I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2941 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit the receipt of bonuses 

by Department of Veterans Affairs employees who violate Federal civil 

laws or regulations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2015 

Mr. ROE of Tennessee introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit the receipt of bonuses by Department of Veterans Affairs employees who violate Federal civil laws or regulations, 

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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Affairs Em5 ployee Accountability Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON BONUSES FOR DEPARTMENT OF 

2 VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEES WHO VIO3 LATE FEDERAL CIVIL LAWS OR REGULA4 TIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 38, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 715. LIMITATION ON BONUSES. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) The Secretary shall ensure 

10 that no employee of the Department who, during any year, 

11 knowingly violates any law, regulation, or policy described 

12 in paragraph (2) receives a bonus for or during that year. 

13 ‘‘(2) A law, regulation, or policy described in this 

14 paragraph is any of the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) A Federal civil law or Federal regulation, 

16 including such civil laws or regulations covered 

17 under the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the 

18 Veterans Affairs Acquisition Regulation. 

19 ‘‘(B) An internal policy of the Department. 

20 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall annually 

21 certify to Congress that each bonus awarded by the Sec22 retary during the previous year was awarded in accord23 ance with subsection (a)(1). 

24 ‘‘(c) BONUS DEFINED.—For purposes of this section, 

25 the term ‘bonus’ means any pay augmentation, incentive, 

26 or additional gift of any value, including— 


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1 ‘‘(1) gift cards; 

2 ‘‘(2) any sum of money; 

3 ‘‘(3) any award of monetary or non-monetary 

4 value; 

5 ‘‘(4) any donation to or on behalf of or any 

6 value awarded to a recipient; 

7 ‘‘(5) a retention incentive; 

8 ‘‘(6) a retention incentive payment; 

9 ‘‘(7) a retention incentive award; 

10 ‘‘(8) a Presidential Rank Award; 

11 ‘‘(9) an individual cash award (non-rating 

12 based); 

13 ‘‘(10) an individual cash award (rating based); 

14 ‘‘(11) a group cash award; 

15 ‘‘(12) a travel savings incentive; 

16 ‘‘(13) an individual time off award—hours; 

17 ‘‘(14) a group time off award—hours; 

18 ‘‘(15) an individual suggestion or invention 

19 award; 

20 ‘‘(16) a group suggestion or invention award; 

21 ‘‘(17) a foreign language award; 

22 ‘‘(18) any other individual award; 

23 ‘‘(19) any other group award; 

24 ‘‘(20) a special certification award; 


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1 ‘‘(21) an exemplary job performance or achieve2 ment award; 

3 ‘‘(22) a lump sum performance payment (rating 

4 based in lieu of pay adjustment); 

5 ‘‘(23) a lump sum performance payment (rating 

6 based not in lieu of pay adjustment); 

7 ‘‘(24) a lump sum performance payment (non8 rating based); 

9 ‘‘(25) a retention incentive; 

10 ‘‘(26) a recruitment incentive; 

11 ‘‘(27) a relocation incentive; 

12 ‘‘(28) a performance award; 

13 ‘‘(29) any student loan repayment; 

14 ‘‘(30) a separation incentive; 

15 ‘‘(31) a referral bonus; 

16 ‘‘(32) any other form of recognition, monetary 

17 or non-monetary, as a result of any action, activity, 

18 suggestion or effort that is based on false, fraudu19 lent or incomplete information, including any such 

20 awards as identified or to be identified by the Office 

21 of Personnel Management rules, regulations and 

22 policies and Department rules, regulations, and poli23 cies; and 

24 ‘‘(33) any other incentive requiring approval 

25 from the Central Office Human Resource Service, 


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1 the Chief Business Office Workforce Management, 

2 or the Corporate Senior Executive Management Of3 fice.’’. 

4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

5 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

6 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘715. Limitation on bonuses.’’. 

Æ 


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