§ 1 — Definitions

Section 1. As used in this chapter the following words shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:''Applicant'', any legal entity, or person seeking assistance pursuant to this chapter for an employee involvement or employee ownership project, or, as used in section twenty-four, an educational institution which has made application for a grant-in-aid as authorized by section twenty-four.''Area labor-management committee'', a committee composed of representatives from management, labor and private concerned citizens from a particular geographic area or industry; provided, however, that management representatives shall be selected by management and labor representatives shall be selected by labor.''Board'', board of trustees of the economic stabilization trust.''Business'', any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, trust or other legal entity with its principal office, plant, or facility in the commonwealth and engaged in manufacturing, research and development, or the provision of goods and services.''Business and industry'', a private corporation, institution, firm or person or group or association of the same, concerned with commerce, trades, manufacturing or the provision of services within the commonwealth, or a public or nonprofit hospital licensed by the department of public health.''Commission'', the commission on employee involvement and ownership established in section two hundred and four of chapter six.''Director'', or ''Executive Director'', the executive director of the industrial service program.''Educational institution'', a public secondary or post-secondary institution, proprietary trade, business, vocational, technical, professional or correspondence school licensed by the department of education under the provision of chapters seventy-five C, seventy-five D, and ninety-three, or an independent nonprofit institution within the commonwealth authorized by law to provide a program of skills training or education beyond the secondary school level.''Employee'', any person employed for hire by an employer in any lawful employment; provided, however, that employees shall be designated as managerial employees if they participate to a substantial degree in formulating or determining policy.''Employee involvement'', the involvement of both employees and managers in decisions affecting their work; provided, however, that where a certified collective bargaining agent represents said employees such involvement of said employees shall be with the agreement of said agent.''Employee organization'', any lawful association, organization, federation, council, or labor union, the membership of which includes public or private employees, and assists its members to improve their wages, hours, and conditions of employment.''Employee-owned business'', a corporation organized and operated pursuant to chapter one hundred and fifty-seven A, or by a partnership consisting of at least three persons which is owned and controlled by the partners on a cooperative basis whereby the partners vote on partnership matters on a one-person, one-vote basis and the ratio of partners to nonpartner employees is no less than one to one, or a business, the ownership of which is represented by shares and the governing body of which is elected by holders of shares in which more than fifty percent of the class of voting shares having the greatest combination voting power and dividend rights and more than fifty percent of all other classes of shares are owned by (1) not less than seventy percent of the employees of such business, (2) an employee-stock ownership plan maintained by such business, or (3) a combination of the foregoing, subject to the following:(i) shares of any class owned by an employee who owns more than fifteen percent of such class shall be treated as owned by someone other than said employee. For purposes of determining whether a person owns more than fifteen percent of a class, shares owned by the person's spouse, children or parents shall be treated as owned by said person.(ii) voting shares owned by an employee stock ownership plan shall be taken into account only to the extent that the employee stock ownership plan passes the vote with respect to all shares held in trust through to employees.''Employee ownership'', employees having an ownership interest in the business where they work.''Employee-ownership project'', a plan, arrangement or transaction under which (a) a business would become an employee-owned business within a period of not more than five years, or (b) an employee-owned business would be established.''Employee stock ownership plan'', an employee stock ownership plan within the meaning of 26 USC section 4975(e)(7), including, where the context so indicates, the trust maintained under such a plan.''Employer'', includes any person acting in the interest of an employer directly or indirectly.''Equipment'', tangible personal property which will further the objectives of the supported program and for which a definite value and evidence in support thereof have been provided by the donor.''Financing agreement'', a legal agreement between the economic stabilization trust and a business or person which details the terms and conditions upon which the trust has loaned to, invested in, or otherwise financed said business or person.''Financial support'', any thing of value contributed by business and industry to an educational institution which is reasonably calculated to support directly the development and expansion of a particular program as defined herein and which represents an addition to any financial support previously or customarily provided to such educational institutions by the donor, including, but not limited to: funds, equipment as provided in this chapter, facilities, faculty, and scholarships for matriculating students and trainees.''Grant-in-Aid,'' funding that is provided to an educational institution by the industrial service program for the development or significant expansion of a program as provided in this chapter.''Person'', any individual or individuals, firm, corporation, partnership, trust or other legal entity which seeks to purchase a business or the plant, facilities or assets of a business in the commonwealth or to institute or implement an employee-ownership project.''Program'' or ''Program of skills training or education consistent with employment need'', the industrial service program, or, as used in sections twenty-four and twenty-four A, a coordinated course of instruction which is designed to prepare individuals upon completion for employment in a specific trade, occupation or profession. Such instruction may include: (a) classroom instruction; (b) classroom related field, shop, factory, office and laboratory work; and (c) entry level training, job upgrading, retraining and advance training.''Severe economic dislocation'', a permanent discontinuance of operations or reduction in force by an employer or by a number of employers located within a city or town of the commonwealth, whether caused by economic conditions, natural catastrophe or otherwise, which results in the permanent loss of employment of seventy-five or more employees who are residents of the commonwealth. In the case of a public employer, severe economic dislocation shall include the loss of employment of fifty or more employees due to economic conditions resulting from the operation of chapter five hundred and eighty of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty.''Targeted individuals'', residents of the commonwealth who become unemployed as a result of a severe economic dislocation, and individuals receiving public assistance from the commonwealth, including recipients of aid to families with dependent children, and individuals between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one inclusive, who are unemployed and economically disadvantaged residents of urban areas of the commonwealth.''Technical assistance'', professional and any other assistance provided by business and industry to an educational institution, which is reasonably calculated to support directly the development and expansion of a particular program as defined herein and which represents an addition to any technical assistance previously or customarily provided to such educational institutions by the donor.''Trustees'', the trustees of the economic stabilization trust.''Trust'', the economic stabilization trust.''Voting power'', the power of shares, relative to other shares in the business, to elect at least a majority of the members of the governing body of a business.