§7423 Personnel administration: full-time employees

Summary

Full-time VA health workers who take paid professional work outside their VA duties must still be scheduled to work at least 80 hours every two weeks for their VA job. A VA physician can ask in writing to change that biweekly schedule to more or fewer hours, but for pay purposes they are still treated as having an 80-hour biweekly schedule. If a physician has an irregular schedule, they must account for at least 2,080 hours in a year by working or using leave or paid time off. The VA Secretary can make rules about these hours and can exclude certain senior or special hires from the 80-hour rule. Covered employees may not teach, consult, or accept outside payments if those activities conflict with their VA duties. They may not take Medicare, Medicaid, or similar payments for services done while doing VA work. They cannot accept outside travel pay beyond what federal travel rules allow. Others may not pay their malpractice insurance or professional dues for them, unless that payment is part of allowed outside work pay. They also may not do professional work to raise money for an affiliated institution’s fund or for personal gain. For funds set up before September 1, 1973, the affiliated school must report accounts twice a year to the VA and the Comptroller General and keep them open to audit for at least three years, and covered staff may not get cash from amounts tied to services done before that date. The law also requires the Secretary to set up optional leave-transfer and leave-bank programs like federal OPM programs for these health workers, and allows buying small promotional items for recruiting. Definitions: affiliated institution = a medical school or similar school that trains VA health staff under contract; remuneration = any money received from a non-VA source for professional work.