The following terms have the meaning indicated when used in this Article:
(1) Agency shop means a provision in a collective bargaining agreement requiring, as a condition of continued employment, that bargaining unit employees pay a service fee not greater than the monthly membership dues uniformly and regularly required by the employee organization of all of its members. An agency shop agreement shall not require an employee to pay initiation fees, assessments, fines, or any other like collections or their equivalent as a condition of continued employment. A collective bargaining agreement shall not require payment of a service fee by any employee who opposes joining or financially supporting an employee organization on religious grounds. However, the collective bargaining agreement may require that employee to pay an amount equal to the service fee to a nonreligious, nonunion charity, or to any other charitable organization, agreed to by the employee and the certified representative, with provision for dispute resolution if there is not agreement, and to give to the employer and the certified representative written proof of this payment. The certified representative shall adhere at all times to all federal constitutional requirements in its administration of any agency shop system maintained by it.
(2) Certified representative means an employee organization chosen to represent employees as their exclusive bargaining agent in one (1) or both units as defined in Section 33-105 in accordance with the procedures of this Article.
(3) Collective bargaining means meeting at reasonable times and places and negotiating in good faith on appropriate subjects as defined under this Article. This Article shall not be interpreted to compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession.
(4) Employee means any person who works for the County government, except:
(A) a confidential aide to an elected official;
(B) a person holding a position designated by law as a non-merit position;
(C) a head of a principal department, office, or agency;
(D) a deputy or assistant to a head of a principal department, office, or agency;
(E) an employee who provides direct staff or administrative support to the head of a principal department, office, or agency, or to a deputy or assistant within the immediate office of a head of a principal department, office, or agency;
(F) an employee who reports directly to, or whose immediate supervisor is:
(i) the County Executive;
(ii) the Chief Administrative Officer; or
(iii) a principal aide of the County Executive or Chief Administrative Officer;
(G) an employee who works for:
(i) the Office of the County Executive;
(ii) the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer;
(iii) the County Council;
(iv) the Office of the County Attorney;
(v) the Office of Management and Budget;
(vi) the Office of Intergovernmental Relations;
(vii) the Office of Human Resources;
(viii) the Merit System Protection Board; or
(ix) the Ethics Commission;
(H) an employee in a temporary, seasonal, or substitute position, unless the position is in a job class in which the incumbents are predominantly career merit system employees;
(I) a recently-hired employee who has not completed the probationary period;
(J) an employee in the police bargaining unit;
(K) an employee in the firefighter/rescuer bargaining unit;
(L) a uniformed officer in the Department of Correction & Rehabilitation at the rank of Lieutenant or higher;
(M) subject to any limitations in State law, a uniformed officer in the Office of the Sheriff at the rank of sergeant or higher;
(N) an employee who is a member of the State merit system;
(O) a supervisor, other than a Sergeant in the Department of Correction and Rehabilitiation;
(P) an employee in a position classified at grade 27 or above unless the employee’s position is reclassified or reallocated on or after July 1, 2002, to a non-supervisory position at grade 27 or above; or
(Q) an employee in a position classified in the Management Leadership Service.
(5) Employee organization means any organization that admits employees to membership and that has as a primary purpose the representation of employees in collective bargaining.
(6) Employer means the County Executive and his or her designees.
(7) Lockout means any action that the employer takes to interrupt or prevent the continuity of work properly and usually performed by the employees for the purpose and with the intent of either coercing the employees into relinquishing rights guaranteed by this Article or of bringing economic pressure on employees for the purpose of securing the agreement of their certified representative to certain collective bargaining terms.
(8) Mediation means an effort by the mediator/fact-finder chosen under this Article to assist confidentially in resolving, through interpretation, suggestion, and advice, a dispute arising out of collective bargaining between the employer and the certified representative.
(9) Strike means a concerted failure to report for duty, absence, stoppage of work, or abstinence in whole or in part from the full and faithful performance of the duties of employment with the employer, or deviation from normal or proper work duties or activities, where any of the preceding are done in a concerted manner for the purpose of inducing, influencing, or coercing the employer in the determination, implementation, interpretation, or administration of terms or conditions of employment or of the rights, privileges, or obligations of employment or of the status, recognition, or authority of the employee or an employee organization.
(10) Supervisor means an employee who has the authority to:
(A) hire, assign, transfer, lay off, recall, promote, evaluate, reward, discipline, suspend, or discharge another employee, or effectively recommend any of these actions;
(B) direct the activity of 3 or more employees; or
(C) adjust or recommend adjustment of any grievance.
(11) Unit means either of the units defined in Section 33-105.(1986 L.M.C., ch. 70, § 3; 1994 L.M.C., ch. 16, § 1; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1; 2002 L.M.C., ch. 8, § 1; 2005 L.M.C., ch. 8, § 1; 2010 L.M.C., ch. 38, § 2.)
Editor’s note—Sections 33-75 through 33-85 and Sections 33-101 through 33-112 are cited, and Section 33-80 is quoted, in Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35 v. Montgomery County, 436 Md. 1, 80 A.3d 686 (2013).
See County Attorney Opinion dated 9/26/11 regarding a union’s authority to engage in collective bargaining on behalf of current employees, but not on behalf of future employees. See County Attorney Opinion dated 4/30/02 which indicates that, for purposes of a reduction in force, the Regional Service Centers (RSC) are not the same office as the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). This means that only the employees in the RSCs are considered when a position is abolished through a RIF process and not the employees of the CAO’s Office.
2010 L.M.C., ch. 38, § 3, states, in part: The position of Executive Director of the Ethics Commission is abolished by operation of law on the date that the Commission appoints a staff director/chief counsel, as authorized by County Code Section 19A-5(f), as amended by Section 1 of this Act.