IB
Union Calendar No. 255
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2594
[Report No. 104–525]
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
NOVEMBER 8, 1995
Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. WISE, Mr.
RAHALL, and Mr. LIPINSKI) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
APRIL 18, 1996
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union
and ordered to be printed
A BILL
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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Railroad Unemploy-
ment Insurance Amendments Act of 1995’’.
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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 pro-
vided in this subparagraph, benefits shall be payable
to any qualified employee for each day of unemploy-
ment in excess of 4 during any registration period
within a period of continuing unemployment.
‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRA-
TION
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—
‘‘(I) such registration period includes more
than 4 days of unemployment; and
‘‘(II) such period of continuing unemploy-
ment is the employee’s initial period of continu-
ing unemployment 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 in-
cludes days of unemployment due to a stoppage
of work because of a strike in the establish-
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ment, premises, or enterprise at which such em-
ployee was last employed, no benefits shall be
payable for such employee’s first 14 days of un-
employment due to such stoppage of work.
‘‘(II) SUBSEQUENT DAYS OF UNEMPLOY-
MENT.—For subsequent days of unemployment
due to the same stoppage of work, benefits shall
be payable as provided in clause (i) of this sub-
paragraph.
‘‘(III) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS OF CONTINU-
ING UNEMPLOYMENT.—If such period of con-
tinuing 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 of continuing unemployment
based upon the same stoppage of work.
‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING
UNEMPLOYMENT.—Except as limited by clause (v),
for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term ‘pe-
riod of continuing unemployment’ means—
‘‘(I) a single registration period that in-
cludes more than 4 days of unemployment;
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‘‘(II) a series of consecutive registration
periods, each of which includes more than 4
days of unemployment; or
‘‘(III) a series of successive registration pe-
riods, each of which includes more than 4 days
of unemployment, if each succeeding registra-
tion period begins within 15 days after the last
day of the immediately preceding registration
period.
‘‘(v) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PE-
RIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period
of continuing unemployment ends when an employee
exhausts rights to unemployment benefits under sub-
section (c) of this section.
‘‘(vi) LIMIT
ON
AMOUNT
OF
BENEFITS.—No
benefits shall be payable to an otherwise eligible em-
ployee for any day of unemployment in a registra-
tion period where the total amount of the remunera-
tion (as defined in section 1(j)) payable or accruing
to him for days within such registration period ex-
ceeds the amount of the base year monthly com-
pensation base. For purposes of the preceding sen-
tence, an employee’s remuneration shall be deemed
to include the gross amount of any remuneration
that would have become payable to that employee
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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 pro-
vided 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 sick-
ness in any registration period in such period of con-
tinuing sickness.
‘‘(ii) WAITING PERIOD FOR FIRST REGISTRA-
TION
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 registra-
tion period begins with 4 consecutive days of sick-
ness and includes more than 4 days of sickness, ex-
cept that the waiting period established in this
clause shall not apply to the first registration period
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in any subsequent period of continuing sickness that
begins in the same benefit year.
‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CONTINUING
SICKNESS.—For the purposes of this subparagraph,
a period of continuing sickness means—
‘‘(I) a period of consecutive days of sick-
ness, whether from 1 or more causes; or
‘‘(II) a period of successive days of sick-
ness 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 PE-
RIOD.—For purposes of applying clause (ii), a period
of continuing sickness ends when an employee ex-
hausts 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 Unem-
ployment 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 sec-
tion 1(i)(2) for the base year immediately preceding the
beginning of the benefit year, multiplied by 5 percent. If