Policy and Systems

False or Fraudulent Claim

You will be disqualified for both unemployment and sickness benefits for 75 days if you make a false or fraudulent statement or claim in order to receive benefits. You may also be subject to fine or imprisonment. The RRB conducts checks, including computer matching checks, with State and Federal agencies as well as railroads, in order to detect fraudulent benefit claims.

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Illegal Strike

You will be disqualified for unemployment benefits for any day on which you take part in a strike which began in violation of the Railway Labor Act or in violation of the established rules and practices of your labor organization.

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Repayments

A repayment is a returned payment, a cash refund, or an amount withheld for overpayment purposes.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, the RRB is allowed to give repayment credit for the SSEB and/or pre-SSEB portion of tier I for any tax year. Refer to IRS Publication 915, "Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits", for information regarding current tax year or prior tax year's SSEB repayment.

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Information For Widow(er)s

For widow(er)s that were paid as a spouse for part of the year, only the annuity payments received as a widow(er) should be used to compute the nontaxable portion of the annuity payments.

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Tier I And Tier II

The tier I component of a railroad retirement annuity is composed of two parts:

The Social Security Equivalent Benefit (SSEB) portion, and
The Non-Social Security Equivalent Benefit (NSSEB) portion. Your tier I may be composed of SSEB only, NSSEB only, or both.

The SSEB portion of tier I is similar to a social security benefit and is treated as a social security benefit for Federal income tax purposes.

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Part IX - Federal Income Tax And Your Benefits

General Information

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Part VIII - Medicare Benefits

Medicare is a Federal health insurance program for people age 65 or older and certain disabled people. There are two parts to the Medicare program. One part is Hospital Insurance (also called Part A) and the other part is Medical Insurance (also called Part B).

Medicare Part A helps pay for inpatient hospital care, inpatient care in a skilled nursing facility following a hospital stay, home health care and hospice care. You do not pay a premium for Part A coverage.

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Refuse Suitable Work/Fail to Apply for Work

If you refuse to accept suitable work, or fail to follow instructions to apply for work, or to report to a State employment office, or to a RRB office for an interview, you may be disqualified for unemployment benefits for 30 days.

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Voluntary Quit

Voluntary Quit Without Good Cause - If you leave either your railroad job or nonrailroad work voluntarily and the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) determines you left without good cause, you will be disqualified for railroad unemployment benefits until you return to railroad work and earn wages sufficient to qualify for benefits again.

Voluntary Quit With Good Cause - If you leave either railroad or nonrailroad work voluntarily and the RRB determines you had good cause for doing so, you will be disqualified from

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Separation Allowance (severance pay, buyout)

If you have been paid a separation allowance by your employer, you cannot receive unemployment or sickness benefits for roughly the period of time it would have taken you to earn the amount of the allowance.

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