II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2151

To provide a temporary authority for the use of voluntary separation incentives by Department of Veterans Affairs offices that are reducing employment levels, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 27, 1996

Mr. SIMPSON (by request) introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

A BILL

To provide a temporary authority for the use of voluntary

separation incentives by Department of Veterans Affairs

offices that are reducing employment levels, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 That except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in

4 this Act an amendment is expressed in terms of an amend5 ment to a section or other provision, the reference shall

6 be considered to be made to a section or other provision

7 of title 38, United States Code.
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited

2 as the ‘‘Department Of Veterans Affairs Employment Re3 duction Assistance Act of 1996.’’

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.—For the purpose of this

5 Act—

6 (1) ‘‘Department’’ means the Department of

7 Veterans Affairs.

8 (2) ‘‘employee’’ means an employee (as defined

9 by section 2105 of title 5, United States Code)

10 who—

11 (A) is employed by the Department of Vet12 erans Affairs; (B) is serving under an appoint13 ment without time limitation; and

14 (C) has been currently employed for a con15 tinuous period of at least 12 months; but does

16 not include—

17 (i) a reemployed annuitant under sub18 chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of

19 title 5, United States Code, or another re20 tirement system for employees of the Fed21 eral Government;

22 (ii) an employee having a disability on

23 the basis of which such employee is eligible

24 for disability retirement under the applica-
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1 ble retirement system referred to in clause

2 (i);

3 (iii) an employee who is in receipt of

4 a specific notice of involuntary separation

5 for misconduct or performance;

6 (iv) an employee who has accepted a

7 final offer of a voluntary separation incen8 tive payment, payable upon completion of

9 an additional period of service as referred

10 to in section 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Federal

11 Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994

12 (Public Law 103–226; 108 Stat. 111);

13 (v) an employee who previously has

14 received any voluntary separation incentive

15 payment by the Federal Government under

16 this Act or any other authority and has

17 not repaid such payment; or

18 (vi) an employee covered by statutory

19 reemployment rights who is on transfer to

20 another organization.

21 (3) ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

22 of Veterans Affairs.

23 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT PLANS; APPROVAL.—(a) If the

24 Secretary determines that, in order to improve the effi25 ciency of operations or to meet actual or anticipated levels
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1 of budgetary or staffing resources, the number of employ2 ees employed by the Department must be reduced, the

3 Secretary may submit a plan to the Director of the Office

4 of Management and Budget to pay voluntary separation

5 incentives under this Act to employees of the Department

6 who agree to separate from the Department by retirement

7 or resignation. The plan shall specify the planned employ8 ment reductions and the manner in which such reductions

9 will improve operating efficiency or meet actual or antici10 pated levels of budget or staffing resources. The plan shall

11 include a proposed period of time for the payment of vol12 untary separation incentives by the Department and a

13 proposed coverage for offers of incentives to Department

14 employees, targeting positions in accordance with the De15 partment’s strategic alignment plan and downsizing initia16 tives. The proposed coverage may be based on—

17 (1) any component of the Department;

18 (2) any occupation, level or type of position;

19 (3) any geographic location; or

20 (4) any appropriate combination of the factors

21 in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3).

22 (b) The Director of the Office of Management and

23 Budget shall approve or disapprove each plan submitted

24 under subsection (a), and may make appropriate modifica25 tions to the plan with respect to the time period in which
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1 voluntary separation incentives may be paid on with re2 spect to the coverage of incentives on the basis of the fac3 tors in subsection (a) (1) through (4).

4 SEC. 4. VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAY5 MENTS.—(a) In order to receive a voluntary separation in6 centive payment, an employee must separate from service

7 with the Department voluntarily (whether by retirement

8 of resignation) during the period of time for which the

9 payment of incentives has been authorized for the em10 ployee under the Department plan under section 3.

11 (b) A voluntary separation incentive payment—

12 (1) shall be paid in a lump sum at the time of

13 the employee’s separation:

14 (2) shall be equal to the lesser of—

15 (A) an amount equal to the amount the

16 employee would be entitled to receive under sec17 tion 5595(c) of title 5, United States Code

18 (without adjustment for any previous payment

19 made under that section), if the employee were

20 entitled to payment under that section; if the

21 employee were entitled to payment under that

22 action; or

23 (B) if the employee separates—

24 (i) during fiscal year 1996 or 1997,

25 $25,000;
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1 (ii) during fiscal year 1998, $20,000;

2 (iii) during fiscal year 1999, $15,000;

3 or

4 (iv) during fiscal year 2000, $10,000;

5 (3) shall not be a basis for payment, and shall

6 not be included in the computation, of any other

7 type of Government benefit, except that this para8 graph shall not apply to unemployment compensa9 tion funded in whole or in part with Federal funds;

10 (4) shall not be taken into account in determin11 ing the amount of severance pay to which an em12 ployee may be entitled under section 5595 of title 5,

13 United States Code, based on any other separation;

14 and

15 (5) shall be paid from the appropriations or

16 funds available for payment of the basic pay of the

17 employee.

18 SEC. 5. EFFECT OF SUBSEQUENT EMPLOYMENT

19 WITH THE GOVERNMENT.—(a) An individual who has re20 ceived a voluntary separation incentive payment under this

21 Act and accepts any employment with the Government of

22 the United States within 5 years after the date of the sep23 aration on which the payment is based shall be required

24 to repay, prior to the individual’s first day of employment,
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1 the entire amount of the incentive payment to the Depart2 ment.

3 (b)(1) If the employment under subsection (a) is with

4 an Executive agency (as defined by section 105 of title

5 5, United States Code), the United States Postal Service,

6 or the Postal Rate Commission, the Director of the Office

7 of Personnel Management may, at the request of the head

8 of the agency, waive the repayment if the individual in9 volved possesses unique abilities and is the only qualified

10 applicant available for the position.

11 (2) If the employment under subsection (a) is with

12 an entity in the legislative branch, the head of the entity

13 or the appointing official may waive the repayment if the

14 individual involved possesses unique abilities and is the

15 only qualified applicant available for the position.

16 (3) If the employment under subsection (a) is with

17 the judicial branch, the Director of the Administrative Of18 fice of the United States Courts may waive the repayment

19 if the individual involved possesses unique abilities and is

20 the only qualified applicant available for the position.

21 (c) For the purpose of this section, the term ‘‘employ22 ment’’—

23 (1) includes employment of any length or under

24 any type of appointment, but does not include em25 ployment that is without compensation; and
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1 (2) includes employment under a personal serv2 ices contract, as defined by the Director of the Of3 fice of Personnel Management.

4 SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL AGENCY CONTRIBUTIONS TO

5 THE RETIREMENT FUND.—(a) In addition to any other

6 payments which it is required to make under subchapter

7 III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title 5, United States

8 Code, the Department shall remit to the Office of Person9 nel Management for deposit in the Treasury of the United

10 States to the credit of the civil service retirement and dis11 ability fund an amount equal to 15 percent of the final

12 basic pay of each employee of the Department who is cov13 ered under subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84

14 of title 5 to whom a voluntary separation incentive has

15 been paid under this Act.

16 (b) For the purpose of this section, the term ‘‘final

17 basic pay’’, with respect to an employee, means the total

18 amount of basic pay that would be payable for a year of

19 service by that employee, computed using the employee’s

20 final rate of basic pay, and, if last serving on other than

21 a full-time basis, with appropriate adjustment therefor.

22 SEC. 7. REDUCTION OF AGENCY EMPLOYMENT LEV23 ELS.— (a) Total full-time equivalent employment in the

24 Department shall be reduced by one for each separation

25 of an employee who receives a voluntary separation incen-
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1 tive payment under this Act. The reduction will be cal2 culated by comparing the Department’s full-time equiva3 lent employment for the fiscal year in which the voluntary

4 separation payments are made with the actual full-time

5 equivalent employment for the prior fiscal year.

6 (b) The Office of Management and Budget shall mon7 itor the Department and take any action necessary to en8 sure that the requirements of this section are met.

9 (c) Subsection (a) of this section may be waived upon

10 a determination by the President that—

11 (1) the existence of a state of war or other na12 tional emergency so requires; or

13 (2) the existence of an extraordinary emergency

14 which threatens life, health, safety, property, or the

15 environment so requires.

16 SEC. 8. REPORTS.—(a) The Department, for each

17 applicable quarter of each fiscal year and not later than

18 30 days after the date of such quarter, shall submit to

19 the Office of Personnel Management a reporting stating—

20 (1) the number of employees who receive vol21 untary separation incentives for each type of separa22 tion involved;

23 (2) the average amount of the incentives paid;

24 (3) the average grade or pay level of the em25 ployees who received incentives; and
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1 (4) such other information as the Office may

2 require.

3 (b) No later than March 31st of each fiscal year, the

4 Office of Personnel Management shall submit to the Com5 mittee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the

6 Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the

7 House of Representatives a report which, with respect to

8 the preceding fiscal year, shall include—

9 (1) the number of employees who received vol10 untary separation incentives;

11 (2) the average amount of such incentives;

12 (3) the average grade or pay level of the em13 ployees who received incentives; and

14 (4) the number of waivers made under section

15 5 of this Act in the repayment of voluntary separa16 tion incentives, and for each such waiver—

17 (A) the reasons for the waiver; and

18 (B) the title and grade or pay level of the

19 position filled by each employee to whom the

20 waiver applied.

21 SEC. 9. VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION IN REDUCTIONS

22 IN FORCE.—Section 3502(f) of title 5, United States

23 Code, is amended—

24 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘,the Sec25 retary of Veterans Affairs,’’ after ‘‘Defense’’;
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1 (2) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘,the Depart2 ment of Veterans Affairs,’’ after ‘‘Defense’’;

3 (3) by striking paragraph (4); and

4 (4) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para5 graph (4); and

6 (5) by amending such paragraph (4), as so re7 designated, by striking ‘‘1996’’ and inserting

8 ‘‘2000’’ in lieu thereof.

9 SEC. 10. CONTINUED HEALTH INSURANCE COV10 ERAGE.—Section 8905a(d)(4) of title 5, United States

11 Code, is amended—

12 (1) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘in or

13 under the Department of Defense’’;

14 (2) in subparagraph (B)—

15 (A) by striking ‘‘1999’’ in clause (i) and

16 (ii) and inserting ‘‘2000’’; and

17 (B) by striking ‘‘2000’’ in clause (ii) and

18 inserting ‘‘2001’’; and

19 (3) in subparagraph (C) by inserting ‘‘by the

20 agency’’ after ‘‘identified’’.

21 SEC. 11. REGULATIONS.—The Director of the Office

22 of Personnel Management may prescribe any regulations

23 necessary to administer the provisions of this Act.

24 SEC. 12. LIMITATION; SAVINGS CLAUSE.—(a) No

25 voluntary separation incentive under this Act may be paid
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1 based on the separation of an employee after September

2 30, 2000;

3 (b) This Act supplements and does not supersede

4 other authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

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