PUBLIC LAW 104–251—OCT. 9, 1996 110 STAT. 3161

Public Law 104–251

104th Congress

An Act

To amend the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to reduce the waiting period

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

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Railroad Unemployment Insurance Amendments Act of 1996’’.

SEC. 2. WAITING PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

Subparagraph (A) of section 2(a)(1) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(1)(A)) is amended to read

as follows:

‘‘(A) PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—

‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise provided in this

subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any qualified

employee for each day of unemployment in excess of 4 during

any registration period within a period of continuing unemployment.

‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRATION PERIOD.—

Benefits shall be payable to any qualified employee for each

day of unemployment in excess of 7 during that employee’s

first registration period in a period of continuing unemployment

if such period of continuing unemployment is the employee’s

initial period of continuing unemployment commencing in the

benefit year.

‘‘(iii) STRIKES.—

‘‘(I) INITIAL 14-DAY WAITING PERIOD.—If the Board finds

that a qualified employee has a period of continuing

unemployment that includes days of unemployment due

to a stoppage of work because of a strike in the establishment, premises, or enterprise at which such employee was

last employed, no benefits shall be payable for such

employee’s first 14 days of unemployment due to such

stoppage of work.

‘‘(II) SUBSEQUENT DAYS OF UNEMPLOYMENT.—For subsequent days of unemployment due to the same stoppage

of work, benefits shall be payable as provided in clause

(i) of this subparagraph.

‘‘(III) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS OF CONTINUING UNEMPLOYMENT.—If such period of continuing unemployment ends

by reason of clause (v) but the stoppage of work continues,

the waiting period established in clause (ii) shall apply

to the employee’s first registration period in a new period

45 USC 367 note.

Railroad

Unemployment

Insurance

Amendments Act

of 1996.

Oct. 9, 1996

[H.R. 2594]
110 STAT. 3162 PUBLIC LAW 104–251—OCT. 9, 1996

of continuing unemployment based upon the same stoppage

of work.

‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING UNEMPLOY- MENT.—Except as limited by clause (v), for the purposes of

this subparagraph, the term ‘period of continuing unemployment’ means—

‘‘(I) a single registration period that includes more

than 4 days of unemployment;

‘‘(II) a series of consecutive registration periods,

each of which includes more than 4 days of unemployment;

or

‘‘(III) a series of successive registration periods, each

of which includes more than 4 days of unemployment,

if each succeeding registration period begins within 15

days after the last day of the immediately preceding registration period.

‘‘(v) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PERIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period of continuing unemployment ends when an employee exhausts rights to unemployment

benefits under subsection (c) of this section.

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

be payable to an otherwise eligible employee for any day of

unemployment in a registration period where the total amount

of the remuneration (as defined in section 1(j)) payable or

accruing to him for days within such registration period exceeds

the amount of the base year monthly compensation base. For

purposes of the preceding sentence, an employee’s remuneration

shall be deemed to include the gross amount of any remuneration that would have become payable to that employee but

did not become payable because that employee was not ready

or willing to perform suitable work available to that employee

on any day within such registration period.’’.

SEC. 3. WAITING PERIOD FOR SICKNESS BENEFITS.

Subparagraph (B) of section 2(a)(1) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(1)(B)) is amended to read

as follows:

‘‘(B) PAYMENT OF SICKNESS BENEFITS.—

‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as otherwise provided in this

subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any qualified

employee for each day of sickness after the 4th consecutive

day of sickness in a period of continuing sickness but excluding

4 days of sickness in any registration period in such period

of continuing sickness.

‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRATION PERIOD.—

Benefits shall be payable to any qualified employee for each

day of sickness in excess of 7 during that employee’s first

registration period in a period of continuing sickness if such

period of continuing sickness is the employee’s initial period

of continuing sickness commencing in the benefit year. For

the purposes of this clause, the first registration period in

a period of continuing sickness is that registration period that

first begins with 4 consecutive days of sickness and includes

more than 4 days of sickness.

‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING SICKNESS.—

For the purposes of this subparagraph, a period of continuing

sickness means—
PUBLIC LAW 104–251—OCT. 9, 1996 110 STAT. 3163

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

from 1 or more causes; or

‘‘(II) a period of successive days of sickness due to

a single cause without interruption of more than 90

consecutive days which are not days of sickness.

‘‘(iv) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PERIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period of continuing sickness

ends when an employee exhausts rights to sickness benefits

under subsection (c) of this section.’’.

SEC. 4. MAXIMUM DAILY BENEFIT RATE.

Paragraph (3) of section 2(a) of the Railroad Unemployment

Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(3)) is amended to read as follows:

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

under section 12(r)(2) shall be the product of the monthly compensation base, as computed under section 1(i)(2) for the base year

immediately preceding the beginning of the benefit year, multiplied

by 5 percent. If the maximum daily benefit rate so computed is

not a multiple of $1, it shall be rounded down to the nearest

multiple of $1.’’.

SEC. 5. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.

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

Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(c)) is amended to

read as follows:

‘‘(c) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.— ‘‘(1) NORMAL BENEFITS.— ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—The maximum number of days of

unemployment within a benefit year for which benefits

may be paid to an employee shall be 130, and the maximum

number of days of sickness within a benefit year for which

benefits may be paid to an employee shall be 130.

‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—The total amount of benefits that

may be paid to an employee for days of unemployment

within a benefit year shall in no case exceed the employee’s

compensation in the base year; and the total amount of

benefits that may be paid to an employee for days of

sickness within a benefit year shall in no case exceed

the employee’s compensation in the base year, except that

notwithstanding section 1(i), in determining the employee’s

compensation in the base year for the purpose of this

sentence, any money remuneration paid to the employee

for services rendered as an employee shall be taken into

account that is not in excess of an amount that bears

the same ratio to $775 as the monthly compensation base

for that year as computed under section 1(i) bears to $600.

‘‘(2) EXTENDED BENEFITS.— ‘‘(A) GENERALLY.—With respect to an employee who

has 10 or more years of service as defined in section 1(f)

of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily retire and (in a case involving exhaustion of rights

to normal benefits for days of unemployment) did not

voluntarily leave work without good cause, and who had

current rights to normal benefits for days of unemployment

or days of sickness in a benefit year but has exhausted

such rights, the benefit year in which such rights are

exhausted shall be deemed not to be ended until the last

day of the extended benefit period determined under this
110 STAT. 3164 PUBLIC LAW 104–251—OCT. 9, 1996

paragraph, and extended unemployment benefits or

extended sickness benefits (depending on the type of normal

benefit rights exhausted) may be paid for not more than

65 days of unemployment or 65 days of sickness within

such extended benefit period.

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

period shall begin on the employee’s first day of unemployment or first day of sickness, as the case may be, following

the day on which the employee exhausts the employee’s

then current rights to normal benefits for days of unemployment or days of sickness and shall continue for 7 consecutive 14-day periods, each of which shall constitute a registration period, but no such extended benefit period shall

extend beyond the beginning of the first registration period

in a benefit year in which the employee is again qualified

for benefits in accordance with section 3 on the basis of

compensation earned after the first of such consecutive

14-day periods has begun.

‘‘(C) TERMINATION WHEN EMPLOYEE REACHES AGE OF

65.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph, an extended benefit period for sickness benefits

shall terminate on the day next preceding the date on

which the employee attains age 65, except that it may

continue for the purpose of paying benefits for days of

unemployment.

‘‘(3) ACCELERATED BENEFITS.—

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

has 10 or more years of service as defined in section 1(f)

of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily retire, and (in a case involving unemployment benefits) did not voluntarily leave work without good cause,

who has 14 or more consecutive days of unemployment,

or 14 or more consecutive days of sickness, and who is

not a qualified employee with respect to the general benefit

year current when such unemployment or sickness commences but is or becomes a qualified employee for the

next succeeding general benefit year, such succeeding general benefit year shall, in that employee’s case, begin on

the first day of the month in which such unemployment

or sickness commences.

‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—In the case of a succeeding benefit

year beginning in accordance with subparagraph (A) by

reason of sickness, such sentence shall not operate to

permit the payment of benefits in the period provided for

in such sentence for any day of sickness beginning with

the date on which the employee attains age 65, and continuing through the day preceding the first day of the next

succeeding general benefit year.
PUBLIC LAW 104–251—OCT. 9, 1996 110 STAT. 3165

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 2594:

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 104–525 (Comm. on Transportation and Infrastructure).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 142 (1996):

Sept. 18, considered and passed House.

Sept. 25, considered and passed Senate.

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 32 (1996):

Oct. 9, Presidential statement.

Æ

‘‘(C) DETERMINATION OF AGE.—For the purposes of this

subsection, the Board may rely on evidence of age available

in its records and files at the time determinations of age

are made.’’.

(b) REPEAL OF DEADWOOD PROVISION.—Section 2(h) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(h)) is repealed.

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

Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 368), relating to payment

of supplemental unemployment benefits, is repealed.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the

date of the enactment of this Act.

Approved October 9, 1996.

45 USC 352 note.