[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 74 (Monday, April 17, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20492-20493]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-9514]


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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which provides opportunity for 
public comment on new or revised data collections, the Railroad 
Retirement Board (RRB) publishes periodic summaries of proposed data 
collections.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed information 
collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information has practical utility; 
(b) the accuracy of the RRB's estimate of the burden of the collection 
of the information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize 
the burden related to the collection of information on respondents, 
including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    Title and purpose of information collection: Statement of Claimed 
Railroad Service and Earnings; OMB 3220-0025. To qualify for 
unemployment of sickness benefits payable under section 2 of the 
Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA), a railroad employee must 
have certain qualifying earnings in the applicable base year. In 
addition, to qualify for extended or accelerated benefits under Section 
2 of the RUIA, a railroad employee who has exhausted his or her rights 
to normal benefits must have at least 10 years of railroad service 
(under certain conditions, military service may be credited as months 
of railroad service). Accelerated benefits are unemployment or sickness 
benefits that are payable to a railroad employee before the regular 
July 1 beginning date of a benefit year if an employee has 10 or more 
years of service and is not qualified for benefits in the current 
benefit year.
    During the RUIA claims review process, the RRB may determine that 
unemployment or sickness benefits cannot be awarded because RRB records 
show insufficient qualifying service and/or compensation. When this 
occurs, the RRB allows the claimant the opportunity to provide 
additional information if they believe that the RRB service and 
compensation records are incorrect.
    Depending on the circumstances, the RRB provides the following 
form(s) to obtain information needed to determine if a claimant has 
sufficient service or

[[Page 20493]]

compensation to qualify for unemployment or sickness benefits.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                   Estimated
          Form No. and title             Annual    completion    Burden
                                       responses   time (min)   (hours)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UI-9--Applicant's Statement of               800           10        133
 Employment and Wages................
UI-23--Claimant's Statement of               600            5         50
 Service for Railroad Unemployment
 Insurance Benefits..................
UI-44--Claim for Credit for Military         150            5         13
 Service (RUIA)......................
ID-4F--Letter Advising of                     25            5          2
 Ineligibility for RUIA Benefits.....
ID-4U--Letter Advising of Service/           150            5         13
 Earnings Requirements for RUIA
 Benefits............................
ID-4X--Letter Advising of Service/           100            5          8
 Earnings Requirements for Sickness
 Benefits............................
ID-4Y--Letter Advising of                     25            5          2
 Ineligibility for Sickness Benefits.
ID-20-1--Letter Advising that Normal          50            5          4
 Unemployment Benefits Are About to
 be Exhausted........................
ID-20-2--Letter Advising that Normal         100            5          8
 Sickness Benefits Are about to be
 Exhausted...........................
ID-20-4--Letter Advising that Normal           5            5          1
 Sickness Benefits Are About to be
 Exhausted/Non-Entitlement...........
                                      ----------------------------------
      Total..........................      2,005  ...........        234
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The renewal of this information collection will continue to RRB's 
initiative to consolidate information collections by major functional 
areas. The purpose of the initiative is to bring related collection 
instruments together in one collection, better manage the instruments, 
and prepare for the electronic collection of this information. (A 
collection instrument can be an individual form, electronic collection, 
interview, or any other method that collects specific information from 
the public.
    As part of the OMB renewal process, the RRB proposes that this 
collection (OMB 3220-0025), Statements of Claimed Railroad Service and 
Earnings, be renamed RUTA Investigations and Continuing Entitlement. 
Upon approval by OMB, the RRB intends to merge the following OMB 
approved collections into this collection by the expected expiration 
date(s).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Expected
  OMB Collection No. and Title          RRB Forms           expiration
                                                               date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3220-0049--Investigation of      ID-5T,ID-5R(SUP), ID-         8/31/2000
 Claim for Possible Days of       49R, UI-48.
 Employment or State Benefits
 Received.
3220-0057--Placement Service...  ES-2, ES-20a, ES-20b,         6/30/2001
                                  ES-21, ES-21c, UI-35,
                                  & Job Vacancies Report.
3220-0079--Certification         UI-45..................       8/31/2002
 Regarding Rights to
 Unemployment Benefits.
3220-0164--Availability to Work  UI-38, UI-38s, ID-8k...       5/31/2002
3220-0171--RUTA Claims           ID-4k..................       6/30/2002
 Notification System.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Revisions to existing collection instruments and, occasionally, a 
new instrument related to this program function may be required during 
the three-year cycle of this information collection. The RRB currently 
estimates the completion time for Form ID-5I, Letter to Non-Railroad 
Employers on Employment and Earnings of a Claimant at 15 minutes, Form 
ID-5R(SUP), Report of Employees Paid RUIA Benefits for Every Day in 
Month Reported as Month of Creditable Service at 10 minutes, Form ID-
49R, Letter to Railroad Employer for Payroll Information at 15 minutes, 
Form UI-48, Claimant's Statement Regarding Benefit Claim for Days of 
Employment at 12 minutes, Form ES-2, Supplemental Information for 
Central Register at .25 minutes, Form ES-20a, Notice of Employment 
Referral at .75 minutes, Form ES-20b, Notice of Employment Referral 
(Employer) at .5 minutes, ES-21, Referral to State Employment Service, 
at .68 minutes, Form ES-21c, Report of State Employment Service Office 
at 1.5 minutes, Form UI-35, Field Office Record of Claimant Interview 
at 7 to 10.5 minutes, the Railroad Job Vacancy Report at 10 minutes, 
Form UI-45, Claimant Statement, Voluntary Leaving of Work, at 15 
minutes, Form UI-38, Claimant's Report of Efforts to Find Work at 11.5 
minutes, Form UI-38s, School Attendance and Availability Questionnaire 
at 6 to 10 minutes, Form ID-8k, Letter to Union Representative at 5 
minutes, and Form ID-4k, Prepayment Claims Verification Notice at 2 
minutes.
    After the last information collection is merged and other necessary 
adjustments are made, the resultant information collection is expected 
to total approximately 5,200 annual burden hours. A justification for 
each action described above (merge collection, revised collection 
instrument, new collection instrument) will be provided to OMB with a 
correction Change Worksheet (OMB Form 83-C) at the time the action 
occurs. With the next renewal of this collection, the RRB will update 
the information collection package to account for the consolidation and 
other interim adjustment.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR COMMENTS:  To request more information or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection justification, forms, and/
or supporting material, please call the RRB Clearance Officer at (312) 
751-3363. Comments regarding the information collection should be 
addressed to Ronald J. Hodapp, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North 
Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092. Written comments should be 
received within 60 days of this notice.

Chuck Mierzwa,
Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 00-9514 Filed 4-14-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-M