§7458 Recruitment and retention bonus pay

Summary

The Secretary may pay recruiting and retention bonuses to registered nurses who work, or agree to work, at VA health-care facilities that the Secretary says have a serious shortage of nurses in a clinical area. A nurse who takes a bonus must agree to work for 2 to 4 years at that facility. Work can be full-time or part-time, but part-time must be at least half-time. The bonus cannot be more than $2,000 per year for a 2-year deal, $3,000 per year for a 3-year deal, or $4,000 per year for a 4-year deal, and it is cut proportionally if the job is less than full-time. Bonuses are normally paid in equal amounts after each year of service, but up to 25 percent of the total may be paid as a lump sum at the start. The bonus is extra pay and is not treated as basic pay for retirement, disability, or similar benefit calculations. The Secretary will pick which facilities and services have shortages at least once a year and tell the Veterans’ Affairs Committees. The Secretary can offer the same kind of agreements to other health workers when needed, unless those jobs already have a special pay program. If a person leaves early by choice or for misconduct, they must repay the portion of the bonus that exceeds what they earned for the time they actually served; if they served less than two years they must repay the whole amount unless the Secretary finds that forces beyond their control caused the break. The rules and repayment terms must be written in the agreement, and the Secretary will make regulations to run the program.