PUBLIC LAW 101-366 —AUG. 15, 1990 104 STAT. 433 survey in accordance with this subparagraph and shall adjust the Eimount of the minimum rate of basic pay for grades in that covered position at that facility based upon that survey. Any such survey Regulations, shall be conducted in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary. Those regulations shall be developed in consultation with the Secretary of Labor in order to ensure that the director of a facility collects information that is valid and reliable and is consistent with standards of the Bureau. The survey should be conducted using methodology comparable to that used by the Bureau in making industry-wage surveys except to the extent determined infeasible by the Secretary. Upon conducting a survey under this subparagraph, the director concerned shall determine, not later than 30 days after the date on which the collection of information through the survey is completed, whether an adjustment in rates of pay for employees at that facility for any covered position is necessary in order to meet the purposes of this section. If the director determines that such an adjustment is necessary, the adjustment, based upon the information determined in the survey, shall take effect on the first day of the first pay period beginning after that determination. "(C) The director of a facility may not adjust rates of basic pay under this subsection for any pay grade so that the minimum rate of basic pay for that grade is greater than the beginning rates of compensation for corresponding positions at non-Department health-care facilities. "(4) If the director of a Department health-care facility determines, after any survey under paragraph (3)(B) or at any other time that an adjustment in rates of pay is scheduled to take place under this subsection, that it is not necessary to adjust the rates of basic pay for employees in a grade of a covered position at that facility in order to carry out the purpose of this section, such an adjustment for employees at that facility in that grade shall not be made. Whenever a director meikes such a determination, the director shall within 10 days notify the Chief Medical Director of the decision and the reasons for the decision. "(5) Information collected by the Department in surveys conducted under this subsection is not subject to disclosure under section 552 of title 5, "(6) In this subsection— "(A) The term 'beginning rate of compensation', with respect to health-care personnel positions in non-Department healthcare facilities corresponding to a grade of a covered position, means the sum of— "(i) the minimum rate of pay established for personnel in such positions who have education, training, and experience equivalent or similar to the education, training, and experience required for health-care personnel employed in the same category of Department covered positions; and "(ii) other employee benefits for those positions to the extent that those benefits are reasonably quantifiable. "(B) The term 'corresponding', with respect to health-care personnel positions in non-Department health-care facilities, means those positions for which the education, training, and experience requirements are equivalent or similar to the education, training, and experience requirements for health-care personnel positions in Department health-care facilities.
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