§ 902. Definitions

As used in this chapter:

(1) “Board” means the State Labor Relations Board established under section 921 of this title.

(2) “Collective bargaining” or “bargaining collectively” means the process of negotiating terms, tenure, or conditions of employment between the State of Vermont, the Vermont State Colleges, the University of Vermont, or the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs and representatives of employees with the intent to arrive at an agreement that, when reached, shall be reduced to writing.

(3) “Collective bargaining unit” means the employees of an employer, being either all of the employees, the members of a department or agency, or such other unit or units as the Board may determine are most appropriate to best represent the interests of employees.

(4) “Employee” means a State employee as defined by subdivision (5) of this section except as the context requires otherwise.

(5) “State employee” means any individual employed on a permanent or limited-status basis by the State of Vermont, the Vermont State Colleges, the University of Vermont, the State’s Attorneys’ offices, or as a full-time deputy sheriff paid by the State pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 290(b), including permanent part-time employees, and an individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice, but excluding an individual:

(A) exempt or excluded from the State classified service under the provisions of section 311 of this title, except that the State Police in the Department of Public Safety; employees of the Defender General, excluding attorneys employed directly by the Defender General and attorneys contracted to provide legal services; deputy State’s Attorneys; employees of State’s Attorneys’ offices; and full-time deputy sheriffs paid by the State pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 290(b) are included within the meaning of “State employee”;

(B) employed in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor;

(C) employed as the legal assistant to the Attorney General authorized by section 155 of this title;

(D) employed as a department or agency head or deputy officer not included in section 311 of this title, head of an institution or as a division director in the Agency of Administration, and similar positions in the Vermont State Colleges or the University of Vermont;

(E) employed by any other person who is not an employer as defined in subdivision (7) of this section;

(F) employed as a managerial employee;

(G) employed in the classified service as a private secretary within the meaning of subdivision 311(a)(3) of this title;

(H) employed in the Department of Human Resources;

(I) employed in the Department of Finance and Management as a budget and management analyst, a revenue research analyst, director of budget and management operations, director of program formulation and evaluation, and director of State information systems;

(J) determined after hearing by the Board, upon petition of any individual desiring exclusion, of the employer, or of a collective bargaining unit, to be in a position that is so inconsistent with the spirit and intent of this chapter as to warrant exclusion; or

(K) employed as a confidential employee.

(6) “Employee organization” means an organization of any kind in which employees participate and that exists for the purpose of representing its members, if certified by the Board as an exclusive representative for the purposes of collective bargaining.

(7)(A) “Employer” means the State of Vermont, excluding the Legislative and Judiciary Departments, represented by the Governor or designee, the Office of the Defender General represented by the Defender General or designee, Vermont State Colleges represented by the Chancellor or designee, and the University of Vermont represented by the President or designee.

(B) With respect to employees of State’s Attorneys’ offices and full-time deputy sheriffs paid by the State pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 290(b), “employer” means the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs represented by the Executive Director or designee. Nothing in this subdivision (7)(B) shall be construed to affect a sheriff’s deputation authority pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 307(a).

(8) “Strike” means any concerted stoppage of work by employees and any concerted slowdown, interference, or interruption of operations or services by employees. For purposes of this chapter, “strike” also includes boycotts of any kind, picketing, refusal to use any products or services or to work or cooperate with any person by employees in the course of their employment when properly directed to do so by the employer or any lawfully constituted supervisor or superior.

(9) “Labor dispute” includes any controversy concerning terms, tenure, 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 the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.

(10) “Person” includes one or more individuals, the State of Vermont, Vermont State Colleges, University of Vermont, Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, employee organizations, labor organizations, partnerships, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, or any other natural or legal entity whatsoever.

(11) “Representatives” includes any individual or individuals certified by the Board to represent employees or employee organizations in collective bargaining or grievance proceedings.

(12) “State Police member” means any member of the Department of Public Safety assigned to law enforcement and police duties.

(13) [Repealed.]

(14) “Grievance” means an employee’s, group of employees’, or the employee’s collective bargaining representative’s expressed dissatisfaction, presented in writing, with aspects of employment or working conditions under a collective bargaining agreement or the discriminatory application of a rule or regulation, that has not been resolved to a satisfactory result through informal discussion with immediate supervisors.

(15) “Complaint” means an employee’s, or group of employees’, informal expression to the immediate supervisor of dissatisfaction with aspects of employment or working conditions under a collective bargaining agreement.

(16) “Supervisory employee” means an individual finally determined by the Board as having authority in the interest of the employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees or responsibility to direct them or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment.

(17) “Confidential employee” means an employee finally determined by the Board as having responsibility or knowledge or access to information relating to collective bargaining, personnel administration, or budgetary matters that would make membership in or representation by an employee organization incompatible with the employee’s official duties.

(18) “Managerial employee” is an individual finally determined by the Board as being in an exempt or classified position that requires the individual to function as an agency, department, or institution head, a major program or division director, a major section chief, or director of a district operation.

(19) “Collective bargaining service fee” means a fee deducted by an employer from the salary or wages of an employee who is not a member of an employee organization, which is paid to the employee organization that is the exclusive bargaining agent for the bargaining unit of the employee. The collective bargaining service fee shall not exceed 85 percent of the amount payable as dues by members of the employee organization and shall be deducted in the same manner as dues are deducted from the salary or wages of members of the employee organization and shall be used to defray the costs of chargeable activities. (Added 1969, No. 113, § 1; amended 1971, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. April 3, 1972; 1975, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1977, No. 109, §§ 4, 4a, 33(e); 1987, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1993, No. 227 (Adj. Sess.), § 27; 1997, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2; 2003, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 2013, No. 37, § 1; 2017, No. 81, § 3, eff. June 15, 2017; 2021, No. 125 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 6, § 2, eff. July 1, 2023.)