Virgin Islands (VI) wage and hour laws are different in some ways than the federal wage and hour laws of the 50 United States of America. It is important for citizens and employers of the Virgin Islands to understand these differences.
Virgin Islands (VI) wage and hour laws have a provision made for minimum wage, even though they are not required to follow all the same rules as the 50 states. In most cases, the territory of Virgin Islands pays their workers the standard current federal rate of at least $5.65 per hour as of the year 2004.
Several exceptions exist within Virgin Islands (VI) wage and hour laws pertaining to minimum wage. For example, those businesses who make less than $150,000 in annual gross sales are exempt from having to pay Virgin Islands workers premium pay for extra hours worked. One of the other many exceptions includes the pay given to full-time students or some people with classified disabilities.
Another difference of Virgin Islands (VI) wage and hour laws is that of the required overtime wage on the sixth or seventh day of work, after eight hours in a day, or during a workweek of more than 40 hours. Overtime must be paid in these situations with some exceptions at a rate of time and a half.
A recent addition to Virgin I 21, 2006 Virgin Islands employees are required to receive a 10 minute paid break for every four hours of work. This rest break may not be added to that employee’s meal break and that break must not be given at the beginning or end of a day. In addition, an uninterrupted meal break of 30 minutes must be given no later than the start of a person’s workday.
One exception to the above Virgin Islands (VI) wage and hour laws pertaining to breaks is when a special agreement is made between the employer and the employee. Sometimes employers are exempt from having to offer breaks if they can demonstrate a business necessity in doing so.
All Virgin Island (VI) wage and hour laws are available for both employers and employees to view. These provide a guide for all the citizens of the Virgin Islands.
