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.

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs: (1) within 180 days after the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) submits a report to Congress in 2014 that identifies VA medical facilities at which scheduling practices did not comply with VA policies and procedures, to identify each VA employee who, during any of FY2011-FY2014, contributed to the purposeful omission of the names of veterans from an electronic wait list for health care at such a facility, who was a VA supervisor who knew or should have known that the employee contributed to such omission, and who received a bonus in part because of such omission; and (2) after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, to order such employee to repay the bonus.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2545 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2545

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

                             June 26, 2014

 Ms. Ayotte (for herself and Mrs. McCaskill) 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.

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

SECTION 1. RETURN OF BONUSES AWARDED TO EMPLOYEES OF DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR PERFORMANCE THEY MISREPRESENTED.

    (a) Investigations.--Not later than 180 days after the date on 
which the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
submits to Congress a report described in subsection (b), the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs shall identify each employee of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs who--
            (1) during any of fiscal years 2011 through 2014--
                    (A) contributed to the purposeful omission of the 
                name of one or more veterans waiting for health care 
                from an electronic wait list for a medical facility of 
                the Department identified by the Inspector General in 
                such report; or
                    (B) was the supervisor of an employee of the 
                Department, or was a supervisor of that supervisor, at 
                any level, who contributed to a purposeful omission as 
                described in subparagraph (A) and knew, or reasonably 
                should have known, that the employee contributed to 
                such purposeful omission; and
            (2) received a bonus in part because of such omission.
    (b) Reports Described.--A report described in this subsection is a 
report submitted to Congress by the Inspector General in calendar year 
2014 that identifies medical facilities of the Department at which 
scheduling practices in use, or formerly in use, did not comply with 
scheduling policies and procedures of the Department.
    (c) Identification.--The Secretary shall identify employees 
contributing to an omission described in subsection (a)(1) without 
regard to whether the employee knowingly contributed to such omission 
or contributed to such omission for the purpose of receiving a bonus.
    (d) Repayment.--
            (1) In general.--For each employee identified under 
        subsection (a) who received a bonus as described in such 
        subsection, the Secretary shall, after notice and an 
        opportunity for a hearing, issue an order directing the 
        employee to repay the amount of such bonus.
            (2) Hearings.--A hearing under this subsection shall be 
        conducted in accordance with regulations relating to hearings 
        promulgated by the Secretary under chapter 75 of title 5, 
        United States Code.
            (3) Appeal.--
                    (A) In general.--An employee against whom an order 
                is issued under paragraph (1) may appeal to the Merit 
                Systems Protection Board under section 7701 of title 5, 
                United States Code.
                    (B) Scope of review.--A review of an appeal by the 
                Merit Systems Protection Board under subparagraph (A) 
                shall be based on the record established through the 
                appellant's hearing conducted under paragraph (2).
                    (C) Standard of review.--The Merit Systems 
                Protection Board shall set aside an order issued under 
                paragraph (1) if the issuing of the order was clearly 
                erroneous or the result of a denial of procedural due 
                process.
                                 <all>