20.3 - DEFINITIONS.
20.3 DEFINITIONS.
When used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Arbitration" means the procedure whereby the parties
involved in an impasse submit their differences to a third party for
a final and binding decision or as provided in this chapter.
2. "Board" means the public employment relations board
established under section 20.5.
3. "Confidential employee" means any public employee who
works in the personnel offices of a public employer or who has access
to information subject to use by the public employer in negotiating
or who works in a close continuing working relationship with public
officers or representatives associated with negotiating on behalf of
the public employer.
"Confidential employee" also includes the personal secretary
of any of the following: Any elected official or person appointed to
fill a vacancy in an elective office, member of any board or
commission, the administrative officer, director, or chief executive
officer of a public employer or major division thereof, or the deputy
or first assistant of any of the foregoing.
4. "Employee organization" means an organization of any kind
in which public employees participate and which exists for the
primary purpose of representing public employees in their employment
relations.
5. "Fact-finding" means the procedure by which a qualified
person shall make written findings of fact and recommendations for
resolution of an impasse.
6. "Governing body" means the board, council, or commission,
whether elected or appointed, of a political subdivision of this
state, including school districts and other special purpose
districts, which determines the policies for the operation of the
political subdivision.
7. "Impasse" means the failure of a public employer and the
employee organization to reach agreement in the course of
negotiations.
8. "Mediation" means assistance by an impartial third party
to reconcile an impasse between the public employer and the employee
organization through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
9. "Professional employee" means any one of the following:
a. Any employee engaged in work:
(1) Predominantly intellectual and varied in character as opposed
to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work;
(2) Involving the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment
in its performance;
(3) Of such a character that the output produced or the result
accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of
time; and
(4) Requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science
or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized
intellectual instruction and study in an institution of higher
learning or a hospital, as distinguished from a general academic
education or from an apprenticeship or from training in the
performance of routine mental, manual, or physical processes.
b. Any employee who:
(1) Has completed the courses of specialized intellectual
instruction and study described in paragraph "a", subparagraph 4,
of this subsection, and
(2) Is performing related work under the supervision of a
professional person to qualify the employee to become a professional
employee as defined in paragraph "a" of this subsection.
10. "Public employee" means any individual employed by a
public employer, except individuals exempted under the provisions of
section 20.4.
11. "Public employer" means the state of Iowa, its boards,
commissions, agencies, departments, and its political subdivisions
including school districts and other special purpose districts.
12. "Strike" means a public employee's refusal, in concerted
action with others, to report to duty, or a willful absence from the
employee's position, or a stoppage of work by the employee, or the
employee's abstinence in whole or in part from the full, faithful,
and proper performance of the duties of employment, for the purpose
of inducing, influencing or coercing a change in the conditions,
compensation, rights, privileges or obligations of public employment.
Section History: Early Form
[C75, 77, 79, 81, § 20.3]
Referred to in § 185.34, 235A.15, 412.2, 602.11108