45 U.S.C. § 352 — Benefits

(a) Days for which benefits are payable, and how much (1)(A) Unemployment benefits: (i) Normally, a qualified employee gets benefits for each day of unemployment in a registration period beyond the first 4 days. (ii) But in an employee's very first registration period of a new "period of continuing unemployment" that starts their benefit year, benefits only start after the first 7 days. (iii) Strikes: if the Board finds a stoppage of work is due to a strike where the employee last worked, no benefits are paid for the first 14 days of unemployment from that strike; after that, the normal 4-day rule in (i) applies. If that "period of continuing unemployment" ends (see (v)) but the strike continues, the 7-day waiting period from (ii) applies again to the first registration period of the new stretch based on the same strike. (iv) A "period of continuing unemployment" means one registration period with more than 4 days of unemployment, or a run of back-to-back registration periods each with more than 4 such days, or a run of periods each with more than 4 such days where each new period starts within 15 days of the last one ending. (v) That period ends when the employee uses up their unemployment-benefit rights under (c). (vi) No benefits are paid for a day if the employee's total pay for that registration period is more than the base-year monthly compensation base -- and pay the employee turned down (by refusing suitable available work) still counts against this limit. (1)(B) Sickness benefits: (i) Normally, benefits are paid for each day of sickness after the first 4 straight days of a "period of continuing sickness," but always skipping 4 sickness days per registration period. (ii) In the employee's first registration period of their very first sickness period in the benefit year, benefits only start after 7 days; that first registration period is the one that begins with 4 straight sick days and has more than 4 sick days total. (iii) A "period of continuing sickness" means either a run of consecutive sick days from one or more causes, or a run of sick days from a single cause without a break of more than 90 days that aren't sick days. (iv) That period ends when the employee uses up their sickness-benefit rights under (c). (2) The daily benefit rate is 60% of what the employee earned per day at their last job with an employer in the base year, but never less than $12.70. Over the years, Congress capped that daily rate at increasing dollar amounts -- $24 (1975-76), $25 (1976-88), $30 (1988-89) -- and from July 1989 on, the cap is the "maximum daily benefit rate" described in (3). The Board figures the daily rate from information the employee, the employer, or both provide. (3) The maximum daily benefit rate equals the monthly compensation base (from section 351(i)(2), for the base year before the benefit year) multiplied by 5%. Round the result down to the nearest whole dollar if it isn't already a whole dollar. (4) Unemployment days and sickness days in the same registration period can't be combined. (5)(A) For certain 2020-2021 registration periods (April 1-July 31, 2020, and December 27, 2020-September 6, 2021), a special "recovery benefit" is added on top of regular unemployment benefits -- for employees who got benefits under (1)(A), and also for those who were shut out by the (c)(1)(B) cap or by using up their days for that benefit year. This recovery benefit was $1,200 for the 2020 window and $600 for the 2020-21 window, but stops once the money appropriated for it runs out. (B) $425,000,000 is appropriated, from the Treasury, to pay for these recovery benefits, available until it's spent. (b) The Board decides how often -- at "reasonable intervals" -- these benefits actually get paid out. (c) Maximum days of benefits (1)(A) Normally, an employee can get benefits for at most 130 days of unemployment and 130 days of sickness in one benefit year. (B) Also, total unemployment benefits in a benefit year can't exceed what the employee earned in the base year; same cap for sickness benefits -- except that, for this sickness-benefit calculation only, base-year pay is measured using a formula tied to $775 instead of the normal $600 compensation-base figure. (2)(A) Extended benefits: an employee with 10+ years of service who didn't voluntarily retire (and, for unemployment, didn't voluntarily quit without good cause) and who has used up their normal benefit rights can keep their benefit year open and get up to 65 more days of unemployment or sickness benefits -- called "extended" benefits. (B) This extended period starts the day after the employee's normal rights run out and lasts seven 14-day stretches (registration periods), unless the employee re-qualifies for normal benefits sooner based on new pay. (C) An extended sickness-benefit period ends the day before the employee turns 65 (extended unemployment benefits can keep going past that). (D) Temporary boosts: for employees who got normal unemployment benefits between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2022 (with some exceptions after September 6, 2021), the 65-day extended-benefit cap was d to 330 days for employees with 10+ years of service, and to 265 days for employees with fewer years -- with matching extensions of the 7-period stretch, subject to funding. (3)(A) Accelerated benefits: an employee with 10+ years of service, who didn't voluntarily retire or quit without good cause, who's been unemployed or sick for 14+ straight days, and who doesn't qualify under the current benefit year but will qualify for the next one, gets that next benefit year moved up to start the month their unemployment or sickness began. (B) For sickness cases, this doesn't let benefits be paid for sick days on or after the employee turns 65. (C) The Board can rely on age records it already has when deciding someone's age for this rule. (d) If the Board finds it paid someone too much -- or paid someone who wasn't entitled to anything -- it can recover the excess by adjusting future payments to that person (or, if they've died, to their estate or survivors) under Board regulations. The Board can also recalculate lifetime payments' actuarial value to account for the overpayment. But the Board won't recover anything if the person wasn't at fault and recovery would be unfair or against the law's purpose. Officers who paid out money in good faith aren't personally liable if recovery is waived or can't be finished. (e) Benefits can't be assigned, taxed, garnished, attached, or paid in advance, no matter what other federal or state law says. (f) If benefits were paid for days that turn out to be covered by pay owed for the same period, and the payer knew about the benefits before paying, the payer must still pay the employee in full -- but the part matching the benefits already paid becomes a special trust fund owed to the Board, collectible the same way as contributions under section 358. That money goes into the unemployment account, and those benefit days don't count against the employee's day limits under (c). (g) Benefits an employee earned but didn't get paid before dying go, once the Board certifies them, to whoever gets that employee's accrued Railroad Retirement annuities. If there's no such annuity recipient, and a claim is filed within two years of death, the same people who would have gotten the annuities get the accrued benefits instead. If nobody qualifies, the money reverts to the unemployment account.