[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 2594 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.2594
One Hundred Fourth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six
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,

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This Act may be cited as the ``Railroad Unemployment Insurance
Amendments Act of 1996''.

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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 provided in this
subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any qualified employee
for each day of unemployment in excess of 4 during any registration
period within a period of continuing unemployment.
``(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 unemployment if such
period of continuing unemployment 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 unemployment due to a
stoppage of work because of a strike in the establishment,
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 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 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 `period of continuing unemployment' means--
``(I) a single registration period that includes more than
4 days of unemployment;
``(II) 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 registration period.
``(v) Special rule regarding end of period.--For purposes of
applying clause (ii), a period of continuing unemployment ends when
an employee exhausts 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 1(j)) payable or accruing to
him for days within such registration period exceeds the amount of
the base year monthly compensation base. For purposes of the
preceding sentence, an employee's remuneration shall be deemed to
include the gross amount of any remuneration 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.''.

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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 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
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 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--
``(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 without interruption of more than 90 consecutive
days which are not days of sickness.
``(iv) Special rule regarding end of period.--For purposes of
applying clause (ii), a period of continuing sickness ends when an
employee exhausts rights to sickness benefits under subsection (c)
of this section.''.

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Paragraph (3) of section 2(a) of the Railroad Unemployment
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 section 1(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.''.

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(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 benefits 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 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 1(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 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 Retirement Act of 1974, who did not voluntarily 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 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 unemployment
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 unemployment or days of
sickness and shall continue for 7 consecutive 14-day periods,
each of which shall constitute a registration 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 paragraph, 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 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 consecutive
days of sickness, and who is not a qualified employee with
respect to the general benefit year current when such
unemployment or sickness commences but is or becomes a
qualified employee for the next succeeding general benefit
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 succeeding benefit year
beginning in accordance with subparagraph (A) by reason of
sickness, 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 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.

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The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date of
the enactment of this Act.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.

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Railroad Unemployment Insurance Amendments Act of 1995 — HR. 2594

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