Prepared by:
Quality Reporting Service Center
Railroad Retirement Board
844 North Rush Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092
Phone: |
(312) 751-4992 |
Fax: |
(312) 751-7190 |
E-mail: |
QRSC@rrb.gov |
Experience Rating
Specialist: |
(312) 751-4550 |
National Rail
Employer Training Seminar, August 6 - 8, 2003 Chicago, Illinois
HURRY! The deadline for
registering for the RRB fifth National Rail Employer Training Seminar,
August 6 - 8, 2003 at the Radisson Hotel and Suites in Chicago, IL. has been
extended until July 3, 2003. The seminar is developed for those persons who
work in, or manage, records of service, compensation and contributions paid
to the RRB, and other related areas. Take this opportunity to increase your
knowledge and meet representatives from the RRB and other agencies that
affect the Railroad Retirement System.
National Reporting Officers
and other Labor officials should disregard this notice. Within the next
year the RRB will present a seminar that is uniquely designed to address the
training needs of labor organizations.
The seminar will begin at 1:00
p.m. Wednesday, August 6th and will conclude 11:30 a.m. Friday, August 8th.
We have added the following exciting new sessions this year:
-
Experience Rating - This
session will cover all aspects of payments taxes and recoveries related
to unemployment and sickness benefits; and
-
Filing Internet Reports - This
session will demonstrate the RRB and RRBLINK Internet sites for employer
reporting.
If you did not receive registration material, the information is
available on the RRB website at
http://www.rrb.gov
or contact the Quality Reporting Service
Center (QRSC) and we can forward the registration material to you.
Reservations at the Radisson Hotel must also be made by July 3, 2003 to
guarantee the discounted room rate of $130.00. To make reservations, call
the Radisson Hotel (312) 787-2900 or access their web address and notify them that you are requesting a reservation for
the Railroad
Retirement Board seminar.
You can still register for the
seminar after July 3 but you may not get the schedule of your choice, due to
space limitations in the rooms.
Do not delay, register
today!!
New Benefit Year Begins
A new year under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act begins July 1, 2003 and will end June
30, 2004. To be qualified for normal railroad unemployment and/or sickness
benefits, an employee must have at least $2,750.00 in creditable earnings in
calendar year 2002, counting no more than $1,100.00 per month. If 2002 was
the employee's first year of covered employee service, he or she must also
have service in at least 5 months of 2002.
The maximum daily benefit rate
for unemployment and sickness benefits increases to $55.00 for registration
periods beginning after June 30, 2003.
Annuity EStimate
OPeration The Annuity EStimate OPeration
(AESOP) provides annuity estimates for all of the eligible employees for
covered employers and their subsidiaries. This type of information can be
very helpful with retirement planning.
The RRB will release employee
annuity estimates to employers later this summer. Employers can receive the
data in a paper format, on diskette or CD-ROM. If you do not currently
receive AESOP for your organization or want to change the format, contact:
Quality Reporting Service Center
Railroad Retirement Board
844 North Rush Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092
Change in Contact
Official Have there
been any personnel changes in your organization that affect employees
previously designated as contact officials with the RRB? If we are sending
correspondence to an incorrect or obsolete address or contact official,
please notify us immediately by completing a Form G-117a, “Designation of
Contact Officials”, and mail or fax it to our office. Current addresses and
contacts are essential in order for us to provide you with information
critical to your job.
CD-ROM Reporting
Program Employers…Do you file annual
service and compensation reports on paper? Do you want to save time? Do you
want to upgrade your system capabilities, reduce possible reporting errors,
and automate your employee records?
Then you want a copy of the
latest version of the RRB Employer Reporting PC Program on CD-ROM. This
year's annual reporting season is over and now
is a great time to automate your system for next year. We encourage you to
take advantage of this time and opportunity. Contact a Compensation
Reporting Specialist
Quality Reporting Service Center
Railroad Retirement Board
844 North Rush Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092
and request a copy of this program today!!!!!!!!!
Return to Service
Verification The RRB will
soon release Form GL-132, “Return to Service Questionnaire” to all employers
to verify whether your former employees are correctly receiving retirement
benefits. Annuitants who work for an employer covered under the Railroad
Retirement Act are not entitled to an annuity for that month. If you are
incorrectly crediting your former employees with service for vacation, pay
in lieu of a vacation period, back pay, or any payment not associated with
actual work or a negotiated agreement, you could subject them to unnecessary
overpayments in their benefit payments. Compensation can be credited when
paid, regardless of when the employee retires or resigns. Service months
must be credited when the service was performed. Therefore, no additional
service months can be credited after the employee physically stops working
and relinquishes his or her rights to work for your company. Please, adhere
to these concepts when completing the forms, and return them within 30 days
so that we can correct the annuitant's records as soon as possible.
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