(a) Eighty percent of all persons employed by beneficiaries under this chapter shall be residents of the Virgin Islands; provided that, after the third year of operation, a beneficiary shall be required to have at least 20% of its management, supervisory and/or technical positions filled by residents of the Virgin Islands unless granted a waiver by the Commission.
(1) the Commissioner of Labor has certified that:
(A) he has not been able to recruit individuals to fill the positions;
(B) he has not been able to train individuals to fill the positions; or
(C) the beneficiary has demonstrated to the Commissioner of Labor that the beneficiary's training program has failed to provide individuals capable of filling the positions and that the beneficiary has made a public effort to recruit personnel for the positions; or
(2) when the Economic Development Commission has made a finding that the economic position of the beneficiary is such that the beneficiary cannot comply with the requirement without further erosion of its financial position or that the beneficiary cannot comply for such other practical reasons that the Commission has established by its rules and regulations.
(b) Each applicant employing nonresidents shall agree to either establish and conduct training classes for residents to fill the positions held by nonresidents or agree to subsidize the cost of training pre-selected resident employee applicants in a school or other facility not conducted by the applicant, which training procedures are further described under section 712 of this subchapter. However, an applicant may elect to meet the training requirements of this subsection by annually transferring $2,500 to the Territorial Scholarship Fund (established under Title 17, section 171, Virgin Islands Code) for each nonresident employed by the applicant.
(c) When a nonresident employee is to be replaced by a resident employee pursuant to the requirements of this section, the employer shall give the nonresident employee 14 days notice of such fact prior to his termination.
(d) No resident employee of a beneficiary shall be laid off or have his work week reduced to provide employment for a nonresident.
(e) Any beneficiary who hires nonresidents shall bear the full responsibility for bonding and other procedures required by law for the employment of nonresidents.
(f) Wilful violation of this section by a beneficiary shall be cause for suspension, modification or revocation of his certificate pursuant to section 722 of this subchapter.