reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 347 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 13 - Injunctions in Labor Disputes|§ 347. Finding of facts as basis for injunction; order limited to prohibition

 No restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction shall be granted in any case involving or growing out of a labor dispute, except on the basis of findings of facts made and filed by the court in the record of the case prior to the issuance of such restraining order or writ of injunction; and every restraining order or writ of injunction granted in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute shall include only a prohibition of such specific act or acts as may be expressly complained of in the bill of complainants or petition filed in such case and as shall be expressly included in said findings of fact made and filed by the court in the records of the case, as provided in this section.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 348 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 13 - Injunctions in Labor Disputes|§ 348. Appeals

 Whenever any court shall issue or deny any temporary injunction in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute, the court shall, upon the request of any party to the proceedings, forthwith certify, as in ordinary cases, the record of the case to the immediately superior court, for its review.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 349 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 13 - Injunctions in Labor Disputes|§ 349. Definitions

 When used in this chapter, and for the purposes hereof: (a) A case shall be held to involve or to grow out of a labor dispute when the case involves persons who are engaged in the same industry, trade, craft, or occupation, or have direct or indirect interest therein; or who are employees of the same employer; or who are members of the same (or) of an affiliated organization of employers or employees; whether such dispute is (1) between one or more employers or associations of employers and one or more employees or associations of employees; (2) between one or more employers or associations of employers and one or more employers or associations of employers; or (3) between one or more employees or associations of employees; and one or more employees or associations of employees; or when the case involves any conflicting or competing interests in a labor dispute of persons participating or interested therein. (b) A person or association shall be held to be a person participating or interested in a labor dispute if relief is sought against said person or association, or if any of them is engaged in the same industry, trade, craft, or occupation in which such dispute occurs, or has a direct or indirect interest therein, or is a member, officer, or agent of any association composed in whole or in part of employers or employees engaged in such industry, trade, craft or occupation. (c) The term “labor dispute” includes any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 350 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 13 - Injunctions in Labor Disputes|§ 350. Separability of provisions

 If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the remaining provisions of the chapter and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 351 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 13 - Injunctions in Labor Disputes|§ 351. Repeal of conflicting laws

 All Acts and parts of Acts in conflict with the provisions of this chapter are hereby repealed.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 361 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 361. Findings and purpose

 It is the purpose of this chapter to provide for orderly and constructive relationships between public employers and their employees. The Legislature finds and declares that the Government of the Virgin Islands shall fully accept the principle and procedure of collective bargaining and shall bargain in good faith with valid public employee organizations, subject, however, to the paramount right of the citizens of this Territory to keep inviolate the guarantees for their health, safety and welfare.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 363 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 363. Rights of public employees

 Subject to the provisions of this chapter, public employees shall have and do have the right to: (a) form, join, assist and participate in, or to refrain from forming, joining, assisting or participating in any labor organization of their choosing; (b) be represented by labor organizations and to engage in collective bargaining with the Government in the determination of the wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment and the administration of grievances arising thereunder; (c) engage in lawful, concerted activities to enhance their collective bargaining position and promote their mutual well-being and protection, without interference, restraint, or coercion; and (d) elect individually in writing, to have deducted from their payroll checks an amount for union dues, payment-in-lieu of dues, group insurance premiums, and other expenses of the services or benefits provided by the exclusive representative and incorporated in the collective bargaining agreement.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 364 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 364. Public Employees Relations Board, created

 (a) There is hereby created as a separate independent board of the Government of the Virgin Islands, a Public Employees Relations Board (PERB). The PERB shall be composed of five members recommended by the Governor and approved by the Legislature. Not less than two of the appointed members shall be residents of the District of St. Croix and not less than two shall be residents of the District of St. Thomas and St. John. Three of the members shall have experience involving labor relations, one shall have experience as a Class I government employee within the territory, one shall have experience as a Class II government employee within the territory and one shall have experience as a Class III government employee within the territory; three of the members shall have experience involving labor relations on behalf of management. The fifth member shall serve as Chairman of the PERB. The PERB may employ a full-time Executive Director and such staff and contractual employees at such compensation as the PERB considers appropriate. (b) Members of the PERB shall serve terms of five years, except that the term of one of the members appointed in 1994 and one of the members appointed in 1995 shall be for three years, as designated by the Governor at the time of appointment, in order to stagger the terms of the members of the PERB. Members appointed to fill vacancies shall be appointed only for the unexpired portion of the term of the member who he is to succeed. Any member may be reappointed. Each member shall hold office until his successor is appointed and confirmed. (c) All actions taken by the PERB shall have the affirmative vote of not less than three members of the PERB, or as may otherwise be provided in the chapter. (d) Each member of the PERB not an employee of the Government of the Virgin Islands other than the Chairman of the PERB shall be compensated at the rate of $75 per day or any fraction thereof spent in the work of the PERB. The Chairman shall be compensated at the rate of $75 per day or any fraction thereof spent in the work of the PERB. Members of the PERB who are employees of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands shall not have their compensation or annual leave reduced because of their work on the PERB. The travel expenses and actual reasonable subsistence costs, as determined by the Chairman, shall be reimbursed to each member of the PERB when such expenses and costs are necessary to the work of the PERB. (e) The Commissioner of Labor, or his designee, shall serve as staff-secretary to the PERB and the personnel of the Department of Labor shall perform administrative functions for the PERB.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 365 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 365. PERB, powers and duties

 The Public Employees Relations Board shall have the following powers and duties: (a) to fairly and impartially administer the provisions of this chapter; (b) to certify an employee organization as the exclusive bargaining agent for an appropriate bargaining unit pursuant to the provisions of this chapter; (c) to decertify an employee organization as the exclusive bargaining agent for an appropriate bargaining unit pursuant to the provisions of this chapter; (d) to determine appropriate bargaining units among public employees and classify such units; (e) to hire and compensate such personnel as it may consider necessary to assist the PERB in carrying out its responsibilities and duties without the advice or consent of the Executive Branch; (f) to report on its actions and findings in writing from time to time, but not less than once each year, to the Governor and the Legislature; (g) to make, amend and rescind, after notice and appropriate public hearings, rules, regulations and procedures as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter; (h) conduct hearings on classification and position allocation appeals and make recommendations to the Governor for final decision, as provided under Title 3, section 496, Virgin Islands Code. (i) to conduct hearings and/or proceedings, when warranted, on complaints of prohibited practices by employers or by employee organizations and take such actions with respect thereto as it deems necessary and proper; (j) to hold investigative hearings, administer oaths, subpoena witnesses and evidence and examine same. Conduct studies, analyze data, gather and disseminate information, and take all actions necessary to administer this chapter; (k) to mediate, conciliate, or cause mediation or conciliation between parties in a dispute; (l) to establish, after consultation with representatives of employee organizations and public employers, a list of qualified persons who could and would serve as mediators and arbitrators of a dispute; (m) to determine and apportion the costs of arbitration equally to the parties involved; and (n) to enforce its orders, subpoenas, and actions by levying fines against any person in contempt of the PERB, including an individual, if such individual is personally liable, public employers, and employee organizations.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 366 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 366. PERB, public meetings and records

 (a) All meetings of the PERB shall be open to the public unless four members shall vote, in open public meeting, to close the remainder of the meeting to the public for that day or part thereof. A new vote shall be taken in public on the day of each subsequent closing of the PERB meetings to the public for that day or part thereof. (b) All records of the PERB shall be open for public inspection unless four members shall vote, in open public meeting, to withhold specific records, documents, or evidence from public scrutiny.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 370 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 370. Appropriate bargaining units

 (a) Upon the request of a public employer, group of public employees, or labor organization, the PERB shall determine an appropriate bargaining unit of public employees by identifying the specific class or classes of employees or identifying positions the employees of which shall be members of a unit; Provided, That no member of any class nor any person employed in any position identified for inclusion in an appropriate bargaining unit shall be required to join any labor organization representing such unit or participate in its activities, but no such person may join a labor organization representing another unit or participate in its activities. In determining the appropriateness of a bargaining unit, the PERB shall consider, but not be exclusively guided by: (1) the common interests of the members of the proposed unit; (2) the homogeneity of the wages, hours, and working conditions of the members of the proposed unit; (3) the desire of the members of the proposed unit; (4) the history of labor relations among the members of the proposed unit; (5) the effects on collective bargaining of too fragmented or too broad units. (b) No group of public employees shall be determined to be an appropriate bargaining unit if the group includes both professional and non-professional employees, unless a majority of the professional employees vote to be included in such unit and a majority of non-professional employees vote to be included in such unit. (c) Police officers, corrections officers, firemen, prison guards, or other persons employed to protect the public safety and welfare and/or protect the property of a public employer shall be included in a single bargaining unit or in separate bargaining units, but no other public employee shall be a member of such unit. (d) Supervisory employees of a public employer shall not be included in any bargaining unit with non-supervisory employees but may form one or more bargaining units. (e) No public employee bargaining unit organized and represented by a labor union on the date of enactment of the act creating this chapter shall be deemed inappropriate or otherwise found severable except to the extent necessary to bring such unit into compliance with subsections (b), (c) and (d) of this section.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 371 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 371. Classification of appropriate bargaining units

 (a) Each bargaining unit, including the bargaining units organized and represented by a labor union on the date of enactment of the act creating this chapter, shall be classified as belonging to one of the following classes: CLASS I.Units consisting of employees who perform services in which work stoppage may be sustained for extended periods without serious effects on the health and safety of the public. CLASS II.Units consisting of employees who perform services in which work stoppage may be sustained for a limited period of time but not an extended period of time without serious effects on the health and safety of the public. CLASS III.Units consisting of employees who perform services in which work stoppage may not be sustained for even the shortest period of time without serious effects on the health and safety of the public. The PERB shall designate bargaining units as Class I and Class II, and may recommend to the Governor and the Legislature that a bargaining unit be classified Class III. No bargaining unit shall be classified as Class III except by a declaration of law. Any bargaining unit recommended by the PERB for classification as Class III shall be considered classified as Class II until and unless a law shall have been enacted declaring such bargaining unit classified as Class III. (b) Any unit or units consisting of police officers, corrections officers, firemen, prison guards, harbor pilots, or other persons employed to protect the public safety and welfare and/or protect the property of a public employer is/are hereby classified Class III. (c) Any unit or units consisting of public employees who maintain and operate equipment used in the production of water and power is/are hereby classified Class III. (d) Any unit or units consisting of physicians is/are hereby classified Class III.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 373 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 373. Rights and duties accompanying exclusive recognition

 The labor organization certified by the PERB as the exclusive representative of an appropriate bargaining unit shall have rights and duties which include, but are not limited to: (a) exclusively act for and negotiate agreements with the public employer covering all employees in the bargaining unit whether or not all employees are members of the labor organization; (b) declare appropriate job actions, including sanctioning strikes when permitted by this chapter, and fairly represent the interests of all employees of the bargaining unit without invidious discrimination; (c) be present at any conference or hearing involving a member of the unit in which a grievance is being aired and protect the interests of the unit against adjustments that may infringe upon the terms of the agreement then in effect between the employer and the exclusive representative; Provided, however, That any employee may have his grievance heard without intervention of the exclusive representative; (d) collect dues from members of the labor organization and payment-in-lieu of dues from non-members who are members of the bargaining unit; Provided, however, That a payment-in-lieu of dues shall be an amount equal to the costs to the union for representation purposes proportioned among the members of the bargaining unit or an amount equal to the dues of a member, whichever is less. To enforce the right of this subsection, an exclusive representative may bargain with the public employer to require as a condition of employment that all employees in the unit which it represents pay the amounts authorized by this subsection. All amounts collected by the public employer pursuant to the elected right of the employee under subsection (d) of section 363 of this chapter shall be promptly paid to the exclusive representative. The reasonableness of the amount of any dues or payment-in-lieu of dues may be considered and decided by the PERB.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 374 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 374. Negotiations, scope and limitations

 (a) Rates of pay, hours, salaries, employee benefits, terms and conditions of employment and all matters relating thereto may be specifically negotiated in a collective bargaining proceeding between the public employer and the exclusive representative unless otherwise specifically restricted by law. (b) No contract or other instrument of agreement between the public employer and an exclusive representative shall be valid to the extent such contract or agreement unduly interferes with the right of the public employer to establish and execute public policy by: (1) directing and supervising employees; (2) determining qualifications and standards for hiring and the content of examinations therefore; (3) hiring, promoting, transferring, assigning, retaining, disciplining, suspending, demoting, or discharging employees for cause; (4) maintaining efficiency of operations; (5) determining methods, means and personnel by which the public employer's operations are to be conducted; and (6) taking such actions as may be necessary to carry out the mission of the public employer in times of emergency. (c) No contract or other instrument of agreement between a public employer and an exclusive representative shall be valid to the extent such contract or agreement: (1) bars an election for decertification of the exclusive representative; or (2) classifies or reclassifies bargaining units as provided by the procedure set forth in section 371 of this chapter. (d) Any agreement between a public employer and an exclusive representative may provide procedures, applicable only to members of the bargaining unit, for the consideration and settlement of employee grievances and/or disputes; Provided, however, That no employee may avail himself of more than one grievance procedure for the resolution of a particular grievance and/or dispute. (e) The benefits and privileges conferred upon public employees by Title 3, chapter 25 of this Code shall be applicable to public employees covered by a negotiated bargaining agreement only to the extent such benefits and privileges are specifically provided in such agreement. (f) At any time within 90 days prior to the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement, the PERB may order the parties to commence negotiations for a new agreement if, in the opinion of the PERB, the parties are not satisfactorily moving toward the commencement of negotiations. (g) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, the negotiation proceedings of collective bargaining shall not be open to the public unless mutually agreed to by the parties. (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no contract or other instrument of agreement between an exclusive representative and a public employer which contract or instrument requires the appropriation of funds by the Legislature shall be binding as to the terms requiring appropriations until such appropriations are enacted.
V.I. Code tit. 24, § 377 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 24 - Labor|Chapter 14 - Public Employee Labor Relations|§ 377. Office of Collective Bargaining, creation, scope

 (a) The Office of the Collective Bargaining is established within the Office of the Governor, but shall function under the Division of Personnel for budgetary purposes only. The Office shall be supervised by a Chief Negotiator at the direction of the Governor. The Chief Negotiator shall be experienced in labor relations, and shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Legislature. The Chief Negotiator shall serve at the will of the Governor. (b) The Office of Collective Bargaining shall have the following powers and duties: (1) exclusively represent the executive branch of government and its departments and divisions and negotiate on its behalf in all collective bargaining proceedings; (2) assist the Governor in formulating labor policies for collective bargaining and plan strategies for such bargaining; (3) coordinate the government's position in all mediation and arbitration cases and labor disputes; (4) conduct systematic studies of collective bargaining agreements for the purpose of contract negotiations; (5) prepare and submit an annual report, and such other reports as may be requested, to the Governor and to the Legislature on the effects of this chapter on the annual budget and personnel matters. (c) The Office of Collective Bargaining shall not represent the independent instrumentalities of the Government of the Virgin Islands, such as the Virgin Islands Port Authority, the University of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, the Economic Development Bank or the Virgin Islands Housing Authority in collective bargaining negotiations, unless requested by the instrumentality to do so. (d) No commissioner, department head, or other employee similarly situated shall represent to an exclusive representative of a bargaining unit that he or she may negotiate an agreement on behalf of the public employer independent of the Office of Collective Bargaining. (e) A copy of each collective bargaining agreement and amendments thereto reached under the aegis of the Office of the Public Employee Labor Relations Board shall be filed in the Office of Collective Bargaining, maintained on each island, and shall be available for public inspection or copying.