As used in this chapter:
(a) “Person” means one (1) or more individuals, labor organizations, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy or receivers. In determining whether any person is acting as an agent of another person so as to make such other person responsible for his or her acts, the question of whether the specific acts performed were actually authorized or subsequently ratified shall not be controlling.
(b) “Employer” means any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly, but shall not include the United States, or any wholly owned government corporation, or any Federal Reserve Bank, or any employer whose activity or business affects commerce within the scope and meaning of the National Labor Relations Act of the United States, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. and over which the National Labor Relations Board has not declined to assert jurisdiction in accord with Section 14 of the National Labor Relations Act, or the State or any political subdivision thereof, or any person subject to the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. 151 et seq., or any labor organization, other than when acting as an employer, or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization, or any employer with less than twenty-five (25) employees.
(c) “Employee” means any employee and any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair practice as defined herein, but shall not include any individual employed by his or her parent or spouse, whether through corporate control or otherwise, or any individual having the status of an independent contractor, or any individual employed as a supervisor, or by any other person who is not an employer as herein defined.
(d) “Representatives” means any individual or labor organization.
(e) “Labor organization” means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment or conditions of work.
(f) “Unfair practice” means the following:
(1) Any act or conduct by an employer, or labor organization, which may interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights to self-organization, to form, join or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, or to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, or to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such rights may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in, or payment of an amount equal to dues and initiation fees to a labor organization as a condition of employment;
(2) Any act or conduct by an employer which may dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial or other support to it, except that an employer shall not be prohibited from permitting employees to confer with him or her during working hours without loss of time or pay;
(3) Any act or conduct by an employer or a labor organization which may cause discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization, except that nothing herein shall preclude an employer from making an agreement with a labor organization, not established, maintained or assisted by any action defined in subsection (f)(2) hereof as an unfair practice, to require as a condition of employment membership therein, or payment of an amount equal to dues and initiation fees to such labor organization if such labor organization is the representative of the employees of the employer, provided that no employer shall justify any discrimination against an employee for nonmembership in a labor organization if he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that such membership was not available to the employee on the same terms and conditions generally applicable to other members, or if he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that membership was denied or terminated for reasons other than the failure of the employee to tender the periodic dues and the initiation fees uniformly required as a condition of acquiring or retaining membership;
(4) Any act or conduct by an employer or labor organization to cause or tend to cause any discrimination against any employee because of testimony or any other activity in connection with any proceeding brought pursuant to this chapter;
(5) Any act or conduct by an employer or labor organization to refuse to bargain collectively as hereinafter defined, which includes, among other things, the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment, or the negotiation of an agreement, or any question arising thereunder, and the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached if requested by either party, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession.
(g) “Appropriate unit” means any group of, or combination of, employees with mutuality of interests in wages, hours and working conditions where the employees may be assured of the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed under this chapter, and including the only employee of an employer when such single employee unites or makes common cause with employees of other employers covered by this chapter.
(h) “Labor dispute” means any controversy including 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.
(i) “Supervisor” means any individual 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 grievance, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the aforegoing, the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(Ord. No. 119-68. Passed 6-9-69, eff. 6-9-69)