38 U.S.C. § 7453 — Nurses: additional pay

(a) In addition to basic pay, a full-time or part-time nurse receives the extra pay provided by this section. (b) A nurse who performs service during any part of the period from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. receives extra pay for each hour of that service at 10% of the nurse’s hourly basic-pay rate if at least four hours of the service fall in that period. If fewer than four hours fall in that period, the nurse receives the extra pay only for each hour worked during that period. (c) A nurse who performs service during any part of the period from midnight Friday to midnight Sunday receives extra pay for each hour of that service at 25% of the nurse’s hourly basic-pay rate. (d) For each hour a nurse performs service on a holiday designated by Federal statute or Executive order, the nurse receives the hourly basic-pay rate plus an additional amount equal to that rate. This includes overtime service. Any service that a nurse is required to perform on that holiday counts as at least two hours. (e)(1) A nurse who performs officially ordered or approved service beyond 40 hours in an administrative workweek or beyond eight consecutive hours receives overtime pay for each hour of that extra service. The overtime rate is one and one-half times the nurse’s hourly basic-pay rate. (e)(2) For this subsection, overtime must last at least 15 minutes in a day to count for overtime pay. (e)(3) The nurse may not receive compensatory time off instead of pay for service under this subsection, unless the nurse voluntarily requests that arrangement in writing. (e)(4) Extra service under this subsection on a day when the nurse was not scheduled to work, or extra service for which the nurse must return to the place of employment, counts as at least two hours. (e)(5) A nurse’s officially ordered or approved travel away from the nurse’s duty station does not count as service hours unless—(A) the travel occurs during the nurse’s service period; or (B) the travel (i) involves performing services while traveling, (ii) is incident to travel that involves performing services while traveling, (iii) takes place under arduous conditions determined by the Secretary^*, or (iv) results from an event that could not be scheduled or controlled administratively. (f) To calculate the extra pay under subsections (b), (c), (d), or (e), divide the nurse’s annual basic-pay rate by 2,080. The result is the nurse’s hourly basic-pay rate. (g) If a nurse qualifies for two or more kinds of extra pay under subsections (b), (c), (d), or (e) for the same service period, calculate each kind separately using the nurse’s hourly basic-pay rate. However, the nurse may not receive overtime pay under subsection (e) for overtime service performed on a holiday designated by Federal statute or Executive order in addition to the pay received under subsection (d) for that service. (h) A nurse who is officially scheduled to be on call outside the nurse’s regular hours or on a holiday designated by Federal statute or Executive order receives pay for each hour of on-call duty, except the time the nurse may be called back to work. That pay is 10% of the hourly rate for excess service provided under subsection (e). (i) Extra pay paid under this section is not treated as basic pay for the following title 5 provisions, or for any other provision of law about benefits based on basic pay: (1) subchapter VI of chapter 55; (2) section 5595; and (3) chapters 81, 83, 84, and 87. (j)(1) Despite any other law, and subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary may increase the extra-pay rates authorized by subsections (b) through (h) if the Secretary decides that an increase is necessary to obtain or retain nurses. (j)(2) An increase under paragraph (1) may be made at a particular Department^* health-care facility to give nurses, or a category of nurses, at that facility extra pay that is competitive with, but not greater than, the same type of pay given to the same category of nurses at non-Federal health-care facilities in the same geographic area. The comparison must use a reasonably representative sample of those non-Federal facilities. An increase may also be made nationwide, locally, or on another geographic basis if the Secretary finds that a review shows the increase is justified. That review must use a reasonably representative sample of non-Federal health-care facilities in the geographic area involved.