# § 353. Qualifying condition
section 351(i) of this title
An employee shall be a “qualified employee” if the Board finds that his compensation with respect to the base year will have been not less than 2.5 times the monthly compensation base for months in such base year as computed under , and, if such employee has had no compensation prior to such year, that he will have had compensation with respect to each of not less than five months in such year.
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**Source Credit**: (June 25, 1938, ch. 680, § 3, 52 Stat. 1097; June 20, 1939, ch. 227, § 10, 53 Stat. 845; Oct. 10, 1940, ch. 842, § 13, 54 Stat. 1097; July 31, 1946, ch. 709, § 308, 60 Stat. 737; May 15, 1952, ch. 290, § 2, 66 Stat. 73; Aug. 31, 1954, ch. 1164, pt. III, § 303, 68 Stat. 1041; Pub. L. 86–28, pt. III, § 304, May 19, 1959, 73 Stat. 31; Pub. L. 88–133, title III, § 301(a), Oct. 5, 1963, 77 Stat. 222; Pub. L. 90–257, title II, § 203, Feb. 15, 1968, 82 Stat. 24; Pub. L. 94–92, title I, § 1(f), Aug. 9, 1975, 89 Stat. 463; Pub. L. 98–76, title IV, § 411(a)(2), Aug. 12, 1983, 97 Stat. 436; Pub. L. 100–647, title VII, § 7202(a), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3776.)
## Editorial Notes
### Amendments
1988— inserted “with respect to the base year” after “his compensation” and substituted “2.5 times the monthly compensation base for months in such base year as computed under ” for “$1,500 with respect to the base year”.
1983— substituted “$1,500” for “$1,000”.
1975— substituted “five” for “seven” months.
1968— substituted “$1,000” for “$750”.
1963— increased from $500 to $750 the amount of compensation in a base year required to qualify for benefits and provided that if employee has had no compensation prior to such year he will have had compensation with respect to each of not less than 7 months in such year.
1959— substituted “$500” for “$400”.
1954—Act , substituted “$400” for “$300”.
1952—Act , substituted “$300” for “$150” to conform to the new table of daily benefit rates as set out in .
1946—Act , changed section to relate to compensation paid instead of compensation earned during a year.
1940—Act , reorganized structure by striking out designations for subsecs. “(a)” and “(b)” and, as so restructured, provisions of former subsec. (a) became entire section and defined “qualified employee” and provisions of former subsec. (b), which related to the employee’s waiting period, were omitted.
1939—Subsec. (b). Act , substituted provisions relating to half-months as the waiting period, for provisions relating to fifteen consecutive days of unemployment or two half months.
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Effective Date of 1988 Amendment
> “The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [
>
> ].”
, , , provided that:
### Effective Date of 1983 Amendment
Amendment by applicable to compensation paid for services rendered after , see , set out as a note under .
### Effective Date of 1975 Amendment
Amendment by effective for services rendered after , see , set out as a note under .
### Effective Date of 1968 Amendment
Amendment by effective with respect to base years beginning in calendar years after , except that with respect to the base year in calendar year 1967 such amendments not to be applicable to an employee whose compensation with respect to that base year was not less than $750 but was less than $1,000, see , set out as a note under .
### Effective Date of 1963 Amendment
> “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall be fully effective with respect to base years after 1963. With respect to the base year 1963, they shall be applicable only to an employee concerning whom the Railroad Retirement Board finds that his compensation in that portion of the calendar year 1963 preceding the first day of the calendar month next following the month of enactment of this Act [October 1963] will have been less than $500.”
, , , provided that:
### Effective Date of 1959 Amendment
Amendment by effective with respect to base years after the base year ending , see , set out as a note under .
### Effective Date of 1954 Amendment
Amendment by act , effective , see section 401 of act , set out as a note under .
### Effective Date of 1952 Amendment
Amendment by act , effective with respect to benefit years beginning on and after , see section 3 of act , set out as a note under .
### Effective Date of 1946 Amendment
Amendment by act , effective , see section 403 of act , set out as a note under .
### Effective Date of 1940 Amendment
For effective date of amendment by act , see section 1 of act , set out as a note under .