[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4037 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4037

     To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the non-
 applicability of non-Department of Veterans Affairs covenants not to 
 compete to the appointment of certain Veterans Health Administration 
                               personnel.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 12, 2017

Mrs. Hartzler introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the non-
 applicability of non-Department of Veterans Affairs covenants not to 
 compete to the appointment of certain Veterans Health Administration 
                               personnel.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``VA Fairness in Hiring Act''.

SEC. 2. NON-APPLICABILITY OF NON-DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
              COVENANTS NOT TO COMPETE TO APPOINTMENT OF VETERANS 
              HEALTH ADMINISTRATION PERSONNEL.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 74 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 7413. Effect of non-Department covenants not to compete
    ``(a) Non-Applicability.--Except as provided in subsection (b), in 
the case of an individual who is an applicant for appointment to a 
position in the Veterans Health Administration described in section 
7401 of this title, any covenant not to compete into which the 
individual has entered with a non-Department facility or employer shall 
have no force or effect with respect to the appointment of the 
individual to such a position.
    ``(b) Termination of Department Employment.--In the case of an 
individual who is appointed to such a position in the Veterans Health 
Administration who has entered into a covenant not to compete that is 
rendered non-applicable pursuant to subsection (a), if the individual's 
employment at the Veterans Health Administration is terminated for any 
reason before the specified period of time in such covenant, then such 
covenant shall apply with respect to that individual for the period 
beginning on the date of the termination of the individual's employment 
at the Veterans Health Administration and ending on the last day of 
such specified period of time.
    ``(c) Covenant Not To Compete.--In this section, the term `covenant 
not to compete' means an agreement--
            ``(1) between an employee and employer that restricts such 
        employee from performing--
                    ``(A) any work for another employer for a specified 
                period of time;
                    ``(B) any work in a specified geographical area; or
                    ``(C) work for another employer that is similar to 
                such employee's work for the employer included as a 
                party to the agreement; and
            ``(2) that is entered into after the date of enactment of 
        this Act.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
7412 the following new item:

``7413. Effect of non-Department covenants not to compete.''.
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