Employee's Protest of Sick Pay Record

If an employee contacts you as the sick pay payor to protest the amount of sick pay you reported, and you agree with the employee that the amount you reported is incorrect, file Form BA-10 to adjust your previous report. If you do not agree with the employee's request for an adjustment, advise the employee to file a Form G-70 , Protest of Record of Service Months and Compensation, with the Division of Compensation and Certification. Forms G-70 are available from any local field office of the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), or you may requisition them from the Bureau of Supply and Service for availability to employees. Use Form G-615 , Employer's Supply Requisition, to requisition forms.

The employee should accompany the completed Form G-70 with substantiating evidence, such as check stubs. If evidence is not submitted, the Division of Compensation and Certification has no basis on which to request an adjustment report if the employer does not agree with the claim for additional compensation. Forms W-2 are useful but not entirely conclusive as evidence for a claim because gross income may include amounts not creditable as Tier I compensation.

Employee Protest Referred to Employer on Form GL-129

Upon receipt of Form G-70 or any written protest of record, Form GL129 and Form GL129a are released to the sick pay employer. The employer must either correct the record with a Form BA-10 or verify that the record is correct as originally reported. If the record is correct as reported, a brief explanation refuting the employee's claim is needed so we may adequately reply to the employee. The following are common reasons for differences in sick pay compensation reported by the employer and that claimed by the employee:

• The employee claims credit for the period of sickness in one calendar year, but the employer correctly reported the sick pay compensation for the next year in which the payment was made.
• The employee earned more than the maximum creditable Tier I compensation, and the sick pay employer continued to credit Tier I compensation.

Your explanation is important because an employee has additional reconsideration rights in protesting his or her record if, after our reply, he or she still believes an error has occurred.

RRB Requests for Clarification and Adjustments

Sick pay employers may receive written requests, in the form of referrals or form letters, for adjustment to, or clarification of, previous sick pay reports. Some notices are advisory in nature about reports which have been processed but require adjustment. Others require a response from the employer. The sick pay compensation report is held in abeyance, or suspended status, until a response is received with correct information.

Referral Listings

Requests for adjustments to reported sick pay errors: These errors do not prevent the processing of the sick pay to an employee's record, but an adjustment is required. If the employee record is not corrected prior to the employee's retirement, the discrepancy may result in a delayed or inaccurate benefit.

Requests for corrections to reported sick pay rejects: Rejected items are not posted to the employee's record but are held in abeyance, or suspense, while awaiting a corrected report from the employer. Records may reject for many reasons, most of them involving missing or inconsistent data.

An explanatory note is printed with each item on the referral listings. The error and the reject listings also show the original report information to assist employers in determining and filing corrections.

Sick Pay Referral Messages in Alphabetical Order by Referral Message

Adjustment beyond statute of limitations - Sick pay rejected

This referral is produced when an adjustment is received which is beyond the four year statute of limitations and the Form BA-10 did not explain the delay in filing.

You may call the supervisor of the Accounting Section at (312) 751-3371 and discuss the adjustment or you may write the explanation for not filing within the time frame on the referral and return it to us.

Decrease adjustment with no previous activity - Sick pay rejected

This referral is produced if you file a Form BA-10 decreasing sick pay in a prior year but you had not filed an initial sick pay report for that employee for that year. This may occur if the social security number (SSN) or the year on the BA-10 adjustment is in error or if the adjustment should have been an increase instead of a decrease.

Determine the correct SSN for the employee, the correct year, and correct type of adjustment. Prepare Form BA-10 with a two line adjustment. The first line should remove the original report. Since the original report was a decrease adjustment, remove it with an identical increase adjustment. The second line should report the adjustment correctly.

Name does not match RRB records - Sick pay rejected

This referral is produced if the name and social security number from the sick pay report do not agree with the name and social security number established in RRB records. This referral could occur because the employer changed the employee's name in their records but did not notify the RRB. This referral could also occur if the SSN was shown incorrectly in the Form BA-10 report and happened to match an existing SSN for a different employee.

If this referral occurred because you neglected to notify the RRB of an employee name change, put the correct information on the referral and return it to the RRB. If this referral occurred because the SSN was incorrect on your report, prepare Form BA-10 with a two line adjustment. The first line will decrease or remove the original report under the incorrect SSN. The second line will be an increase adjustment under the correct SSN.

Name is missing - Sick pay rejected

This literally means that you forgot to enter the employee's name on the sick pay report. We will not process a report without a name because the name is an important part of our verification process. Without the name verification, all reports with incorrect SSNs would be posted to the incorrect record. Names can be shown right on the referral. Do not file an adjustment report to include or correct a name.

Name misspelled - Sick pay posted

This referral is produced if the name from the sick pay report matches the name in the RRB record except for one or two letters. This would indicate that either your record or the RRB has a misspelled name.

If the RRB record is correct, no action is necessary except to ensure that any subsequent reports you file use the correct spelling of the name. If the RRB name is misspelled, please indicate the correct spelling on the referral and return to the RRB.

Sick pay after date of death - Sick pay posted

This referral is produced if sick pay is reported for a year after the employee's year of death. Payments made to an employee's estate or survivor in the year following the employee's death are not creditable or taxable.

Prepare Form BA-10 to remove the sick pay reported for any years after the year of death. If Tier 1 taxes were withheld from the sick pay, the Tier 1 taxes should be refunded to the survivors or estate of the employee.

Sick pay is over Tier I maximum - Sick pay posted

This referral is produced if sick pay is reported in an amount which exceeds the Tier I annual maximum for the year. This referral usually results because a decimal is in the wrong place or two digits have been inverted.

Determine the correct amount of sick pay for the year. Prepare Form BA-10 to reduce sick pay compensation in RRB records accordingly. Your employer records may or may not contain the same error.

Form Letters

• Form Letter GL-24: This is a notice that the Social Security Administration indicates that the name and social security number the employer reported do not agree with the name and social security number in SSA's records. This notice usually indicates that the employer is using an incorrect social security number.
   
• Form Letter GL-77a: This is a notice that the name reported for a record does not agree with the name previously reported. This notice usually indicates that a name change was not filed with the RRB or with SSA. In addition to providing the information requested on the letter, employers should advise the employee to file a name change with RRB and/or SSA, if they have failed to do so.