Please distribute this notice to all individuals within your organization who may need the information in connection with their work.
On Monday, April 10, 2023, the President signed into law House Joint Resolution 7, which terminated the national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, effective May 10, 2023, sequestration will resume for unemployment and sickness benefits payable to employees under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA).
As part of the Continued Assistance to Rail Workers Act of 2020 (CARWA), unemployment and sickness benefits payable under the RUIA were exempt from sequestration for days claimed beginning January 3, 2021. Now that the Presidential declaration of the national emergency related to COVID-19 has terminated the sequestration exemption is to end 30 days after.
The reinstatement of the sequestration resumes for days beginning May 10, 2023, and benefits are to be reduced by 5.7 percent. Only the reduced amount of sickness or unemployment benefits paid to a claimant will be charged to the claimant's base year employer's benefit account balance and consequently will be used when calculating the base year employer's experience rated RUIA contribution rate for any future years. The amount sequestered will not be charged to the claimant's base year employer's benefit account balance.
If you have any questions regarding the information in this program letter, please contact the Railroad Retirement Board’s Quality Reporting Service Center at (312) 751-4992.