Attorney general said governor had authority to raise starting base salaries

Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Earl Walker and Government House Chief Legal Counsel Emile Henderson III said on August 9, 2018, that Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp had the authority to increase starting base salaries for Executive Branch workers by executive order.

The statement responded to an eight-page legal opinion from the Legislature questioning the governor’s authority to raise starting salaries for government workers.

Government House said Executive Order No. 483-2018 increased starting base salaries effective August 1, 2018, for teachers, firefighters, corrections officers, emergency medical technicians, environmental officers, police officers, enforcement officers, social workers and Head Start teachers, among other Executive Branch employees. The order also raised the minimum wage for all Executive Branch employees to $13 an hour.

Walker said the Revised Organic Act of 1954 gave the governor executive power and supervisory control over Executive Branch departments, bureaus, agencies and instrumentalities. He said the order did not conflict with existing law and did not reappropriate territorial funds, and that the Office of Management and Budget had identified funding within the existing budget.

Walker also said the administration considered the salary increases necessary to fill vacancies in critical positions. Government House said the Department of Education needed at least 87 teachers for the 2018-2019 school year and that vacancies existed in nearly every agency.

Henderson said the executive order did not prevent negotiations with labor unions.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/ag-confirms-governors-authority-to-raise-starting-base-salaries/