IIA

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4868

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 17 (legislative day, AUGUST 11), 1994

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human

Resources

AN ACT

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:
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1 ‘‘(A) PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—

2 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise pro3 vided in this subparagraph, benefits shall be payable

4 to any qualified employee for each day of unemploy5 ment in excess of 4 during any registration period

6 within a period of continuing unemployment.

7 ‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRA8 TION PERIOD.—Benefits shall be payable to any

9 qualified employee for each day of unemployment in

10 excess of 7 during that employee’s first registration

11 period in a period of continuing unemployment if—

12 ‘‘(I) such registration period includes more

13 than 4 days of unemployment; and

14 ‘‘(II) such period of continuing unemploy15 ment is the employee’s initial period of continu16 ing unemployment in the benefit year.

17 ‘‘(iii) STRIKES.—

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

19 the Board finds that a qualified employee has

20 a period of continuing unemployment that in21 cludes days of unemployment due to a stoppage

22 of work because of a strike in the establish23 ment, premises, or enterprise at which such em24 ployee was last employed, no benefits shall be
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1 payable for such employee’s first 14 days of un2 employment due to such stoppage of work.

3 ‘‘(II) SUBSEQUENT DAYS OF UNEMPLOY4 MENT.—For subsequent days of unemployment

5 due to the same stoppage of work, benefits shall

6 be payable as provided in clause (i) of this sub7 paragraph.

8 ‘‘(III) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS OF CONTINU9 ING UNEMPLOYMENT.—If such period of con10 tinuing unemployment ends by reason of clause

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

12 waiting period established in clause (ii) shall

13 apply to the employee’s first registration period

14 in a new period of continuing unemployment

15 based upon the same stoppage of work.

16 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING

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

18 for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term ‘pe19 riod of continuing unemployment’ means—

20 ‘‘(I) a single registration period that in21 cludes more than 4 days of unemployment;

22 ‘‘(II) a series of consecutive registration

23 periods, each of which includes more than 4

24 days of unemployment; or
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1 ‘‘(III) a series of successive registration pe2 riods, each of which includes more than 4 days

3 of unemployment, if each succeeding registra4 tion period begins within 15 days after the last

5 day of the immediately preceding registration

6 period.

7 ‘‘(v) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PE8 RIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period

9 of continuing unemployment ends when an employee

10 exhausts rights to unemployment benefits under sub11 section (c) of this section.

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

13 benefits shall be payable to an otherwise eligible em14 ployee for any day of unemployment in a registra15 tion period where the total amount of the remunera16 tion (as defined in section 1(j) of this Act) payable

17 or accruing to him for days within such registration

18 period exceeds the amount of the base year monthly

19 compensation base. For this purpose, an employee’s

20 remuneration shall be deemed to include the gross

21 amount of any remuneration that would have be22 come payable to that employee but did not become

23 payable because that employee was not ready or will24 ing to perform suitable work available to that em25 ployee on any day within such registration period.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. WAITING PERIOD FOR SICKNESS BENEFITS.

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

3 Insurance Act is amended to read as follows:

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

5 ‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise pro6 vided in this subparagraph, benefits shall be payable

7 to any qualified employee for each day of sickness

8 after the fourth consecutive day of sickness in a pe9 riod of continuing sickness but excluding 4 days of

10 sickness in any registration period in such period of

11 continuing sickness.

12 ‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRA13 TION PERIOD.—Benefits shall be payable to any

14 qualified employee for each day of sickness in excess

15 of 7 during that employee’s first registration period

16 in a period of continuing sickness if such registra17 tion period begins with 4 consecutive days of sick18 ness and includes more than 4 days of sickness, ex19 cept that the waiting period established in this

20 clause shall not apply to the first registration period

21 in any subsequent period of continuing sickness that

22 begins in the same benefit year.

23 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING

24 SICKNESS.—For the purposes of this subparagraph,

25 a period of continuing sickness means—
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1 ‘‘(I) a period of consecutive days of sick2 ness, whether from 1 or more causes; or

3 ‘‘(II) a period of successive days of sick4 ness due to a single cause without interruption

5 of more than 90 consecutive days which are not

6 days of sickness.

7 ‘‘(iv) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PE8 RIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period

9 of continuing sickness ends when an employee ex10 hausts rights to sickness benefits under subsection

11 (c) of this section.’’.

12 SEC. 4. MAXIMUM DAILY BENEFIT RATE.

13 Section 2(a)(3) of the Railroad Unemployment Insur14 ance Act is amended to read as follows:

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

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

17 the monthly compensation base, as computed under sec18 tion 1(i)(2) for the base year immediately preceding the

19 beginning of the benefit year, multiplied by 5 percent. If

20 the maximum daily benefit rate so computed is not a mul21 tiple of $1.00, it shall be rounded down to the nearest

22 multiple of $1.00.’’.

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

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2(c) of the Railroad Un25 employment Insurance Act is amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘(c) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.—

2 ‘‘(1) NORMAL BENEFITS.—

3 ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—The maximum number

4 of days of unemployment within a benefit year

5 for which benefits may be paid to an employee

6 shall be 130, and the maximum number of days

7 of sickness within a benefit year for which bene8 fits may be paid to an employee shall be 130.

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

10 benefits that may be paid to an employee for

11 days of unemployment within a benefit year

12 shall in no case exceed the employee’s com13 pensation in the base year; and the total

14 amount of benefits that may be paid to an em15 ployee for days of sickness within a benefit year

16 shall in no case exceed the employee’s com17 pensation in the base year, except that notwith18 standing section 1(i), in determining the em19 ployee’s compensation in the base year for the

20 purpose of this sentence, any money remunera21 tion paid to the employee for services rendered

22 as an employee shall be taken into account

23 that—

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

25 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 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

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) GENERAL RULE.—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) EXCEPTION.—In the case of a suc22 ceeding benefit year beginning in accordance

23 with subparagraph (A) by reason of sickness,

24 such sentence shall not operate to permit the

25 payment of benefits in the period provided for
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1 in such sentence for any day of sickness begin2 ning 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.

Passed the House of Representatives August 16,

1994.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.