38 U.S.C. § 7457 — On-call pay

Page 1254 TITLE 38—VETERANS’ BENEFITS § 7457 (3) A nurse who works a work schedule de- scribed in this subsection who is absent on ap- proved sick leave or annual leave during a scheduled 12-hour tour of duty shall be charged for such leave at a rate of ten hours of leave for every nine hours of absence. (c) HOLIDAY PAY.—A nurse working a work schedule under subsection (b) that includes a holiday designated by law or Executive order shall be eligible for holiday pay under section 7453(d) of this title for any service performed by the nurse on such holiday under such section. (d) 9-MONTH WORK SCHEDULE FOR CERTAIN NURSES.—(1) The Secretary may authorize a reg- istered nurse appointed under section 7405 of this title, with the nurse’s written consent, to work full time for nine months with 3 months off duty, within a fiscal year, and be paid at 75 percent of the full-time rate for such nurse’s grade for each pay period of such fiscal year. (2) A nurse who works under the authority in paragraph (1) shall be considered a 0.75 full-time equivalent employee in computing full-time equivalent employees for the purposes of deter- mining compliance with personnel ceilings. (3) Work under this subsection shall be consid- ered part-time service for purposes of computing benefits under chapters 83 and 84 of title 5. (4) A nurse who works under the authority in paragraph (1) shall be considered a full-time em- ployee for purposes of chapter 89 of title 5. (e) NOTIFICATION OF MODIFICATION OF BENE- FITS.—The Secretary shall provide each em- ployee with respect to whom an alternate work schedule under this section may apply written notice of the effect, if any, that the alternate work schedule will have on the employee’s health care premium, retirement, life insurance premium, probationary status, or other benefit or condition of employment. The notice shall be provided not later than 14 days before the em- ployee consents to the alternate work schedule. (f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall pre- scribe regulations to carry out this section. (Added Pub. L. 108–445, § 4(a)(1), Dec. 3, 2004, 118 Stat. 2643; amended Pub. L. 111–163, title VI, § 602(c), May 5, 2010, 124 Stat. 1173.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2010—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 111–163, § 602(c)(2)(A), sub- stituted ‘‘72/80’’ for ‘‘36/40’’ in heading. Subsec. (b)(1)(A). Pub. L. 111–163, § 602(c)(1), sub- stituted ‘‘six regularly scheduled 12-hour tours of duty within a 14-day period shall be considered for all pur- poses to have worked a full 80-hour pay period.’’ for ‘‘three regularly scheduled 12-hour tours of duty within a work week shall be considered for all purposes to have worked a full 40-hour basic work week.’’ Subsec. (b)(2)(A). Pub. L. 111–163, § 602(c)(2)(B), sub- stituted ‘‘80-hour pay period’’ for ‘‘40-hour basic work week’’. Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 111–163, § 602(c)(2)(C), struck out ‘‘regularly’’ before ‘‘scheduled 12-hour tour’’. § 7457. On-call pay (a) The Secretary may pay an employee to whom this section applies pay at the rate pro- vided in section 7453(h) of this title except for such time as the employee may be called back to work. (b) This section applies to an employee who meets each of the following criteria: (1) The employee is employed in a position listed in paragraph (3) of section 7401 of this title or meets the criteria specified in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of section 7455(a)(2)(B) of this title. (2) The employee is employed in a work unit for which on-call premium pay is authorized. (3) The employee is officially scheduled to be on call outside such employee’s regular hours or on a holiday designated by Federal statute or Executive order. (c) An employee who is eligible for on-call pay under subsection (a) and who was receiving standby premium pay pursuant to section 5545 of title 5 on May 20, 1988, shall, as long as such em- ployee is employed in the same position and work unit and remains eligible for such standby pay, receive pay for any period of on-call duty at the rate equal to the greater of— (1) the rate of pay which such employee would receive if being paid the rate of standby pay pursuant to such section that such indi- vidual would be entitled to receive if such in- dividual were not scheduled to be on call in- stead, or (2) the rate of pay which such employee is entitled to receive including on-call premium pay described in subsection (a). (Added Pub. L. 102–40, title IV, § 401(b)(4), May 7, 1991, 105 Stat. 236.) Editorial Notes PRIOR PROVISIONS Provisions similar to those in this section were con- tained in section 4107(j) of this title prior to the repeal of that section as part of the complete revision of chap- ter 73 of this title by Pub. L. 102–40. § 7458. Recruitment and retention bonus pay (a)(1) In order to recruit and retain registered nurses, the Secretary may enter into agree- ments under this section. Such an agreement may be entered into with any registered nurse who is employed at, or who agrees to accept em- ployment with the Department at, a Depart- ment health-care facility that is designated by the Secretary as a health-care facility with a significant shortage in registered nurses in any clinical service. (2) A registered nurse entering into an agree- ment under this section shall agree to remain employed by the Department as a registered nurse for a period of time to be specified in the agreement and to serve during that period in a specific health-care facility that is designated by the Secretary as a health-care facility with a significant shortage of registered nurses in that nurse’s clinical service. Such period may not be less than two years or more than four years. Such employment during such period may be on a full-time basis or a part-time basis, as speci- fied in the agreement. Part-time employment as specified in such an agreement may not be less than half-time. (b)(1) The Secretary shall pay to any nurse en- tering into an agreement under this section bonus pay in an amount specified in the agree-