20.3 - DEFINITIONS. - Iowa Statutes

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