II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 627 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to revoke bonuses paid to 

employees involved in electronic wait list manipulations, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2015 

Ms. AYOTTE (for herself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. MORAN, Mr. FLAKE, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. THUNE, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to revoke bonuses paid to employees involved in electronic wait list 

manipulations, 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. RETURN OF BONUSES AWARDED TO EMPLOY4 EES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 

5 FOR PERFORMANCE THEY MISREPRE6 SENTED. 

7 (a) INVESTIGATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

8 the date on which the Inspector General of the DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Mar 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627

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1 ment of Veterans Affairs submits to Congress a report de2 scribed in subsection (b), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

3 shall identify each employee of the Department of Vet4 erans Affairs who— 

5 (1) during any of fiscal years 2011 through 

6 2014— 

7 (A) contributed to the purposeful omission 

8 of the name of one or more veterans waiting for 

9 health care from an electronic wait list for a 

10 medical facility of the Department identified by 

11 the Inspector General in such report; or 

12 (B) was the supervisor of an employee of 

13 the Department, or was a supervisor of that su14 pervisor, at any level, who contributed to a pur15 poseful omission as described in subparagraph 

16 (A) and knew, or reasonably should have 

17 known, that the employee contributed to such 

18 purposeful omission; and 

19 (2) received a bonus in part because of such 

20 omission. 

21 (b) REPORTS DESCRIBED.—A report described in 

22 this subsection is a report that— 

23 (1) was submitted to Congress by the Inspector 

24 General; 


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1 (2) is based on investigations carried out by the 

2 Inspector General in calendar year 2014; and 

3 (3) identifies medical facilities of the Depart4 ment at which scheduling practices in use, or for5 merly in use, did not comply with scheduling policies 

6 and procedures of the Department. 

7 (c) IDENTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall identify 

8 employees contributing to an omission described in sub9 section (a)(1) without regard to whether the employee 

10 knowingly contributed to such omission or contributed to 

11 such omission for the purpose of receiving a bonus. 

12 (d) REPAYMENT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—For each employee identified 

14 under subsection (a) who received a bonus as de15 scribed in such subsection, the Secretary shall, after 

16 notice and an opportunity for a hearing, issue an 

17 order directing the employee to repay the amount of 

18 such bonus. 

19 (2) HEARINGS.—A hearing under this sub20 section shall be conducted in accordance with regula21 tions relating to hearings promulgated by the Sec22 retary under chapter 75 of title 5, United States 

23 Code. 

24 (3) APPEAL.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—An employee against 

2 whom an order is issued under paragraph (1) 

3 may appeal to the Merit Systems Protection 

4 Board under section 7701 of title 5, United 

5 States Code. 

6 (B) SCOPE OF REVIEW.—A review of an 

7 appeal by the Merit Systems Protection Board 

8 under subparagraph (A) shall be based on the 

9 record established through the appellant’s hear10 ing conducted under paragraph (2). 

11 (C) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—The Merit 

12 Systems Protection Board shall set aside an 

13 order issued under paragraph (1) if the issuing 

14 of the order was clearly erroneous or the result 

15 of a denial of procedural due process. 

Æ 


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