Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms mean:

(1) “Agency”, “state agency” or “agency of the state”, each department, board, commission or office of the state except for offices of the elected officials, the general assembly, the judiciary and academic institutions;

(2) “Appointing authority”, an officer or agency subject to this chapter having power to make appointments;

(3) “Board”, the personnel advisory board as established by section 36.050;

(4) “Broad classification band”, a grouping of positions with similar levels of responsibility or expertise;

(5) “Class”, “class of positions”, or “job class”, a group of positions subject to this chapter sufficiently alike in duties, authority and responsibilities to justify the same qualifications and the same schedule of pay to all positions in the group;

(6) “Director”, the director of the division of personnel of the office of administration;

(7) “Disabled veteran”, a veteran who has served on active duty in the Armed Forces at any time who receives compensation as a result of a service-connected disability claim allowed by the federal agency responsible for the administration of veteran’s affairs, or who receives disability retirement or disability pension benefits from a federal agency as a result of such a disability or a National Guard veteran who was permanently disabled as a result of active service to the state at the call of the governor;

(8) “Division of service” or “division”, a state department or any division or branch of the state, or any agency of the state government, all the positions and employees in which are under the same appointing authority;

(9) “Eleemosynary or penal institutions”, an institution within state government holding, housing, or caring for inmates, patients, veterans, juveniles, or other individuals entrusted to or assigned to the state where it is anticipated that such individuals will be in residence for longer than one day. Eleemosynary or penal institutions shall not include elementary, secondary, or higher education institutions operated separately or independently from the foregoing institutions;

(10) “Eligible”, a person whose name is on a register or who has been determined to meet the qualifications for a class or position;

(11) “Employee”, shall include only those persons employed in excess of thirty-two hours per calendar week, for a duration that could exceed six months, by a state agency and shall not include patients, inmates, or residents in state eleemosynary or penal institutions who work for the state agency operating an eleemosynary or penal institutions;

(12) “Examination” or “competitive examination”, a means of determining eligibility or fitness for a class or position;

(13) “Open competitive examination”, a selection process for positions in a particular class, admission to which is not limited to persons employed in positions subject to this chapter pursuant to subsection 1 of section 36.030;

(14) “Promotional examination”, a selection process for positions in a particular class, admission to which is limited to employees with regular status in positions subject to this chapter pursuant to subsection 1 of section 36.030;

(15) “Register of eligibles”, a list, which may be restricted by locality, of persons who have been found qualified for appointment to a position subject to this chapter pursuant to subsection 1 of section 36.030;

(16) “Regular employee”, a person employed in a position described under subdivision (2) of subsection 1 of section 36.030 who has successfully completed a probationary period as provided in section 36.250;

(17) “State equal employment opportunity officer”, the individual designated by the governor or the commissioner of administration as having responsibility for monitoring the compliance of the state as an employer with applicable equal employment opportunity law and regulation and for leadership in efforts to establish a state workforce which reflects the diversity of Missouri citizens at all levels of employment;

(18) “Surviving spouse”, the unmarried surviving spouse of a deceased disabled veteran or the unmarried surviving spouse of any person who was killed while on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States or an unmarried surviving spouse of a National Guard veteran who was killed as a result of active service to the state at the call of the governor;

(19) “Veteran”, any person who is a citizen of this state who has been separated under honorable conditions from the Armed Forces of the United States who served on active duty during peacetime or wartime for at least six consecutive months, unless released early as a result of a service-connected disability or a reduction in force at the convenience of the government, or any member of a reserve or National Guard component who has satisfactorily completed at least six years of service or who was called or ordered to active duty by the President and participated in any campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge or service medal has been authorized.