[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 20, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 20CFR319.1]

[Page 541-542]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
                  CHAPTER II--RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
 
PART 319_PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINING LIABILITY FOR CONTRIBUTIONS OR REPAYMENTS 
 
Sec.  319.1  Statutory provisions.

    * * * In any case in which benefits are awarded to a claimant in 
whole or in part upon the basis of pay earned in the service of a person 
or company found by the Board to be an employer as defined in this Act 
but which denies that it is such an employer, such benefits awarded on 
such basis shall be

[[Page 542]]

paid to such claimant subject to a right of recovery of such benefits. 
The Board shall thereupon designate one of its officers or employees to 
receive evidence and to report to the Board on whether such benefits 
should be repaid. The Board may also designate one of its officers or 
employees to receive evidence and report to the Board whether or not any 
person or company is entitled to a refund of contributions or should be 
required to pay contributions under this Act, regardless of whether or 
not any claims for benefits will have been filed upon the basis of 
service in the employ of such person or company, and shall follow such 
procedure if contributions are assessed and payment is refused or 
payment is made and a refund claimed upon the basis that such person or 
company is or will not have been liable for such contributions. In any 
such case the Board or the person so designated shall, by publication or 
otherwise, notify all parties properly interested of their right to 
participate in the proceeding and, if a hearing is to be held, of the 
time and place of the hearing. At the request of any party properly 
interested the Board shall provide for a hearing, and may provide for a 
hearing on its own motion. The Board shall prescribe regulations 
governing the proceedings provided for in this paragraph and for 
decisions upon such proceedings.
    Final decision of the Board in the cases provided for in the 
preceding two paragraphs shall be communicated to the claimant and to 
the other interested parties within fifteen days after it is made. Any 
properly interested party notified, as hereinabove provided, of his 
right to participate in the proceedings may obtain a review of any such 
decision by which he claims to be aggrieved or the determination of any 
issue therein in the manner provided in subsection (f) of this section 
with respect to the review of the Board's decisions upon claims for 
benefits and subject to all provisions of law applicable to the review 
of such decisions. Subject only to such review, the decision of the 
Board upon all issues determined in such decision shall be final and 
conclusive for all purposes and shall conclusively establish all rights 
and obligations, arising under this Act, of every party notified as 
hereinabove provided of his right to participate in the proceedings.
    Any issue determinable pursuant to this subsection and subsection 
(f) of this section shall not be determined in any manner other than 
pursuant to this subsection and subsection (f). (Section 5(c), Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act.)
    In any proceeding other than a court proceeding, the rules of 
evidence prevailing in courts of law or equity shall not be controlling, 
but a full and complete record shall be kept of all proceedings and 
testimony, and the Board's final determination, together with its 
findings of fact and conclusions of law in connection therewith, shall 
be communicated to the parties within fifteen days after the date of 
such final determinations.

(Section 5(e), Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act.)

    Any claimant, or any railway labor organization organized in 
accordance with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, of which 
claimant is a member, or any other party aggrieved by a final decision 
under subsection (c) of this section, may, only after all administrative 
remedies within the Board will have been availed of and exhausted, 
obtain a review of any final decision of the Board by filing a petition 
for review within ninety days after the mailing of notice of such 
decision to the claimant or other party, or within such further time as 
the Board may allow, in the United States court of appeals for the 
circuit in which the claimant or other party resides or will have had 
his principal place of business or principal executive office, or in the 
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit or in the Court 
of Appeals for the District of Columbia. * * * (Section 5(f), Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act.)

[Board Order 58-142, 23 FR 9089, Nov. 22, 1958]