2016-10034. 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 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: Job Information Report, OMB 3220-0193. The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) occupational disability standards allow the RRB to request job information from railroad employers to determine an applicant's eligibility for an occupational disability.

To determine an occupational disability, the RRB must obtain the employee's work history and establish if the employee is precluded from performing his or her regular railroad occupation. This is accomplished by comparing the restrictions caused by the impairment(s) against the employee's ability to perform his or her job duties.

To collect the information needed to determine the effect of a disability on an employee applicant's ability to work, the RRB utilizes Form G-251, Vocational Report (OMB 3220-0141) which is completed by the applicant. When an employee files an application for an occupational disability, the RRB currently releases either Form G-251a, Employer Job Information, along with a generic position description for their current railroad job or Form G-251b, Employer Job Information, (when no generic position description is available) to their employer requesting pertinent job duty information. The employer is given thirty days from the date the forms are released to respond. If the job information is received timely, it is compared to the job information provided by the employee on the G-251, reconciled (if needed), and then used to compare to the restrictions caused by the medical impairment. If the restrictions prohibit the performance of the regular railroad occupation, the claimant is found occupationally disabled. Completion of Form G-251a and G-251b is voluntary.

Extensive changes are proposed to the current information collection process in support of the RRB's Disability Program Improvement Project to enhance/improve disability case processing and overall program integrity as recommended by the RRB's Office of Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office.

The RRB proposes to obsolete current Forms G-251a and G-251b, which request a narrative response and replace them with the implementation of a new version of Form G-251a, which will utilize a combined narrative/structured question and answer format.

Proposed Form G-251a will request railroad employers to provide information regarding whether the employee has been medically disqualified from their railroad occupation; a summary of the employee's duties; the machinery, tools and equipment used by the employee; the environmental conditions under which the employee performs their duties; all sensory requirements (vision, hearing, speech) needed to perform the employee's duties; the physical actions and amount of time (frequency) allotted for those actions that may be required by the employee to perform their duties during a typical work day; any permanent working accommodations an employer may have made due to the employee's disability; as well as any other relevant information they may choose to include. Completion is voluntary.

Estimate of Annual Respondent Burden

Form No.	Annual responses	Time (minutes)	Burden (hours)
G-251a	500	60	500

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 [phone] or [e-mail]. Comments regarding the information collection should be addressed to Charles Mierzwa, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-1275 or emailed to [e-mail]. Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

Charles Mierzwa,

Chief of Information Resources Management.