38 U.S.C. § 7452 — Nurses and other health-care personnel: administration of pay

submitted 36 years ago by Pub. L. 101-366 to r/title-38-VETERANS-BENEFITS · 1,325 words · no verdicts yet

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This law spells out how the VA raises pay for promoted or specially skilled health workers. Directors can offer bonuses, higher starting pay, and pay protection for transfers under certain conditions. Nurse executives can also get special pay of $10,000 to $100,000 a year.

(a) Promotions and head nurses. When an employee in a covered position gets a new job assignment that counts as a promotion, that employee's pay must go up by at least one step within the new grade. A nurse who serves as head nurse gets paid two steps above what the nurse would otherwise earn while serving in that role — even if that means creating extra steps above the normal top step just for this purpose. The usual 133%/175% cap on the top pay for a grade does not limit this head-nurse pay bump. Any employee promoted to a higher grade must be paid more than they earned the day before the promotion took effect. (b) Certification and performance bonuses. A facility director must pay a cash bonus, up to $2,000, to an employee who becomes certified in a Department-recognized specialty — the exact amount is up to the director. The director may also give a bonus to an employee who has shown both excellent job performance and excellent achievement. This bonus authority is on top of any other performance-incentive power the Secretary already has, and the Secretary must discuss how these bonuses are used in an annual report. (c) Special starting pay for hard-to-fill jobs. Normally a new hire's pay rate needs approval from higher up. But a facility director can skip that approval and set a new employee's starting pay above the grade's minimum — though never above the grade's maximum — when the director decides it is necessary to fill a vacancy. This shortcut is only for recruiting people with specialized, especially difficult or in-demand skills. Whenever a director uses it, the director must write down the reasons and keep that record on file, and must justify the higher pay in the facility's next budget submission to the Secretary. (d) Raising co-workers' pay too. If a director gives one new hire this special above-minimum pay because of specialized skills, the director may also — again without needing prior approval — raise the pay of other employees already working in that same grade and job who need those same specialized skills. That raise lasts only as long as the employee keeps working in a position that requires those skills. (e) Protecting pay after a transfer. An employee who transfers, without a break in service, from one Department facility to another cannot be dropped in grade or step just because of the transfer (unless it's a disciplinary action) — as long as the new job's duties are similar to the old one. The new facility sets the employee's pay the way it normally would for that grade and step. But if the Secretary specifically requested the transfer, the Secretary can let the employee keep being paid at their old, higher rate for at least the first year, if the Secretary decides that is necessary to fill the position. The Secretary must explain any such decision in the next annual report. (f) Definition. "Covered position" means whatever it means in section 7451. (g) Nurse executive special pay. To recruit and keep top nurse executives, the Secretary can pay special pay — between $10,000 and $100,000 — to the nurse executive at each Department health-care facility and at the Central Office. The amount depends on things like the position's grade, its complexity, the executive's own qualifications, the facility's characteristics, how many specialty care units it has, and how hard it has been to recruit and keep nurse executives there. This special pay counts as pay for most purposes, including retirement benefits, but it does not count as basic pay when deciding adverse actions against the employee.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a)

(1)

Regulations prescribed under section 7451(a) of this title shall provide that whenever an employee in a covered position is given a new duty assignment which is a promotion, the rate of basic pay of that employee shall be increased at least one step increment in that employee’s grade.

(2)

A nurse serving in a head nurse position shall while so serving receive basic pay at a rate two step increments above the rate that would otherwise be applicable to the nurse. If such a nurse is in the highest or next-to-highest step for that nurse’s grade, the preceding sentence shall be applied by extrapolation to create additional steps only for the purposes of this paragraph. The limitation in section 7451(c)(1) of this title shall not apply with respect to increased basic pay under this paragraph.

(3)

An employee in a covered position who is promoted to the next higher grade shall be paid in that grade at a step having a rate of basic pay that is greater than the rate of basic pay applicable to the employee in a covered position on the day before the effective date of the promotion.

(b)

(1)

Under regulations which the Secretary prescribes for the administration of this section, the director of a Department health-care facility (A) shall pay a cash bonus (in an amount to be determined by the director not to exceed $2,000) to an employee in a covered position at that facility who becomes certified in a specialty recognized by the Department, and (B) may provide such a bonus to an employee in such a position who has demonstrated both exemplary job performance and exemplary job achievement. The authority of the Secretary under this subsection is in addition to any other authority of the Secretary to provide job performance incentives.

(2)

The Secretary shall include in the annual report under section 7451(g) 1 of this title a discussion of the use during the period covered by the report of the payment of bonuses under this subsection and other job performance incentives available to the Secretary.

(c)

(1)

The Secretary shall provide (in regulations prescribed for the administration of this section) that the director of a Department health-care facility, in making a new appointment of a person under section 7401(1) of this title as an employee in a covered position for employment at that facility, may make that appointment at a rate of pay described in paragraph (3) without being subject to a requirement for prior approval at any higher level of authority within the Department in any case in which the director determines that it is necessary to do so in order to obtain the services of employees in covered positions in cases in which vacancies exist at that health-care facility.

(2)

Such a determination may be made by the director of a health-care facility only in order to recruit employees in covered positions with specialized skills, especially employees with skills which are especially difficult or demanding.

(3)

A rate of pay referred to in paragraph (1) is a rate of basic pay in excess of the minimum rate of basic pay applicable to the grade in which the appointment is made (but not in excess of the maximum rate of basic pay for that grade).

(4)

Whenever the director of a health-care facility makes an appointment described in paragraph (1) without prior approval at a higher level of authority within the Department, the director shall—

(A)

state in a document the reasons for employing the employee in a covered position at a rate of pay in excess of the minimum rate of basic pay applicable to the grade in which the employee is appointed (and retain that document on file); and

(B)

in the first budget documents submitted to the Secretary by the director after the employee is employed, include documentation for the need for such increased rates of basic pay described in clause (A).

(5)

Whenever the director of a health-care facility makes an appointment described in paragraph (1) on the basis of a determination described in paragraph (2), the covered employee appointed may continue to receive pay at a rate higher than that which would otherwise be applicable to that employee only so long as the employee continues to serve in a position requiring the specialized skills with respect to which the determination was made.

(d)

Whenever the director of a health-care facility makes an appointment described in subsection (c)(1), the director may (without a regard to any requirement for prior approval at any higher level of authority within the Department) increase the rate of pay of other employees in the same covered position at that facility who are in the grade in which the appointment is made and are serving in a position requiring the specialized skills with respect to which the determination under subsection (c)(2) concerning the appointment was made. Any such increase shall continue in effect with respect to any employee only so long as the employee continues to serve in such a position.

(e)

An employee in a covered position employed under section 7401(1) of this title who (without a break in employment) transfers from one Department health-care facility to another may not be reduced in grade or step within grade (except pursuant to a disciplinary action otherwise authorized by law) if the duties of the position to which the employee transfers are similar to the duties of the position from which the employee transferred. The rate of basic pay of such employee shall be established at the new health-care facility in a manner consistent with the practices at that facility for an employee of that grade and step, except that in the case of an employee whose transfer (other than pursuant to a disciplinary action otherwise authorized by law) to another health-care facility is at the request of the Secretary, the Secretary may provide that for at least the first year following such transfer the employee shall be paid at a rate of basic pay up to the rate applicable to such employee before the transfer, if the Secretary determines that such rate of pay is necessary to fill the position. Whenever the Secretary exercises the authority under the preceding sentence relating to the rate of basic pay of a transferred employee, the Secretary shall, in the next annual report required under section 7451(g) ¹ of this title, provide justification for doing so.

(f)

In this section, the term “covered position” has the meaning given that term in section 7451 of this title.

(g)

(1)

In order to recruit and retain highly qualified Department nurse executives, the Secretary may, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary, pay special pay to the nurse executive at each location as follows:

(A)

Each Department health care facility.

(B)

The Central Office.

(2)

The amount of special pay paid to a nurse executive under paragraph (1) shall be not less than $10,000 or more than $100,000.

(3)

The amount of special pay paid to a nurse executive under paragraph (1) shall be based on factors such as the grade of the nurse executive position, the scope and complexity of the nurse executive position, the personal qualifications of the nurse executive, the characteristics of the health care facility concerned, the nature and number of specialty care units at the health care facility concerned, demonstrated difficulties in recruitment and retention of nurse executives at the health care facility concerned, and such other factors as the Secretary considers appropriate.

(4)

Special pay paid to a nurse executive under paragraph (1) shall be in addition to any other pay (including basic pay) and allowances to which the nurse executive is entitled, and shall be considered pay for all purposes, including retirement benefits under chapters 83 and 84 of title 5, and other benefits, but shall not be considered basic pay for purposes of adverse actions under subchapter V of this chapter.

Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 101–366, title I, § 102(b), Aug. 15, 1990, 104 Stat. 435, § 4142; renumbered § 7452 and amended Pub. L. 102–40, title III, § 301(d), title IV, § 401(c)(1)(A), (3), May 7, 1991, 105 Stat. 208, 238; Pub. L. 102–585, title III, § 304(a), Nov. 4, 1992, 106 Stat. 4952; Pub. L. 108–445, § 5, Dec. 3, 2004, 118 Stat. 2645; Pub. L. 111–163, title VI, § 601(i), May 5, 2010, 124 Stat. 1170.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1990Enacted · Pub. L. 101-366 · 104 Stat. 435
1991Amended · Pub. L. 102-40 · 105 Stat. 208, 238
1992Amended · Pub. L. 102-585 · 106 Stat. 4952
2004Amended · Pub. L. 108-445 · 118 Stat. 2645
2010Amended · Pub. L. 111-163 · 124 Stat. 1170

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 101-366 on 1990-08-15.

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