---
kind: "section"
citation: "38 U.S.C. § 7412"
title: "38"
title_heading: "Veterans’ Benefits"
number: "7412"
heading: "Annual determination of staffing shortages; recruitment and appointment for needed occupations"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/38/7412"
units:
  - "Part V — Boards, Administrations, and Services"
  - "Chapter 74 — Veterans Health Administration—personnel"
  - "Subchapter I — Appointments"
---

# §7412. Annual determination of staffing shortages; recruitment and appointment for needed occupations

- (a) **In General.—** Not later than September 30 of each year, the Inspector General of the [Department](/usc/38/101.md?p=1) shall determine, and the [Secretary](/usc/38/101.md?p=1) shall publish in the Federal Register, at a minimum, the five clinical occupations and the five nonclinical occupations of personnel of this title of the [Department](/usc/38/101.md?p=1) covered under [section 7401 of this title](/usc/38/7401.md) for which there are the largest staffing shortages with respect to each medical center of the [Department](/usc/38/101.md?p=1), as calculated over the five-year period preceding the determination.
- (b) **Recruitment and Appointment.—** Notwithstanding sections [3304](/usc/5/3304.md) and [3309](/usc/5/3309.md) through [3318](/usc/5/3318.md) of title 5, the [Secretary](/usc/38/101.md?p=1) may, upon a determination by the Inspector General under [subsection (a)](#a) that there is a staffing shortage throughout the [Department](/usc/38/101.md?p=1) with respect to a particular occupation, recruit and directly appoint, during the fiscal year after the fiscal year during which such determination is made, qualified personnel to serve in that particular occupation for the [Department](/usc/38/101.md?p=1).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 113–146, title III, § 301(a)(1), Aug. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 1784; amended Pub. L. 114–315, title VIII, § 802(4), Dec. 16, 2016, 130 Stat. 1592; Pub. L. 115–46, title II, § 201, Aug. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 959.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–46 substituted “at a minimum, the five clinical occupations and the five nonclinical occupations” for “the five occupations” and “with respect to each medical center of the Department,” for “throughout the Department”.

2016—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 114–315 substituted “under subsection (a)” for “under paragraph (1)”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Deadline for First Determination

Pub. L. 113–146, title III, § 301(a)(3), Aug. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 1784, provided that: “Notwithstanding the deadline under section 7412 of title 38, United States Code, as added by paragraph (1), for the annual determination of staffing shortages in the Veterans Health Administration, the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall make the first determination required under such section, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall publish in the Federal Register such determination, by not later than the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 7, 2014].”