Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 5-20 - Plumbers, Irrigators, and Water System Installers

• Accrued portion of the normal retirement benefit: means the amount of benefit credited by the employer to the account of an employee participating in a pension plan, or where there is no credit, that portion of the normal retirement benefit to which the director determines actuarially the employee should be entitled based on the covered service of the employee, as of the date of termination of employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Adopted child: means a child adopted by, or placed for adoption with, the employee. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Apprentice irrigator: as used in this chapter , means a person hired to perform all phases of an irrigation project under the supervision of a master irrigation licensee or a licensed journeyperson irrigator for a period of one year. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-4.1
• Apprentice plumber: as used in this chapter , means any employee, whose principal occupation is service with a master plumber with a view to learning the art or trade of maintenance, installation, or repair of plumbing, as defined in § 5-20-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-5
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Authorized inspector: means an inspector of boilers and/or pressure vessels employed by the state of Rhode Island or an insurance company authorized to write boiler or pressure vessel insurance or of an authorized owner/user organization. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• Balancing account: means a book account to be established within the employment security fund, the initial balance of which shall be established by the director as of September 30, 1979, by transferring the balance of the solvency account on that date to the balancing account. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Boiler: means a closed vessel in which water or other liquid is heated, steam or vapor generated, steam is superheated, or in which any combination of these functions is accomplished, under pressure or vacuum, for use externally to itself, by the direct application of energy from the combustion of fuels or from electricity or nuclear energy. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• Business entity: means any person as defined in § 43-3-6 and includes a corporation, business trust, estate trust, partnership, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-59-2
• Ceases to operate a place of employment: means either the complete termination of operations at a place of employment or a substantial reduction in the number of employees at a place of employment as part of a plan or in connection with an intent to move the business operations at that place of employment outside of the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Chief inspector: means the existing position of chief boiler and pressure vessel inspector as appointed by the director of labor and training. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child: means a biological, adopted, or foster son or daughter, a stepson or stepdaughter, a legal ward, a son or daughter of a domestic partner, or a son or daughter of an employee who stands in loco parentis to that child. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Code of rules: means the standard code of rules formulated and adopted by the division of occupational safety under the provision of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Computation date: means September 30 of each year. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Covered service: means periods of employment with an employer that are recognized under the terms of the employer's pension plan for the purposes of determining an employee's eligibility to receive benefits under the plan or the amount of those benefits. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of labor and training. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Department: means the department of labor and training. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Depository library: means a library designated to collect, maintain, and make available state publications to the general public. See Rhode Island General Laws 29-7-2
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the director of labor and training. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Director: means the director of the department of labor and training. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-48-1
• Director: means the director of labor and training or his or her designee unless specifically stated otherwise. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Disability: means the state of being disabled from earning full wages at the work at which the employee was last employed. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-34-1
• Disablement: means the event of becoming disabled as defined in subsection (1) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-34-1
• Disaster: means a fire, flood, hurricane, blizzard, tornado, or other such occurrence where the victims cannot recover without assistance. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-49-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Domestic partner: means a party to a civil union as defined by chapter 3. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Earnings: means wages or compensation paid to an employee in the first forty (40) hours of work in a given week, not inclusive of hours paid at an overtime, Sunday, or holiday rate. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-59-2
• Earnings capacity: means the weekly straight-time earnings that an employee could receive if the employee accepted an actual offer of suitable alternative employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Eligible employer: means an employer who has had three (3) consecutive experience years during each of which contributions have been credited to the employer's account and benefits have been chargeable to this account. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Employee: means any person who is or has been employed by an employer subject to chapters 39 — 41 of this title and in employment subject to those chapters. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Employee: means any person employed at the place of employment during the year prior to the date when the employer ceases to operate the place of employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Employee: means any full-time employee who works an average of thirty (30) or more hours per week. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-48-1
• Employee: means a person employed by any employer, and shall include, but not be limited to: at-will employees, contract employees, applicants, prospective employees, and independent contractors. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-50-2
• Employee: means an individual who works for hire, including an individual employed in a supervisory, managerial, or confidential position, but shall not include an independent contractor. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-59-2
• Employee: means any person who has entered into the employment of or works under contract of service or apprenticeship with any employer, except that in the case of a city or town other than the city of Providence it shall only mean that class or those classes of employees as may be designated by a city, town, or regional school district in a manner provided in this chapter to receive compensation under chapters 29 — 38 of this title. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Employee leasing company: means a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or other form of business entity whose business consists largely of providing workers to one or more client companies by means of employee leasing arrangements. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-47-1
• Employer: means any person, firm, or corporation who or that employs ten (10) or more people within this state at any time within one year prior to the date that it ceases to operate a place of employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Employer: means and includes:

  (i)  Any person, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or other business entity who or that employs fifty (50) or more employees;

  (ii)  The state of Rhode Island, including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and any state department or agency that employs any employees;

  (iii)  Any city or town or municipal agency that employs thirty (30) or more employees; and

  (iv)  Any person who acts directly or indirectly in the interest of any employer. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-48-1

• Employer: means any person, partnership, association, sole proprietorship, corporation, or other business entity, including any department, agency, commission, committee, board, council, bureau, or authority or any subdivision thereof in state or municipal government. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-50-2
• Employer: means any entity employing fifty (50) or more employees. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-51-1
• Employer: means any person, business entity, partnership, individual proprietorship, joint venture, firm, company, or other similar legal entity who or that employs one or more employees, and shall include the state and its instrumentalities and political subdivisions, public corporations, and charitable organizations. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-59-2
• employers: shall include :

  (1)  Employers with related activity in a given industry employing persons who perform work in connection with the given industry;

  (2)  An incorporated or unincorporated association or associations consisting exclusively of those employers provided they employ persons who perform that related work in the given industry; and

  (3)  A combination of employers as described in subsection (a)(1) and an association or associations of employers as described in subsection (a)(2). See Rhode Island General Laws 28-47-1

• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Experience rate: means the contribution rate assigned to an employer's account under whichever is applicable of schedules A — I in § 28-43-8. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Experience year: means the period of twelve (12), consecutive calendar months ending September 30 of each year. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Family leave: means leave by reason of the serious illness of a family member. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-48-1
• Family member: means a parent, spouse, child, mother-in-law, father-in-law, or the employee himself or herself, and with respect to employees of the state as defined in subsection (3)(ii), shall include domestic partners as defined in § 36-12-1(3). See Rhode Island General Laws 28-48-1
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• functional impairment: means an anatomical or functional abnormality existing after the date of maximum medical improvement as determined by a medically or scientifically demonstrable finding and based upon the sixth (6th) edition of the American Medical Association's Guide to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment or comparable publications of the American Medical Association. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General employer: includes but is not limited to temporary help companies and employee leasing companies and means a person who for consideration and as the regular course of its business supplies an employee with or without vehicle to another person. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grandparent: means a parent of the employee's parent. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Group self-insurance: as used in this chapter , shall be deemed to be the system of securing compensation as provided in this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-47-1
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Imminent danger: means a condition or practice that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm immediately or before the danger can be eliminated through normal enforcement procedures. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Independent contractor: means a person who has filed a notice of designation as independent contractor with the director pursuant to § 28-29-17. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Injury: means and refers to personal injury to an employee arising out of and in the course of his or her employment, connected and referable to the employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Journeyperson irrigator: as used in this chapter , means a person who has performed all phases of a project under the supervision of a master irrigation licensee for a period of not less than one year. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-5.1
• Journeyperson plumber: as used in this chapter , means any employee, except an apprentice plumber as subsequently defined, whose principal occupation is the installation, maintenance, or repair of plumbing, as defined in § 5-20-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-4
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Low-wage employee: means an employee whose average annual earnings, as defined in subsection (2), are not more than two hundred fifty percent (250%) of the federal poverty level for individuals as established by the United States Department of Health and Human Services federal poverty guidelines. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-59-2
• magistrate: may be construed to mean a justice, or a clerk acting as a justice, of a district court. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Master irrigator: as used in this chapter , means a person who has performed in the capacity of a journeyperson irrigator as defined in § 5-20-5. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-3.1
• Master plumber: as used in this chapter , means any person who, as an independent contractor, engages in this state in the business of installation, maintenance, or repair of plumbing in the building or upon the premises where that plumbing, as defined in § 5-20-2, is or is to be located, either by contract or agreement with the owner, lessee, tenant, or agent of those premises or building, or who employs one or more journeyperson plumbers, one or more plumber's apprentices or other persons to assist in that installation, maintenance, or repair work or who performs any acts specified in this chapter for performance by a "master plumber. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-3
• Maximum medical improvement: means a point in time when any medically determinable physical or mental impairment as a result of injury has become stable and when no further treatment is reasonably expected to materially improve the condition. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Newborn child: means a child under one year of age. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Noncompetition agreement: means an agreement between an employer and an employee, or otherwise arising out of an existing or anticipated employment relationship, under which the employee or expected employee agrees that he or she will not engage in certain specified activities competitive with his or her employer after the employment relationship has ended. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-59-2
• Normal retirement benefit: means that benefit payable under a pension plan in the event of retirement at the normal retirement age as prescribed by the plan. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmation; the word "sworn" includes affirmed; and the word "engaged" includes either sworn or affirmed. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-11
• 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.
• Occupational disease: means a disease that is due to causes and conditions that are characteristic of and peculiar to a particular trade, occupation, process, or employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-34-1
• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means any person owning, operating, or in charge or control of any boiler or pressure vessel as defined in this section including the chief administrative officer in the private or public sector. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• Parent: means a biological, foster, or adoptive parent, a stepparent, a legal guardian, or other person who stands in loco parentis to the employee or the employee's spouse or domestic partner when he/she was a child. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Parent-in-law: means the parent of the employee's spouse or domestic partner. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Parental leave: means leave by reason of the birth of a child of an employee or the placement of a child sixteen (16) years of age or less with an employee in connection with the adoption of the child by the employee. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-48-1
• 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.
• Pension plan: means any plan, fund, or program established, maintained, or entered into by an employer for the purpose of providing for its employees, or their beneficiaries, retirement benefits. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Person: means an individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or any other legal entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-50-2
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Persons who stand in loco parentis: means those with day-to-day responsibilities to care for and financially support a child or, in the case of an employee, who had such responsibility for the employee when the employee was a child. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Physician: means medical doctor, surgeon, dentist, licensed psychologist, chiropractor, osteopath, podiatrist, or optometrist, as the case may be. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Place of employment: means any location within this state at which ten (10) or more persons are employed at any time within one year prior to the date that the employer ceases to operate at that location. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Plumbing: means :

  (i)  All fittings, fixtures, appliances, and connections that are located within a building or a structure, or within five feet (5?) of the outer walls of a building or structure and that connect said building or structure, where a person or persons live, work, or assemble, with the source of public or private water supply used or intended for domestic or personal use, as well as any interconnecting piping between buildings or structures;

  (ii)  All piping, fittings, fixtures, and appliances for a sanitary drainage and related ventilation system, direct or indirect, within that building; and

  (iii)  Air piping, medical, and laboratory gas systems including, but not limited to, oxygen and nitrous oxide. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-2

• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Pressure vessel: means a vessel in which the pressure is obtained from an external source or by the application of heat other than those vessels defined in subsection (7) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• Pretrial conference: A meeting of the judge and lawyers to discuss which matters should be presented to the jury, to review evidence and witnesses, to set a timetable, and to discuss the settlement of the case.
• Printed: means any form of printing and duplicating, regardless of format, with the exception of correspondence, and interoffice and intraoffice memoranda;

  (3)  "State agency" means any state office, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, including, but not limited to, any constitutional officer, department, division, bureau, board, commission, and/or any other agency that expends state appropriated funds; and

  (4)  "State publication" means any publication, regardless of physical form or characteristics produced, made available electronically, printed, purchased, or authorized for distribution by a state agency, except those determined by the issuing agency to be required for official use only for administrative or operational purposes. See Rhode Island General Laws 29-7-2

• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public body: means all of the following:

  (i)  A state officer, employee, agency, department, division, bureau, board, commission, council, authority, or other body in the executive branch of state government;

  (ii)  An agency, board, commission, council, member, or employee of the legislative branch of state government;

  (iii)  A county, city, town, or regional governing body, a council, school district, or a board, department, commission, agency, or any member or employee of the entity;

  (iv)  Any other body that is created by state or local authority or that is primarily funded by or through state or local authority, or any member or employee of that body;

  (v)  A law enforcement agency or any member or employee of a law enforcement agency;

  (vi)  The judiciary and any member or employee of the judiciary;

  (vii)  Any federal agency. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-50-2

• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Reserve percentage: means , in relation to an employer's account, the net balance of that account on a computation date, including any voluntary contributions made in accordance with § 28-43-5. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• seal: shall be construed to include an impression of the seal made with or without the use of wax or wafer on the paper. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-15
• seasonal occupation: means those occupations in which work is performed on a seasonal basis of not more than sixteen (16) weeks. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Serious health condition: means any illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, residential healthcare facility, or continued treatment or continuing supervision by a licensed healthcare provider. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• Serious illness: means a disabling physical or mental illness, injury, impairment, or condition that involves inpatient care in a hospital, a nursing home, or a hospice, or outpatient care requiring continuing treatment or supervision by a healthcare provider. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-48-1
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sexual harassment: means any unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or any other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:

  (1)  Submission to that conduct or those advances or requests is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment; or

  (2)  Submission to or rejection of the conduct or advances or requests by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting the individual; or

  (3)  The conduct or advances or requests have the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-51-1

• Special employer: means a person who contracts for services with a general employer for the use of an employee, a vehicle, or both. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Spouse: means a party in a common law marriage, a party in a marriage conducted and recognized by another state or country, or in a marriage as defined by chapter 3 of Title 15. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-41-34
• State agency: means any state office, or officer, department, board, commission, institution, bureau, or any agency, division, or unit within any office, department, board, or commission or other state authority. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-49-2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Suitable alternative employment: means employment or an actual offer of employment that the employee is physically able to perform and will not exacerbate the employee's health condition and that bears a reasonable relationship to the employee's qualifications, background, education, and training. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-29-2
• Supervisor: means any individual to whom an employer has given the authority to direct and control the work performance of the affected employee or any individual who has the authority to take corrective action regarding the violation of a law, rule, or regulation about which the employee complains. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-50-2
• Tax year: means the calendar year. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Taxable payroll: means , for the purpose of this chapter, the total of all wages as defined in § 28-42-3(29). See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Total payroll: means , for the purpose of this chapter, the total of all wages paid by all employers who are required to pay contributions under the provisions of chapters 42 — 44 of this title. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• 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
• 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
• Trade secret: means information as defined in § 6-41-1. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-59-2
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Vested right: means a nonforfeitable, legal right obtained by an employee participating in a pension plan to that part of an immediate or deferred pension benefit which arises from the employee's covered service under the plan and is no longer contingent on the employee remaining covered under the plan. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-46-2
• Voluntary contribution: means a contribution paid by an employer to his or her account in accordance with § 28-43-5. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-43-1
• Water heater: means a closed vessel in which water is heated by the combustion of fuels, electricity, or any source and withdrawn for use external to the system at pressures not exceeding one hundred sixty (160) psig including the apparatus by which heat is generated and all controls and devices necessary to prevent water temperatures from exceeding two hundred ten degrees Fahrenheit (210° F). See Rhode Island General Laws 28-25-1
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.