Policy and Systems

Number of Days of Unemployment

After you have satisfied the benefit year waiting period requirement, benefits are generally paid for days of unemployment over 4 in 14-day claim periods.

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Daily Benefit Rate

Your daily benefit rate is 60% of the daily rate of pay for your last job in the base year, but not less than $12.70 a day nor more than 5% of the monthly compensation base.

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Under certain special provisions, if you have 10 or more years of service, you can receive benefits before the regular beginning date of a benefit year. In addition to having 10 or more years of service, you must be qualified for the next benefit year, but not the cur-rent year, and have 14 or more consecutive days of unemployment.

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Extended Benefits

If you have 10 or more years of service and exhaust your normal unemployment benefits, you may be eligible to receive extended benefits for up to 65 days (7 consecutive 14-day claim periods having 10 days payable in each). Also, if you are not qualified for benefits in the current benefit year, but received normal benefits in the previous year, you may still be eligible for extended benefits.

To qualify for extended benefits, you must not have voluntarily quit work without good cause or voluntarily retired.

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Amount and Duration of Benefits

Waiting Period

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Qualification Requirements

Only qualified employees can receive benefits under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. A new benefit year begins every July 1. To qualify for benefits in a benefit year, you must have creditable railroad earnings in the preceding calendar year (base year), counting no more than a certain amount in any month. In addition, a new employee must have railroad service in at least 5 months of his or her first year of work in order to be eligible for benefits in the following benefit year.

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Introduction

IF YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED, you may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits from the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), the Federal agency responsible for administering the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA). This booklet provides information about the requirements for receiving rail-road unemployment insurance benefits, the amount of benefits payable and procedures for claiming benefits.

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Widow(er)'s Rate Is Never Less Than Previous Rate

If you are currently receiving a retirement Spouse annuity, the total of your Widow(er)'s annuity will be compared to the amount you are now receiving. If the calculation of your Widow(er)'s annuity results in an amount that is less than what you are currently receiving as a spouse, your Widow(er)'s annuity will be increased to equal that amount. Your Widow(er)'s annuity amount will never be less than the annuity you were receiving in the month before the employee's death.

This guarantee does not apply to a Surviving Divorced Spouse annuity.

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Public Service Pension

As explained in the section "Tier I," a widow(er) type annuity must be adjusted for any public service pension payment, based on your earnings, that you receive.

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Social Security Benefits

If you are qualified to receive an old age, survivor, or disability insurance benefit from the Social Security Administration (SSA) at the time that you file your railroad retirement application, and you indicate on the application that you want to use your application to protect your filing date for a social security benefit, SSA will get in touch with you and advise you on how to file a social security application.

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