(More)

No. 20-9 For Immediate Release

May 2020

RRB Begins Paying CARES Act Recovery Payments for Unemployed Rail Workers

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, recently signed into 

law by President Trump, authorized a “recovery payment” for unemployed railroad workers in the 

amount of $1,200 per 2-week registration period. After making necessary programming changes 

to claims processing systems, the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) started making the 

payments on the evening of May 28.

In the initial round of processing, the agency made retroactive payments of $1,200 per 2-week 

registration period to individuals who had previously filed claims beginning on or after April 1. 

Those individuals had previously received unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in the amount 

of $733.98 to most claimants. The RRB estimates that the total amount of retroactive payments 

will be about $32 million. While the regular UI amount of $733.98 is reduced from $780 due to 

sequestration, the additional $1,200 recovery payment is not subject to reduction. However, it is 

subject to income taxation and garnishment for tax and other legally established debt.

Once these payments are completed, the RRB plans to start paying the additional $1,200 for 

new benefit claims the following day. The additional amount is payable on claims for days of 

unemployment through the 2-week claim period beginning July 31, 2020.

The CARES Act includes an appropriation of $425 million to pay for this added recovery 

payment. If these funds are exhausted before August 13, the end of the last eligible registration 

period, the added payment will no longer apply.

The CARES Act also authorized payment of extended benefits to rail workers who received 

UI benefits between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020. The RRB started paying the extended UI 

benefits on May 11, once again beginning with retroactive payments to individuals who had 

previously exhausted their regular UI benefits, before moving on to new claims.

The final piece of the CARES Act for the RRB is the elimination of a 1-week waiting period 

to receive benefits, funded by an additional $50 million appropriation to cover this provision. The

agency continues to diligently work on the needed programming for this provision, and hopes to 

have it completed in the near future. Again, the agency will initially make retroactive payments to 

individuals who had previously submitted UI claims before quickly moving on to processing new 

claims without the waiting period.

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board

RRB News

844 North Rush Street Chicago, Illinois 60611-1275

www.rrb.gov

877-772-5772 general information

Public Affairs

312-751-4777 

opa@rrb.gov media inquiries
-2-

The RRB identified any eligible employees who previously received UI benefits for days of 

unemployment after April 1, 2020, so that the payments could be issued without the employee 

submitting additional information. For initial claims in the coming months, employees are 

encouraged to file them online through myRRB on the agency website, RRB.gov.

Since RRB offices are currently closed to the public due to the pandemic, railroad employees 

are encouraged to file for UI benefits by setting up an online myRRB account if they have not 

already done so.

# # #