[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 167 (Monday, August 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59251-59253]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-20675]
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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
Summary: In accordance with the requirement of Section 3506
(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which provides
opportunity for public comment on new or revised data collections, the
Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will publish periodic summaries of
proposed data collections.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed information
collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information has practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the RRB's estimate of the burden of the collection
of the information; (c) ways to enhance
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the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (d) ways to minimize the burden related to the collection of
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Title and purpose of information collection: Vocational Report; OMB
3220-0141.
Section 2 of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) provides for payment
of disability annuities to qualified employees and widow(ers). The
establishment of permanent disability for work in the applicant's
``regular occupation'' or for work in any regular employment is
prescribed in 20 CFR 220.12 and 220.13 respectively.
The RRB utilizes Form G-251, Vocational Report, to obtain an
applicant's work history. This information is used by the RRB to
determine the effect of a disability on an applicant's ability to work.
Form G-251 is designed for use with the RRB's disability benefit
application forms and is provided to all applicants for employee
disability annuities and to those applicants for a widow(er)'s
disability annuity who indicate that they have been employed at some
time.
The RRB recently received short-term approval of a Request for
Emergency Clearance from the Office of Management and Budget for this
information collection. In response to that request the RRB received
comments from 3 railroad labor organizations commenting on the RRB's
action. The comments centered on the collection of information
associated with the following items:
Item 12, ``Describe the essential duties of the
position'': Comments received preferred the use of the term ``basic''
rather than ``essential'' stating the use of ``essential'' duties ``is
subjective, and could mislead an employee to inadvertently fail to list
something that may be significant to the Board's examiner.''
Item 13, ``Describe the environmental conditions that the
position exposes you to'': Comments received preferred the use of the
term ``hazards'' rather than ``conditions'' stating that the use of the
term ``conditions'' may lead the employee respondent and the RRB claim
examiners to different conclusions simply by changing the terms used,
i.e., ``a hazard explains a present danger, or more importantly, a risk
to the employee's life, health or safety. A condition, on the other
hand, could be anything that either carries risk with it or is benign
in nature.''
Item 14, ``Indicate below the kind and amount of physical
activity this job involved during a typical 8-hour workday'': Comments
received stated that many railroad operating employees do not have a
routine day or typical work day and that the question does not
adequately provide for employees ``who are subject to duty periods of
12 hours.''
Item 15, ``Has your employer made permanent adjustments to
this job to accommodate you'': Comments ranged from the question ``asks
an employee to speculate on the kind of accommodations an employer has
made to accommodate them'' to ``employees may receive informal or
temporary accommodations that do not rise to the level of a permanent
accommodation.'' Additional comments expressed concern that RRB
examiners may interpret non-permanent accommodations as an indicator
that an employee may not have a disability.
RRB staff responded to the railroad labor organizations' comments,
specifically with regard to:
Item 12: Whereas it was acknowledged that the use of
either term ``essential'' or ``basic'' can be subjective, the RRB
decided to use the term ``essential'' to address any allegations that
the RRB awards disability benefits to individuals if they are incapable
of performing a simple non-essential task. If a duty is unintentionally
omitted, the RRB believes the information requested in subsequent
questions 13 and 14 will capture that information. Lastly, the RRB
assured commenters that the appropriate legal standard will be applied
when adjudicating a disability application.
Item 13: Use of the term ``conditions'' provides an RRB
claims examiner with all the environmental conditions that an applicant
is exposed to, not just the environmental hazards. It is intended to be
inclusive and capture the essence of all experiences at work, whether
they are hazardous or benign in nature.
Item 14: The purpose of the question is to provide the RRB
examiner with an understanding of the types of physical activities
required in the performance of the applicant's jobs. The RRB uses 8
hours as the typical work schedule to estimate the hours worked daily
by an employee. However, the instructions to Item 14 provide the
employee the option to check the exact number of hours worked daily.
Item 15: A work accommodation can be relevant in
determining whether an individual is disabled. The RRB determined,
consistent with RRB Legal Opinion 98-15, that accommodations are to be
taken into consideration if they are essential to the performance of
the employee's particular occupation and only if the accommodated job
was performed consistently for at least 5 years. Item 15, allows the
RRB to gather specific information about whether accommodations
provided should be considered in accordance with Legal Opinion 98-15.
Applicants are not asked to speculate about accommodations, but to
provide information about accommodations actually put into effect.
After a careful and thorough evaluation of the comments received,
the RRB is now moving forward with a standard renewal of the
information collection. No changes are proposed to Form G-251.
Completion is required to obtain or retain a benefit. One response is
requested of each respondent.
Estimate of Annual Respondent Burden
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Annual Time Burden
Form No. responses (minutes) (hours)
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G-251 (with assistance)......................................... 5,730 40 3,820
G-251 (without assistance)...................................... 270 50 225
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Total....................................................... 6,000 .............. 4,045
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Additional Information or Comments: To request more information or
to obtain a copy of the information collection justification, forms,
and/or supporting material, contact Dana Hickman at (312) 751-4981 or
[email protected]. Comments regarding the information collection
should be addressed to Charles
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Mierzwa, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago,
Illinois 60611-2092 or emailed to [email protected]. Written
comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.
Charles Mierzwa,
Chief of Information Resources Management.
[FR Doc. 2016-20675 Filed 8-26-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-P