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Railroad Retirement Board Publications

The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent agency in the executive branch of the federal government serving the nation’s railroad workers and their families. The agency’s enabling statutes, the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, grant the RRB the authority to administer comprehensive retirement, survivor, and unemployment-sickness benefit programs.

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Board Coverage Decisions (BCDs) are final agency decisions that determine employer and employee status under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. For an employer these decisions determine whether it is required to pay taxes under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act and follow the RRB’s rules and regulations. For employees these decisions determine whether their work history makes them eligible for benefits under the acts.

This is a curated collection of BCDs. Every available employer coverage decision is in the database, while only a select number of employee service decisions are included. The selected employee service decisions discuss and analyze classes of employees, rather than individual cases. If you require searching the entire collection, please contact the National Archives and Records Administration.

Full-text, keyword search – This search will query the full text of all Board Coverage Decisions. Narrow your results by using the filters on the left, or by checking the option under the search box to search within the initial set of results.

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Guidance Documents set forth the RRB’s statement of policy on statutory interpretation, regulatory interpretation, and technical issues associated with implementing the Railroad Retirement Act, the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, and the Railroad Retirement Board’s regulations. The collection includes, among other things, Legal Opinions, Manuals, Annual Reports, Guides, and Handbooks.

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