(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, every employer shall pay to each of his employees including employees who are less than 18 years of age or full-time high school students at a rate not less than $8.35 per hour beginning 90 days immediately following the effective date of this subsection, not less than $9.50 per hour beginning June 1, 2017, not less than $10.50 an hour during the year beginning June 1, 2018, and beginning June 1, 2019, not less than the minimum wage determined in accordance with subsection (b) of this section; but tourist service and restaurant employees who are tipped employees, must be paid a minimum wage set in this subsection or in accordance with subsection (b) at a rate not less than 40% of the minimum wage. After 2020, the Virgin Islands Wage Board may, based on verifiable economic data, adjust the minimum wage for tourist service and restaurant employees who are tipped employees to a rate not greater than 45% of the minimum wage or less than the federal minimum wage for tipped employees.
(b) After December 31, 2018, and in each succeeding year thereafter, the minimum wage rate in effect under subsection (a) of this section will be reviewed by the Virgin Islands Wage Board in accordance with the provisions set forth at Title 24, chapter 1, Virgin Islands Code. The Wage Board may determine a minimum wage rate equal to not more than 50 percent of the average private, nonsupervisory, nonagricultural hourly wage as determined by the Wage Board for the previous November, rounded to the nearest multiple of five (5) cents, but at no time less than the effective Federal Minimum Wage.
(c) In complying with Title 24, section 8, subsection (b), Virgin Islands Code, the Commissioner of Labor shall direct the Virgin Islands Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, to submit data inclusive of the minimum wage rate in effect under subsection (a), together with the average, private, nonsupervisory, nonagricultural hourly wage and the Federal Minimum Wage Guidelines, to the Wage Board within 30 days of the request thereof.