A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the collective bargaining rights and procedures for review of adverse actions of certain employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Repeals specified exceptions to rights of certain Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees to engage in collective bargaining.

Requires a final decision of the VA with respect to the review of an adverse personnel action against a VA employee to be issued not later than 60 days after such action has been appealed. Subjects such decision to judicial review in the appropriate U.S. District Court or, if the decision is made by a labor arbitrator, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[S. 362 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 362

   To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the collective 
   bargaining rights and procedures for review of adverse actions of 
certain employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 30, 2009

 Mr. Rockefeller (for himself, Mr. Webb, Mr. Brown, Ms. Mikulski, and 
 Mr. Sanders) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the collective 
   bargaining rights and procedures for review of adverse actions of 
certain employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. REPEAL OF EXCEPTIONS TO RIGHTS OF CERTAIN DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEES TO ENGAGE IN COLLECTIVE 
              BARGAINING.

    Section 7422 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking subsections (b), (c), and (d); and
            (2) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (b).

SEC. 2. DEADLINE AND REVIEW OF FINAL DECISIONS OF DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS WITH RESPECT TO GRIEVANCES OF CERTAIN 
              DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES ARISING FROM ADVERSE PERSONNEL 
              ACTIONS.

    Section 7463 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(f)(1) The final decision of the Department with respect to any 
review of an adverse action under the grievance procedures prescribed 
under subsection (a) shall be issued not later than 60 days after the 
adverse action has been appealed.
    ``(2) Such a final decision shall be subject to judicial review in 
the appropriate United States District Court, or in the case of such a 
decision that has been made by a labor arbitrator pursuant to a 
collective bargaining agreement under subsection (b), the decision 
shall be subject to judicial review in the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the same manner as a matter that is 
decided by the Merit Systems Protection Board and is subject to review 
by that court pursuant to section 7703 of title 5.''.

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF REQUIREMENT OF DISCIPLINARY APPEALS BOARDS OF 
              DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO PROVIDE TRANSCRIPTS OF 
              HEARINGS TO EMPLOYEES APPEALING ADVERSE ACTIONS.

    Section 7462(c)(3) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``a transcript of the hearing'' and inserting ``a full and 
correct copy of the transcript of the hearing at least three weeks 
before post-hearing briefs are required to be submitted''.
                                 <all>