Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 23-20.10 - Public Health and Workplace Safety Act

• Bar: means an establishment that is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of those beverages, including, but not limited to, taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, and cabarets. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Business: means a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, or other business entity formed for profit-making purposes, including retail establishments where goods or services are sold as well as professional corporations and other entities where legal, medical, dental, engineering, architectural, or other professional services are delivered. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Electronic nicotine delivery system: means an electronic device that may be used to simulate smoking in the delivery of nicotine or other substance to a person inhaling from the device, and includes, but is not limited to, an electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, or electronic hookah and any related device and any cartridge or other component of that device. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Electronic smoking device establishment: means any business that sells food or alcohol and for which the principal or core business is selling electronic nicotine delivery system devices and where combustible substances are prohibited. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Employee: means a person who is employed by an employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit and a person who volunteers his or her services for a nonprofit entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Employer: means a person, business, partnership, association, corporation, including a municipal corporation, trust, or nonprofit entity that employs the services of one or more individual persons. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Enclosed area: means all space between a floor and ceiling that is enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows (exclusive of doorways) that extend from the floor to the ceiling. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Healthcare facility: means an office or institution providing care or treatment of diseases, whether physical, mental, emotional, or other medical, physiological, or psychological conditions, including, but not limited to, hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals or other clinics, including weight control clinics, nursing homes, homes for the aging or chronically ill, laboratories, and offices of surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, physicians, dentists, and all specialists within these professions. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Place of employment: means an area under the control of a public or private employer that employees normally frequent during the course of employment, including, but not limited to, work areas, employees lounges, restrooms, conference rooms, meeting rooms, classrooms, employee cafeterias, and hallways. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Principal or core business: means a business whose majority of customers are utilizing electronic nicotine delivery systems during normal business hours. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public place: means an enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted, including, but not limited to, banks, bars, educational facilities, healthcare facilities, laundromats, public transportation facilities, reception areas, restaurants, retail food production and marketing establishments, retail service establishments, retail stores, shopping malls, sports arenas, the state house, theaters, and waiting rooms. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Restaurant: means an eating establishment, including, but not limited to, coffee shops, cafeterias, and private and public school cafeterias, that gives or offers for sale food to the public, guests, or employees, as well as kitchens and catering facilities in which food is prepared on the premises for serving elsewhere. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• smoke: means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, pipe, weed, plant, other tobacco product or plant product, or other combustible substance in any manner or in any form intended for inhalation in any manner or form. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Smoking bar: means an establishment whose business is primarily devoted to the serving of tobacco products for consumption on the premises, in which the annual revenues generated by tobacco sales are greater than fifty percent (50%) of the total revenue for the establishment and the serving of food or alcohol is only incidental to the consumption of the tobacco products. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9