18 period of continuing unemployment based upon

19 the same stoppage of work.

20 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING

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

22 the purposes of this subparagraph, the term ‘period of

23 continuing unemployment’ means—

24 ‘‘(I) a single registration period that in25 cludes more than 4 days of unemployment;
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1 ‘‘(II) a series of consecutive registration pe2 riods, each of which includes more than 4 days

3 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 registration

7 period begins within 15 days after the last day

8 of the immediately preceding registration period.

9 ‘‘(v) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PE10 RIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period

11 of continuing unemployment ends when an employee

12 exhausts rights to unemployment benefits under sub13 section (c) of this section.

14 ‘‘(vi) LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF BENEFITS.—No bene15 fits shall be payable to an otherwise eligible employee

16 for any day of unemployment in a registration period

17 where the total amount of the remuneration (as de18 fined in section 1(j) of this Act) payable or accruing

19 to him for days within such registration period ex20 ceeds the amount of the base year monthly compensa21 tion base. For this purpose, an employee’s remunera22 tion shall be deemed to include the gross amount of

23 any remuneration that would have become payable to

24 that employee but did not become payable because

25 that employee was not ready or willing to perform
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1 suitable work available to that employee on any day

2 within such registration period.’’.

3 SEC. 3. WAITING PERIOD FOR SICKNESS BENEFITS.

4 Section 2(a)(1)(B) of the Railroad Unemployment In5 surance Act is amended to read as follows:

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

7 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise provided

8 in this subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any

9 qualified employee for each day of sickness after the

10 fourth consecutive day of sickness in a period of con11 tinuing sickness but excluding 4 days of sickness in

12 any registration period in such period of continuing

13 sickness.

14 ‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRATION

15 PERIOD.—Benefits shall be payable to any qualified

16 employee for each day of sickness in excess of 7 dur17 ing that employee’s first registration period in a pe18 riod of continuing sickness if such registration period

19 begins with 4 consecutive days of sickness and in20 cludes more than 4 days of sickness, except that the

21 waiting period established in this clause shall not

22 apply to the first registration period in any subse23 quent period of continuing sickness that begins in the

24 same benefit year.
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1 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING

2 SICKNESS.—For the purposes of this subparagraph, a

3 period of continuing sickness means—

4 ‘‘(I) a period of consecutive days of sickness,

5 whether from 1 or more causes; or

6 ‘‘(II) a period of successive days of sickness

7 due to a single cause without interruption of

8 more than 90 consecutive days which are not

9 days of sickness.

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

12 of continuing sickness ends when an employee ex13 hausts rights to sickness benefits under subsection (c)

14 of this section.’’.

15 SEC. 4. MAXIMUM DAILY BENEFIT RATE.

16 Section 2(a)(3) of the Railroad Unemployment Insur17 ance Act is amended to read as follows:

18 ‘‘(3) The maximum daily benefit rate computed by the

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

20 monthly compensation base, as computed under section

21 1(i)(2) for the base year immediately preceding the begin22 ning of the benefit year, multiplied by 5 percent. If the max23 imum daily benefit rate so computed is not a multiple of

24 $1.00, it shall be rounded down to the nearest multiple of

25 $1.00.’’.
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1 SEC. 5. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2(c) of the Railroad Unem3 ployment Insurance Act is amended to read as follows:

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

5 ‘‘(1) NORMAL BENEFITS.—

6 ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—The maximum number

7 of days of unemployment within a benefit year

8 for which benefits may be paid to an employee

9 shall be 130, and the maximum number of days

10 of sickness within a benefit year for which bene11 fits may be paid to an employee shall be 130.

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

13 benefits that may be paid to an employee for

14 days of unemployment within a benefit year

15 shall in no case exceed the employee’s compensa16 tion in the base year; and the total amount of

17 benefits that may be paid to an employee for

18 days of sickness within a benefit year shall in no

19 case exceed the employee’s compensation in the

20 base year, except that notwithstanding section

21 1(i), in determining the employee’s compensation

22 in the base year for the purpose of this sentence,

23 any money remuneration paid to the employee

24 for services rendered as an employee shall be

25 taken into account that—
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1 ‘‘(i) is not in excess of $775 in any

2 month before 1989; and

3 ‘‘(ii) in any month in a base year

4 after 1988, is not in excess of an amount

5 that bears the same ratio to $775 as the

6 monthly compensation base for that year as

7 computed under section 1(i) bears to $600.

8 ‘‘(2) EXTENDED BENEFITS.—

9 ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—With respect to an em10 ployee who has 10 or more years of service as de11 fined in section 1(f) of the Railroad Retirement

12 Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily retire and

13 (in a case involving exhaustion of rights to nor14 mal benefits for days of unemployment) did not

15 voluntarily leave work without good cause, and

16 who had current rights to normal benefits for

17 days of unemployment or days of sickness in a

18 benefit year but has exhausted such rights, the

19 benefit year in which such rights are exhausted

20 shall be deemed not to be ended until the last day

21 of the extended benefit period determined under

22 this paragraph, and extended unemployment

23 benefits or extended sickness benefits (depending

24 on the type of normal benefit rights exhausted)

25 may be paid for not more than 65 days of unem-
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1 ployment or 65 days of sickness within such ex2 tended benefit period.

3 ‘‘(B) BEGINNING DATE.—An employee’s ex4 tended benefit period shall begin on the employ5 ee’s first day of unemployment or first day of

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

7 on which the employee exhausts the employee’s

8 then current rights to normal benefits for days of

9 unemployment or days of sickness and shall con10 tinue for 7 consecutive 14-day periods, each of

11 which shall constitute a registration period, but

12 no such extended benefit period shall extend be13 yond the beginning of the first registration pe14 riod in a benefit year in which the employee is

15 again qualified for benefits in accordance with

16 section 3 on the basis of compensation earned

17 after the first of such consecutive 14-day periods

18 has begun.

19 ‘‘(C) TERMINATION WHEN EMPLOYEE

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 which

24 the employee attains age 65, except that it may
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1 continue for the purpose of paying benefits for

2 days of unemployment.

3 ‘‘(3) ACCELERATED BENEFITS.—

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

5 employee who has 10 or more years of service as

6 defined in section 1(f) of the Railroad Retire7 ment Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily retire,

8 and (in a case involving unemployment benefits)

9 did not voluntarily leave work without good

10 cause, who has 14 or more consecutive days of

11 unemployment, or 14 or more consecutive days of

12 sickness, and who is not a qualified employee

13 with respect to the general benefit year current

14 when such unemployment or sickness commences

15 but is or becomes a qualified employee for the

16 next succeeding general benefit year, such suc17 ceeding general benefit year shall, in that em18 ployee’s case, begin on the first day of the month

19 in which such unemployment or sickness com20 mences.

21 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—In the case of a succeed22 ing benefit year beginning in accordance with

23 subparagraph (A) by reason of sickness, such

24 sentence shall not operate to permit the payment

25 of benefits in the period provided for in such sen-
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1 tence for any day of sickness beginning with the

2 date on which the employee attains age 65, and

3 continuing through the day preceding the first

4 day of the next succeeding general benefit year.

5 ‘‘(C) DETERMINATION OF AGE.—For the

6 purposes of this subsection, the Board may rely

7 on evidence of age available in its records and

8 files at the time determinations of age are

9 made.’’.

10 (b) REPEAL OF DEADWOOD PROVISION.—Section 2(h)

11 of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act is repealed.

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

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

14 368), relating to payment of supplemental unemployment

15 benefits, is repealed.

16 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

17 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on

18 the date of the enactment of this Act.