II
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2594
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
SEPTEMBER 19, 1996
Received
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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Railroad Unemploy-
ment 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 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
such period of continuing unemployment is the em-
ployee’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 in-
cludes days of unemployment due to a stoppage
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of work because of a strike in the establish-
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 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 reg-
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istration 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—
‘‘(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
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beginning of the benefit year, multiplied by 5 percent. If
the maximum daily benefit rate so computed is not a mul-
tiple of $1, it shall be rounded down to the nearest mul-
tiple 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 bene-
fits 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 com-
pensation in the base year; and the total
amount of benefits that may be paid to an em-
ployee for days of sickness within a benefit year
shall in no case exceed the employee’s com-
pensation in the base year, except that notwith-
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standing section 1(i), in determining the em-
ployee’s compensation in the base year for the
purpose of this sentence, any money remunera-
tion 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 compensa-
tion base for that year as computed under sec-
tion 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 Re-
tirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily
retire and (in a case involving exhaustion of
rights to normal benefits for days of unemploy-
ment) did not voluntarily leave work without
good cause, and who had current rights to nor-
mal 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 paragraph, and
extended unemployment benefits or extended
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sickness benefits (depending on the type of nor-
mal 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 em-
ployee’s first day of unemployment or first day
of sickness, as the case may be, following the
day on which the employee exhausts the em-
ployee’s then current rights to normal benefits
for days of unemployment or days of sickness
and shall continue for 7 consecutive 14-day pe-
riods, each of which shall constitute a registra-
tion 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 com-
pensation earned after the first of such con-
secutive 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 termi-
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nate on the day next preceding the date on
which the employee attains age 65, except that
it may continue for the purpose of paying bene-
fits 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 Re-
tirement 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 consecu-
tive days of sickness, and who is not a qualified
employee with respect to the general benefit
year current when such unemployment or sick-
ness commences but is or becomes a qualified
employee for the next succeeding general bene-
fit 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 suc-
ceeding benefit year beginning in accordance
with subparagraph (A) by reason of sickness,
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such sentence shall not operate to permit the
payment of benefits in the period provided for
in such sentence for any day of sickness begin-
ning with the date on which the employee at-
tains age 65, and continuing through the day
preceding the first day of the next succeeding
general benefit year.
‘‘(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.
Passed the House of Representatives September 18,
1996.
Attest:
ROBIN H. CARLE,
Clerk.