38 U.S.C. § 7456: Nurses: special rules for…

Summary

The Secretary may treat nurses who work two scheduled 12-hour shifts between midnight Friday and midnight the following Sunday as if they worked a full 40-hour basic workweek for most purposes. This does not change how full-time equivalent employees are counted for staff limits. The hourly basic pay for those weekend 12-hour shifts is the nurse’s annual pay divided by 1,248. If the nurse works more than the two scheduled weekend shifts, overtime pay under applicable law is due for work over eight hours on a day that is not Saturday or Sunday, or for more than 24 hours during the Friday-to-Sunday period. Nurses do not get extra pay for hours that are part of a scheduled 12-hour shift unless the Secretary approves overtime pay for hours that push the nurse over 40 in the administrative workweek. The Secretary must make rules to carry out these provisions.

Title 38, §7456

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(a)Subject to subsection (b), if the Secretary determines it to be necessary in order to obtain or retain the services of nurses at any Department health-care facility, the Secretary may provide, in the case of nurses appointed under this chapter and employed at such facility, that such nurses who work two regularly scheduled 12-hour tours of duty within the period commencing at midnight Friday and ending at midnight the following Sunday shall be considered for all purposes (except computation of full-time equivalent employees for the purposes of determining compliance with personnel ceilings) to have worked a full 40-hour basic workweek.

(b)(1)Basic and additional pay for a nurse who is considered under subsection (a) to have worked a full 40-hour basic workweek shall be subject to paragraphs (2) and (3).

(2)The hourly rate of basic pay for such a nurse for service performed as part of a regularly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty within the period commencing at midnight Friday and ending at midnight the following Sunday shall be derived by dividing the nurse’s annual rate of basic pay by 1,248.

(3)(A)Such a nurse who performs a period of service in excess of such nurse’s regularly scheduled two 12-hour tours of duty is entitled to overtime pay under section 7453(e) of this title, or other applicable law, for officially ordered or approved service performed in excess of eight hours on a day other than a Saturday or Sunday or in excess of 24 hours within the period commencing at midnight Friday and ending at midnight the following Sunday.

(B)Except as provided in subparagraph (C), a nurse to whom this subsection is applicable is not entitled to additional pay under section 7453 of this title, or other applicable law, for any period included in a regularly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty.

(C)If the Secretary determines it to be further necessary in order to obtain or retain the services of nurses at a particular facility, a nurse to whom this paragraph is applicable who performs service in excess of such nurse’s regularly scheduled two 12-hour tours of duty may be paid overtime pay under section 7453(e) of this title, or other applicable law, for all or part of the hours of officially ordered or approved service performed by such nurse in excess of 40 hours during an administrative workweek.

(c)The Secretary shall prescribe regulations for the implementation of this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 4107(h) of this title prior to the repeal of that section as part of the complete revision of chapter 73 of this title by Pub. L. 102–40.

Amendments

2010—Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 111–163 redesignated subsec. (d) as (c) and struck out former subsec. (c) which read as follows: “A nurse described in subsection (b)(1) who is absent on approved sick leave or annual leave during a regularly scheduled 12-hour tour of duty shall be charged for such leave at a rate of five hours of leave for three hours of absence.”

§7456 Nurses: Special Rules for Weekend Duty