SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Nurse Recruitment and Retention Act of
2004’’.
SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM TO STUDY INNOVATIVE RECRUIT-
MENT TOOLS TO ADDRESS NURSING SHORT-
AGES AT DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-
FAIRS HEALTH-CARE FACILITIES.
(a) PILOT.—(1) Not later than 90 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs shall designate a health-care service region, or a
section within such a region, in which health-care facilities
of the Department of Veterans Affairs are adversely af-
fected by a shortage of qualified nurses.
(2) The Secretary shall conduct a pilot program in
the region or section designated under paragraph (1) to
determine the effectiveness of the use of innovative
human-capital tools and techniques in the recruitment of
qualified nurses for positions at Department health-care
facilities and for the retention of nurses at such facilities.
In carrying out the pilot program, the Secretary shall
enter into a contract with a private-sector entity for serv-
ices under the pilot program for recruitment of qualified
nurses.
(b) PRIVATE-SECTOR RECRUITMENT PRACTICES.—
For purposes of the pilot program under this section, the
Secretary shall identify and use recruitment practices that
have proven effective for placing qualified individuals in
positions that are difficult to fill due to shortages of quali-
fied individuals or other factors. Recruitment practices to
be reviewed by the Secretary for use in the pilot program
shall include—
(1) employer branding and interactive adver-
tising strategies;
(2) Internet technologies and automated staff-
ing systems; and
(3) the use of recruitment, advertising, and
communication agencies.
(c) STREAMLINED HIRING PROCESS.—In carrying
out the pilot program under this section, the Secretary
shall, at health-care facilities of the Department in the re-
gion or section in which the pilot program is conducted,
revise procedures and systems for selecting and hiring
qualified nurses to reduce the length of the hiring process.
If the Secretary identifies measures to streamline and
automate the hiring process that can only be implemented
if authorized by law, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House
of Representatives recommendations for such changes in
law as may be necessary to enable such measure to be
implemented.
(d) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit
to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and
House of Representatives a report on the extent to which
the pilot program achieved the goal of improving the re-
cruitment and retention of nurses in Department of Vet-
erans Affairs health-care facilities.
SEC. 3. ALTERNATE WORK SCHEDULES FOR NURSES.
(a) ENHANCED SHIFT FLEXIBILITY.—Chapter 74 of
title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after
section 7456 the following new section:
‘‘§ 7456a. Alternate work schedules
‘‘(a) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to reg-
istered nurses appointed under this chapter.
‘‘(b) 36/40 WORK SCHEDULE.—(1) Subject to para-
graph (2), if the Secretary determines it to be necessary
in order to obtain or retain the services of registered
nurses at a Department health-care facility, the Secretary
may provide, in the case of registered nurses employed at
that facility, that such a nurse who works three regularly
scheduled 12-hour tours of duty within a workweek 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. Such a schedule may be referred
to as a ‘36/40 work schedule’.
‘‘(2)(A) Basic and additional pay for a registered
nurse who is considered under paragraph (1) to have
worked a full 40-hour basic workweek is subject to sub-
paragraphs (B) and (C).
‘‘(B) The hourly rate of basic pay for such a nurse
for service performed as part of a regularly scheduled 36-
hour tour of duty within the workweek shall be derived
by dividing the nurse’s annual rate of basic pay by 1,872.
‘‘(C)(i) Such a nurse who performs a period of service
in excess of such nurse’s regularly scheduled 36-hour tour
of duty within a workweek is entitled to overtime pay
under section 7453(e) of this title, or other applicable law,
for officially ordered or approved service performed in ex-
cess of—
‘‘(I) eight hours on a day other than a day on
which such nurse’s regularly scheduled 12-hour tour
falls;
‘‘(II) 12 hours for any day included in the regu-
larly scheduled 36-hour tour of duty; and
‘‘(III) 40 hours during an administrative work-
week.
‘‘(ii) Except as provided in clause (i), a registered
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.
‘‘(3) A nurse who works a 36/40 work schedule de-
scribed in this subsection 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
ten hours of leave for nine hours of absence.
‘‘(c) 7/7 Work Schedule—(1) Subject to paragraph
(2), if the Secretary determines it to be necessary in order
to obtain or retain the services of registered nurses at a
Department health-care facility, the Secretary may pro-
vide, in the case of registered nurses employed at such
facility, that such a nurse who works seven regularly
scheduled 10-hour tours of duty, with seven days off duty,
within a two-week pay period, shall be considered for all
purposes (except computation of full-time equivalent em-
ployees for the purposes of determining compliance with
personnel ceilings) to have worked a full 80 hours for the
pay period. Such a schedule may be referred to as a ‘7/
7 work schedule’.
‘‘(2)(A) Basic and additional pay for a registered
nurse who is considered under paragraph (1) to have
worked a full 80-hour pay period is subject to subpara-
graphs (B) and (C).
‘‘(B) The hourly rate of basic pay for such a nurse
for service performed as part of a regularly scheduled 70-
hour tour of duty within the pay period shall be derived
by dividing the nurse’s annual rate of basic pay by 1,820.
‘‘(C)(i) Such a nurse who performs a period of service
in excess of such nurse’s regularly scheduled 70-hour tour
of duty within a pay period is entitled to overtime pay
under section 7453(e) of this title, or other applicable law,
for officially ordered or approved service performed in ex-
cess of—
‘‘(I) eight hours on a day other than a day on
which such nurse’s regularly scheduled 10-hour tour
falls;
‘‘(II) 10 hours for any day included in the regu-
larly scheduled 70-hour tour of duty; and
‘‘(III) 80 hours during a pay period.
‘‘(ii) Except as provided in subparagraph (i), a reg-
istered 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 regu-
larly scheduled 10-hour tour of duty.
‘‘(3) A nurse who works a 7/7 work schedule de-
scribed in this subsection who is absent on approved sick
leave or annual leave during a regularly scheduled 12-hour