§7412 — Title 38 Veterans' Benefits | U.S. Code

Summary

By September 30 each year, the Inspector General must identify and the Secretary must publish in the Federal Register at least the five clinical and five nonclinical jobs at each VA medical center that have the biggest staffing shortages, using data from the prior five years. If the Inspector General finds a job is short-staffed across the whole Department, the Secretary may, despite the normal civil service hiring rules, recruit and directly hire qualified people for that job during the fiscal year after the fiscal year in which the shortage was found.

Title 38, §7412

Veterans' Benefits — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Not later than September 30 of each year, the Inspector General of the Department shall determine, and the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register, at a minimum, the five clinical occupations and the five nonclinical occupations of personnel of this title of the Department covered under section 7401 of this title for which there are the largest staffing shortages with respect to each medical center of the Department, as calculated over the five-year period preceding the determination.

(b)Notwithstanding section 3304 and 3309 through 3318 of title 5, the Secretary may, upon a determination by the Inspector General under subsection (a) that there is a staffing shortage throughout the Department with respect to a particular occupation, recruit and directly appoint, during the fiscal year after the fiscal year during which such determination is made, qualified personnel to serve in that particular occupation for the Department.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–46 substituted “at a minimum, the five clinical occupations and the five nonclinical occupations” for “the five occupations” and “with respect to each medical center of the Department,” for “throughout the Department”. 2016—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 114–315 substituted “under subsection (a)” for “under paragraph (1)”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Deadline for First Determination Pub. L. 113–146, title III, § 301(a)(3), Aug. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 1784, provided that: “Notwithstanding the deadline under section 7412 of title 38, United States Code, as added by paragraph (1), for the annual determination of staffing shortages in the Veterans Health Administration, the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall make the first determination required under such section, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall publish in the Federal Register such determination, by not later than the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 7, 2014].”

§7412 Annual Determination of Staffing Shortages; Recruitment and Appointment for Needed Occupations