Employers and employees covered by the Railroad Retirement Act pay higher retirement taxes than those covered by the Social Security Act. As a result, Railroad Retirement benefits are higher than Social Security benefits, especially for “career” employees (those employees who [...]
Medicare pays for an Annual Wellness Visit (AWV). It’s an awesome free preventive service that so many Medicare patients have not been taking advantage of. Since the onset of COVID-19, the number of AWVs being performed has fallen drastically, as many people have chosen to pu [...]
The Railroad Retirement Board’s Customer Service Plan promotes the following principles of quality public service: openness, accessibility, accountability, feedback and timeliness standards. An important part of the Customer Service Plan is its pledge to inform beneficiaries [...]
National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes was a guest on the labor-oriented Rick Smith Show on Feb. 24 where he discussed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this week that threw out the Federal Railroad Administration’s negative preemption claim which w [...]
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Feb. 23, 2021) — Two of the country’s largest freight railroad unions achieved a favorable decision in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday regarding an attempt by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to preempt legislation passed by a number of [...]
While we are coming up to the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus being present in the United States, we are happy to report that Medicare is taking action with the administration of the coronavirus vaccine across the country. As the vaccinations roll out, we are receivin [...]
Dear members of the SMART Transportation Division: Thousands of our brothers and sisters in Texas are struggling with the effects of the winter storm that devastated the state’s infrastructure this month. Many people throughout the state — from big cities to rural areas — are [...]
Under the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA), a “current connection with the railroad industry” is one of the eligibility requirements for both the occupational disability and supplemental annuities payable by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). It is also a factor in determining [...]
Brothers and Sisters, It has been one challenging year for us all and many of you have been hit extremely hard by COVID-19 – if not by the virus itself, by the impact it has had on the railroad industry. As you may have heard, Congress recently enacted legislation to pr [...]
Brothers and sisters, The losses and challenges of 2020 have tested us — yet, in the very definition of unity, we’ve stuck together. I could not be prouder of our organization as we look ahead to a new year. We never shied away from anything the past year threw at us. We stoo [...]