[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: 20CFR323.3]

[Page 560]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
                  CHAPTER II--RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
 
PART 323_NONGOVERNMENTAL PLANS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT OR SICKNESS INSURANCE--Table 
 
Sec.  323.3  Standards for Board approval of a nongovernmental plan.

    An unemployment or sickness benefit plan qualifies as a 
nongovernmental plan if it conforms to the following standards:
    (a) The plan is in writing and has been published or otherwise 
communicated to covered employees prior to the inception of the plan;
    (b) Benefits under the plan are payable only to employees who are 
involuntarily laid off or separated from the service of the employer or 
who are absent from work on account of illness or injury;
    (c) Payment of benefits under the plan is conditioned upon a covered 
employee's meeting the eligibility conditions governing payment of 
benefits under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. However, a plan 
will not be disqualified merely because it:
    (1) Provides benefits during any waiting period required under the 
Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, or
    (2) Provides benefits after an employee has exhausted rights to 
benefits under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, or
    (3) Provides benefits during a period when the employee is not a 
``qualified employee'', within the meaning of part 302 of this chapter;
    (d) Payment of benefits under the plan is coordinated with benefit 
payments to which the employee may be entitled under the Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act. In general, plan benefit payments will be 
considered coordinated with Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act benefit 
payments when computation of the plan benefits takes Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act benefit entitlement into consideration in 
such a way as to make it clear that the plan is supplementing Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act benefit payments for days of unemployment or 
days of sickness. For example, a plan that provides for payment of a 
specified daily benefit amount is considered coordinated with Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act benefit payments if the plan provides that 
the daily benefit amount otherwise payable to the employee is reduced by 
the amount of benefits that the employee received or could receive under 
the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act for the same day if the employee 
had met all the eligibility criteria for such benefit. Similarly, there 
is acceptable coordination if the plan simply provides for payment of an 
amount as an ``add-on'' benefit to the amount of Railroad Unemployment 
Insurance Act benefits paid or payable. On the other hand, a plan that 
allows payment so as to compensate an employee for railroad or non-
railroad earnings that are lower in amount than what the employee would 
get under the plan if he or she were not employed is not considered 
coordinated with benefit payments under the Railroad Unemployment 
Insurance Act because an employer payment made under such circumstances 
supplements earnings rather than benefit payments under the Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act. No Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act 
benefits are payable to an employee who is earning remuneration from 
railroad or non-railroad employment. Employer payments that make up for 
low earnings are pay for time lost and therefore are compensation and 
remuneration;
    (e) The plan confers upon covered employees an enforceable right to 
the benefits under the plan. The plan may not commit to management 
discretion any decision as to whether such employee will actually be 
paid the benefits to which he is entitled under the plan or the amount 
to be paid;
    (f) The plan may not provide benefits to a covered employee in an 
amount that, when added to his or her Railroad Unemployment Insurance 
Act benefits, is greater than the wages of salary that would have been 
paid if the employee were employed; and
    (g) The plan incorporates the features set forth in Sec.  323.4 of 
this part and has been approved by the Board's Director of Unemployment 
and Sickness Insurance as a nongovernmental plan for unemployment or 
sickness insurance.

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