Not automatically, but delay can undermine evidence and applicable timing requirements. Review legally relevant dates, the approved plan, causes of delay, and the job-creation method. At least ten qualifying jobs per investor remain required; their assessment does not occur only at removal of conditions.
A hypothetical hotel project six months behind
Imagine a Georgia hotel that projected 42 positions by month 18 and has 19 at month 24. The question is whether the shortfall is a matter of timing or of structure: a slowed build is not an abandoned phase. Permitted job-creation methods differ between a standalone investment and a regional center investment, so counsel must assess the actual record rather than the projection.
A delay in the hiring timeline is not itself a defect if the underlying evidence still supports the required positions when the removal-of-conditions filing is prepared. Distinguish a position from a person: turnover that replaces one qualifying employee with another does not reduce the count, provided the position itself remained continuously filled and the hours requirement was met. Payroll registers, employment eligibility verification records and organizational charts covering the entire measurement period carry more weight than a staffing plan describing what was intended.
Averaging hours across a slow month and a busy month can mask a position that never actually met the required weekly threshold, so review individual pay periods rather than an annual average. Document the specific cause of any slowdown, since an explained delay supported by records differs from an unexplained gap in the staffing record.