I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4868
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
AUGUST 1, 1994
Mr. SWIFT (for himself and Mr. OXLEY) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
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 1994’’.
SEC. 2. WAITING PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.
Section 2(a)(1)(A) of the Railroad Unemployment In-
surance Act is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(A) WAITING PERIOD.—
‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as other-
wise provided in this subparagraph, bene-
fits shall be payable to any qualified em-
ployee for each day of unemployment in ex-
cess of 4 during any registration period
within a period of continuing unemploy-
ment.
‘‘(ii) 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 continu-
ing unemployment if—
‘‘(I) such registration period in-
cludes more than 4 days of unemploy-
ment; and
‘‘(II) such period of continuing
unemployment is the employee’s initial
period of continuing unemployment in
the benefit year.
‘‘(iii) STRIKES.—
‘‘(I) INITIAL 14-DAY WAITING PE-
RIOD.—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 establishment, premises, or en-
terprise 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 UN-
EMPLOYMENT.—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 unemploy-
ment 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 CON-
TINUING UNEMPLOYMENT.—Except as lim-
ited by clause (v), for the purposes of this
subparagraph, the term ‘period of continu-
ing unemployment’ means—
‘‘(I) a single registration period
that includes more than 4 days of un-
employment;
‘‘(II) a series of consecutive reg-
istration periods, each of which in-
cludes more than 4 days of unemploy-
ment; or
‘‘(III) a series of successive reg-
istration periods, each of which in-
cludes more than 4 days of unemploy-
ment, 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 unem-
ployment ends when an employee exhausts
rights to unemployment benefits under
subsection (c) of this section.
‘‘(vi) LIMIT
ON
AMOUNT
OF
BENE-
FITS.—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 remunera-
tion (as defined in section 1(j) of this Act)
payable or accruing to him for days within
such 
registration 
period 
exceeds 
the
amount of the base year monthly com-
pensation base. For this purpose, an em-
ployee’s remuneration shall be deemed to
include the gross amount of any remunera-
tion 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.
Section 2(a)(1)(B) of the Railroad Unemployment
Insurance Act is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(B) WAITING PERIODS.—
‘‘(i) GENERALLY.—Except as other-
wise provided in this subparagraph, bene-
fits shall be payable to any qualified em-
ployee for each day of sickness after the
fourth consecutive day of sickness in a pe-
riod of continuing sickness but excluding 4
days of sickness in any registration period
in such period of continuing sickness.
‘‘(ii) 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 registra-
tion period in a period of continuing sick-
ness if such registration period begins with
4 consecutive days of sickness and includes
more than 4 days of sickness, except that
the waiting period established in this
clause shall not apply to the first registra-
tion period in any subsequent period of
continuing sickness that begins in the
same benefit year.
‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF PERIOD OF CON-
TINUING SICKNESS.—For the purposes of
this subparagraph, a period of continuing
sickness means—
‘‘(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 with-
out interruption of more than 90 con-
secutive days which are not days of
sickness.
For purposes of applying clause (ii), a pe-
riod of continuing sickness ends when an
employee exhausts rights to sickness bene-
fits under subsection (c) of this section.’’.
SEC. 4. MAXIMUM DAILY BENEFIT RATE.
Section 2(a)(3) of the Railroad Unemployment Insur-
ance Act is amended 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 com-
puted under section 1(i)(2) for the base year imme-
diately preceding the beginning of the benefit year,
multiplied by 5 percent. If the maximum daily bene-
fit rate so computed is not a multiple of $1.00, it
shall be rounded down to the nearest multiple of
$1.00.’’.
SEC. 5. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2(c) of the Railroad Un-
employment Insurance Act 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-
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—
‘‘(i) is not in excess of $775 in any
month before 1989; and
‘‘(ii) in any month in a base year
after 1988, 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 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
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
EMPLOYER
REACHES
AGE
OF
65.—Notwithstanding any
other provision of this paragraph, an extended
benefit period for sickness benefits shall termi-
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) FIRST
YEAR.—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) SUCCEEDING YEAR.—In the case of a
succeeding benefit year beginning in accordance
with the preceding sentence by reason of sick-
ness, such sentence shall not operate to permit
the payment of benefits in the period provided
for in such sentence for any day of sickness be-
ginning 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 is re-
pealed.
(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.
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