County Labor Code Sec. 13A-102.

(a) Appropriate unit means a group of employees for whom a labor organization may be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative pursuant to Section 13A-106.
(b) Board means the Prince George's County Public Employee Relations Board created by Section 13A-104 of this law or any of the three Panels acting as components of the Board pursuant to Section 13A-104. The term Panel shall always be co-joined by the words Representation Matters, Unfair Labor Practices or Impasse which on their face describe respectively the prime responsibility of each Panel of the Board. The duties of the Panel on Representation Matters are set forth in Sections 13A-105, 106, and 107, the duties of the Unfair Labor Practices Panel in Sections 13A-110, 113, 114, and 115 and the Impasse Panel in Sections 13A-111 and 112.
(c) Certification means official recognition by the Prince George's County Public Employee Relations Board that a labor organization is, and shall remain, the exclusive representative for all of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit for the purpose of collective bargaining, until it is replaced by another labor organization, decertified, or dissolves.
(d) Charter means the Prince George's County Charter adopted on November 3, 1970.
(e) County means the Prince George's County, Maryland.
(f) County Council means the legislative branch of the County Government.
(g) Employee means any person whose salary and/or job description is determined in whole or in part by the County, but shall not include elected officials, management level employees, confidential employees, and officials appointed pursuant to law to a policy-making position. An individual shall continue to be an employee within the meaning of this law even if his work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any unfair labor practice. In addition, the term employee shall include also such individuals to whom the coverage of this law is extended pursuant to Section 13A-116 herein.
(h) Employer means the County Executive and any individual who represents him or acts in his interests in dealing with employees, or any governmental body operating within the County which elects to have the definition of employee contained in Section 13A-102(g) herein extended to include its employees pursuant to Section 13A-116 herein, or any person acting as an agent of said governmental body.
(i) Impartial agency means any of the following or other similar organizations: The American Arbitration Association, The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, The Maryland State Department of Labor and Industry, The National Center for Dispute Settlement, and The U.S. Department of Labor.
(j) Labor organization means any labor union or other organization in which employees participate and which has as one of its purposes the representation of employees concerning wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment, but shall not include any organization which unlawfully engages in discrimination with regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin.
(k) Management level employee means any individual who is involved directly in the determination of policy or who responsibly directs the implementation thereof.
(l) Person includes one or more individuals, labor organizations, employers, employees, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers.
(m) Professional employee means any employee whose work:

(1) Is predominantly intellectual and varied in character as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work;
(2) Requires consistent exercise of discretion and judgment;
(3) Is of such a character that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given time period; and
(4) Which requires 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.

(n) Strike means the failure by concerted action with others to report for duty, the willful absence from one's position, the stoppage of work, or the abstinence in whole or in part from the full, faithful, and proper performance of the duties of employment, or in any manner interfering with the operation of any public employer, for the purpose of inducing, influencing, or coercing a change in the conditions or compensation or the rights, privileges, or obligations of employment.
(o) 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 responsibly to direct them; or to adjust their grievances; or effectively 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; provided, however, that the exercise of any single function of authority enumerated above shall not necessarily require the conclusion that the individual so exercising that function is a supervisor within the meaning of this law.
(CB-1-1973)

Editor's Note: Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, Section 2-309(r)(7), states that all non-probationary commissioned full-time employees of the sheriff's office, including deputy sheriffs, are subject to the County Labor Code with regard to collective bargaining for compensation, including pension and other fringe benefits.

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