38 U.S.C. § 7456A — Nurses: alternate work schedules

Page 1253 TITLE 38—VETERANS’ BENEFITS § 7456A fairs with a copy of any written statement provided to the appropriate committees of the Congress that sets forth the reasons for disapproval of any proposed in- crease in rates of basic pay under this order. SEC. 5. In the case of any other law authorizing an- other agency to use the authority provided by section 7455 of title 38, United States Code, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall exercise the same authority in the same manner as provided for with respect to section 7455 under sections 1 through 4 of this order, and the head of such other agency shall provide information requested by the Director as pro- vided for in section 3 of this order. SEC. 6. Executive Order No. 12438 of August 23, 1983, is revoked. SEC. 7. This order shall be effective upon publication in the Federal Register. GEORGE BUSH. § 7456. Nurses: special rules for weekend duty (a) Subject to subsection (b), if the Secretary determines it to be necessary in order to obtain or retain the services of nurses at any Depart- ment health-care facility, the Secretary may provide, in the case of nurses appointed under this chapter and employed at such facility, that such nurses who work two regularly scheduled 12-hour tours of duty within the period com- mencing at midnight Friday and ending at mid- night the following Sunday shall be considered for all purposes (except computation of full-time equivalent employees for the purposes of deter- mining compliance with personnel ceilings) to have worked a full 40-hour basic workweek. (b)(1) Basic and additional pay for a nurse who is considered under subsection (a) to have worked a full 40-hour basic workweek shall be subject to paragraphs (2) and (3). (2) The hourly rate of basic pay for such a nurse for service performed as part of a regu- larly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty within the period commencing at midnight Friday and end- ing at midnight the following Sunday shall be derived by dividing the nurse’s annual rate of basic pay by 1,248. (3)(A) Such a nurse who performs a period of service in excess of such nurse’s regularly sched- uled two 12-hour tours of duty is entitled to overtime pay under section 7453(e) of this title, or other applicable law, for officially ordered or approved service performed in excess of eight hours on a day other than a Saturday or Sunday or in excess of 24 hours within the period com- mencing at midnight Friday and ending at mid- night the following Sunday. (B) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), a nurse to whom this subsection is applicable is not entitled to additional pay under section 7453 of this title, or other applicable law, for any pe- riod included in a regularly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty. (C) If the Secretary determines it to be further necessary in order to obtain or retain the serv- ices of nurses at a particular facility, a nurse to whom this paragraph is applicable who performs service in excess of such nurse’s regularly sched- uled two 12-hour tours of duty may be paid over- time pay under section 7453(e) of this title, or other applicable law, for all or part of the hours of officially ordered or approved service per- formed by such nurse in excess of 40 hours dur- ing an administrative workweek. (c) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations for the implementation of this section. (Added Pub. L. 102–40, title IV, § 401(b)(4), May 7, 1991, 105 Stat. 235; amended Pub. L. 111–163, title VI, § 602(b), May 5, 2010, 124 Stat. 1173.) Editorial Notes PRIOR PROVISIONS Provisions similar to those in this section were con- tained in section 4107(h) 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. AMENDMENTS 2010—Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 111–163 redesignated subsec. (d) as (c) and struck out former subsec. (c) which read as follows: ‘‘A nurse described in subsection (b)(1) who is absent on approved sick leave or annual leave during a regularly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty shall be charged for such leave at a rate of five hours of leave for three hours of absence.’’ § 7456A. Nurses: alternate work schedules (a) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to registered nurses appointed under this chapter. (b) 72/80 WORK SCHEDULE.—(1)(A) Subject to paragraph (2), if the Secretary determines it to be necessary in order to obtain or retain the services of registered nurses at any Department health-care facility, the Secretary may provide, in the case of nurses employed at such facility, that such nurses who work six regularly sched- uled 12-hour tours of duty within a 14-day period shall be considered for all purposes to have worked a full 80-hour pay period. (B) A nurse who works under the authority in subparagraph (A) shall be considered a 0.90 full- time equivalent employee in computing full- time equivalent employees for the purposes of determining compliance with personnel ceilings. (2)(A) Basic and additional pay for a nurse who is considered under paragraph (1) to have worked a full 80-hour pay period shall be subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C). (B) The hourly rate of basic pay for a nurse covered by this paragraph for service performed as part of a regularly scheduled 36-hour tour of duty within the work week shall be derived by dividing the nurse’s annual rate of basic pay by 1,872. (C) The Secretary shall pay overtime pay to a nurse covered by this paragraph who— (i) performs a period of service in excess of such nurse’s regularly scheduled 36-hour tour of duty within an administrative work week; (ii) for officially ordered or approved service, performs a period of service in excess of 8 hours on a day other than a day on which such nurse’s regularly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty falls; (iii) performs a period of service in excess of 12 hours for any day included in the regularly scheduled 36-hour tour of duty work week; or (iv) performs a period of service in excess of 40 hours during an administrative work week. (D) The Secretary may provide a nurse to whom this subsection applies with additional pay under section 7453 of this title for any period included in a regularly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty. 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-