Railroad Unemployment Insurance Amendments Act of 1996
PL 104-251 (H.R.2594), enacted 10/09/1996

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 tKe^"Railroad Unemployment Insur-
ance Amendments Act of 1996". 
SEC. 2. WAITING PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS. 
Subparagraph (A) of section 2(a)(1) of the Railroad Unemploy-
ment 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 unemplojnnent in excess of 4 during 
any registration period within a period of continuing unemploy-
ment. 
"(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 unemplojrment 
if such period of continuing unemplo5mient 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 unemplojnnent due 
to a stoppage of work because of a strike in the establish-
ment, 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 sub-
sequent days of unemplo3nnent due to the same stoppage 
of work, benefits shall be payable as provided in clause 
(i) of this subparagraph. 
"(Ill) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS OF CONTINUING UNEMPLOY-
MENT.—If such period of continuing unemplojonent ends 
by reason of clause (v) but the stoppage of work continues, 
the wEiiting period established in clause (ii) shall apply 
to the employee's first registration period in a new period 
Oct. 9, 1996 
[H.R. 2594] 
Railroad 
Unemployment 
Insurance 
Amendments Act 
of 1996. 
45 u s e 367 note. 
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 unemploy-
ment' means— 
"(I) a single registration period that includes more 
than 4 days of unemployment; 
"(11) 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 reg-
istration period. 
"(v) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING END OF PERIOD.—For pur-
poses of applying clause (ii), a period of continuing unemploy-
ment ends when an employee ejdiausts 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 l(j)) payable or 
accruing to him for days within such registration period exceeds 
the amoxmt of the base year monthly compensation base. For 
purposes of the preceding sentence, an employee's remuneration 
shall be deemed to include the gross simount of any remimera-
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. WATTING PERIOD FOR SICKNESS BENEFTTS. 
Subparagraph (B) of section 2(aXl) of the Railroad Unemploy-
ment 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 sicloiess 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 
"(11) 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 pur-
poses 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 Unemplo)mient 
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 compensa-
tion base, as computed imder section l(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 
Unemplojmient 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 maximimi 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 pgdd to an employee for days of imemployment 
witnin 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 l(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 yesir as computed under section l(i) bears to $600. 
"(2) EXTENDED BENEFITS.— 
"(A) GENERALLY.—^With respect to an employee who 
has 10 or more yegirs of service as defined in section 1(f) 
of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974, who did not volim-
tarily 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 unemploy-
ment 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 unemploy-
ment or days of sickness and shall continue for 7 consecu-
tive 14-day periods, each of which shall constitute a reg-
istration 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 para-
graph, 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 volun-
tarily retire, and (in a case involving unemployment bene-
fits) 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 com-
mences but is or becomes a qualified employee for the 
next succeeding general benefit year, such succeeding gen-
eral 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 sickaess, 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 continu-
ing through the day preceding the first day of the next 
succeeding general benefit year. 
PUBLIC LAW 104-251—OCT. 9, 1996 
110 STAT. 3165 
"(C) DETERMINATION OF AGE.—For the piirposes 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 Rail-
road Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(h)) is repealed. 
(c) REPEAL OF EXPIRED PROVISION.—Section 17 of the Railroad 
Unemplo)nnent Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 368), relating to payment 
of supplemental unemployment benefits, is repealed. 
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
45 USC 352 note. 
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
Approved October 9, 1996. 
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.