Railroad employees, by and large, are honest and law-abiding, but any large group may include a few persons who either deliberately or through lack of knowledge seek benefits to which they are not entitled. Various procedures for detecting and discouraging such actions include reviews of employer records for work on days claimed as days of unemployment or sickness and checks with State agencies to detect duplication of benefit payments. The RRB has wage matching agreements with all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to cover the entire rail population. Electronic data exchange programs with railroads, as well as Federal and State agencies, have significantly enhanced the RRB's capability to detect fraud and abuse of the railroad unemployment and sickness insurance system. A 75-day disqualification is applied in all cases in which fraud is discovered. In some cases, prosecution is also recommended.
Other program activities designed to protect the railroad retirement trust funds include the investigation of uncashed annuity payments, matches with the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and development of an online system to monitor railroad retirement/social security trust fund transfers. In addition to conducting audits of the RRB's operations, the Office of Inspector General identifies and refers cases for prosecution of individuals who commit fraud against the agency's benefit programs.