Code of Maine Rules › 12 - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR › 181 - MAINE STANDING COMMITTEE ON APPRENTICESHIP › Chapter 2 - RULES PERTAINING TO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR EMPLOYMENT IN REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS IN THE STATE OF MAINE › Section 181-2-2 - Definitions-for the purpose of this Chapter

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
Apprenticeship
				  Committee
means those persons designated by the sponsor
				  to administer the program. A committee may be either joint or non-joint, as
				  follows:
* A joint committee is composed of an equal number of
				  representatives of the employer(s) and the employees represented by a bona fide
				  collective bargaining agent(s);
* A non-joint committee, which may also be known as a
				  unilateral or group non-joint (which may include employees) committee, has
				  employer representatives but does not have a bona fide collective bargaining
				  agent as a participant.
Apprenticeship
				  Program
means a plan containing all terms and conditions
				  for the qualification, recruitment, selection, employment and training of
				  apprentices as defined in MRS including such matters as the requirement for a
				  written apprenticeship agreement.
Direct threat
means
				  a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the
				  individual or other that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable
				  accommodation. The determination that an individual poses a "direct threat"
				  must be based on an individualized assessment of the individual's present
				  ability to safely perform the essential functions of the job. This assessment
				  must be based on a reasonable medical judgement that relies on the most current
				  medical knowledge and/or on the best available objective evidence. In
				  determining whether an individual would pose a direct threat, the factors to be
				  considered are:
* The duration of the risk;
* The nature and severity of the potential harm;
* The likelihood that the potential harm will occur;
				  and
* The imminence of the potential harm.
Disability
means
				  with respect to the individual:
* A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits
				  one or more major life activities of such individual;
* A record of such impairment; or
* Being regarded as having such impairment.
Note: The definitions for the term 'disability' and
				  related terms are those from title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act
				  (ADA), as amended, and from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's
				  regulations implementing the ADA at 29 CFR part 1630.
EEO
means equal
				  employment opportunity
Electronic Media
means media that utilize electronics or electromechanical energy for the end
				  user (audience) to access the content; and includes, but is not limited to,
				  electrical storage media, transmission media, the Internet, extranet, lease
				  lines, dial-up lines, private networks, and the physical movement of
				  removable/transportable electronic media and/or interactive distance
				  learning.
Employer
means any
				  person or organization employing an apprentice whether such person or
				  organization is a party to an Apprenticeship Agreement with the apprentice or
				  not.
Ethnicity
, for the
				  purposes of recordkeeping and affirmative action, has the same meaning as under
				  the Office of Management and Budget's Standards for Classification of Federal
				  Data on Race and Ethnicity, or any successor standards. Ethnicity thus refers
				  to the following designations:
* Hispanic or Latino - A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto
				  Rica, South or Central America, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless
				  of race.
* Not Hispanic or Latino
Genetic information
means
* Information about:
* An individual's genetic tests;
* The genetic tests of that individual's family
				  members;
* The manifestation of disease or disorder in family members
				  of the individual (family medical history);
* An individual's request for, or receipt of, genetic
				  services, or the participation in clinical research that includes genetic
				  services by the individual or a family member of the individual; or
* The genetic information of a fetus carried by a pregnant
				  woman who is a family member of the individual and the genetic information of
				  any embryo legally held by the individual or family member using an assisted
				  reproductive technology.
* Genetic information does not include information about the
				  sex or age of the individual, the sex or age of family members, or information
				  about the race or ethnicity of the individual or family members that is not
				  derived from a genetic test.
Note: The definition of the term "genetic
				  information" is taken directly from the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination
				  Act of 2008 (GINA) at
				  42
				  U.S.C. 2000ff(4) and the
				  EEOC's implementing regulations at
				  29 CFR
				  1635.3(c).
Major life
				  activities
include, but are not limited to: Caring for
				  oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking,
				  standing, sitting, reaching, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning,
				  reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, interacting with others, and
				  working. A major life activity also includes the operation of major bodily
				  function, including but not limited to, functions of the immune system, special
				  sense organs and skin, normal cell growth, and digestive, genitourinary, bowel,
				  bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, cardiovascular,
				  endocrine, hemic, lymphatic, musculoskeletal, and reproductive functions. The
				  operation of a major bodily function includes the operation of an individual
				  organ within a body system.
Physical or mental
				  impairment
means:
* Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic
				  disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more body systems, such as
				  neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory (including
				  speech organs), and cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genitourinary,
				  immune, circulatory, hemic, lymphatic, skin and endocrine; or
* Any mental or psychological disorder, such as intellectual
				  disability (formerly termed 'mental retardation'), organic brain syndrome,
				  emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.
Pre-apprenticeship
				  program
means a training model designed to assist
				  individuals who do not currently possess the minimum requirements for selection
				  into an apprenticeship program to meet the minimum selection criteria
				  established in a program sponsor's apprenticeship standards required under part
				  29 of this Chapter and which maintains at least one documented partnership with
				  a Registered Apprenticeship program. It involves a form of structured workplace
				  education and training in which an employer, employer group, industry
				  association, labor union, community-based organization, or educational
				  institution collaborates to provide formal instruction that will introduce
				  participants to the competencies, skills, and materials used in one or more
				  apprenticeable occupations.
Qualified applicant or
				  apprentice
is an individual who, with or without
				  reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the
				  apprenticeship program for which the individual applied or is enrolled.
Race,
for purposes
				  of recordkeeping and affirmative action, has the same meaning as under the
				  Office of Management and Budget's Standards for the Classification of Federal
				  Data on Race and Ethnicity, or any successor standards. Race thus refers to the
				  following designations:
* White-A person having origins in any of the original
				  peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
* Black or African American-A person having origins in any of
				  the black racial groups of Africa.
* Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander-A person having
				  origins in any of the peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific
				  Islands.
* Asian-A person having origins in any of the original
				  peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent including,
				  for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the
				  Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
* American Indian or Alaska Native-A person having origins in
				  any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central
				  America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
Reasonable
				  accommodation
* The term
reasonable accommodation
means:
* Modifications or adjustments to a job application process
				  that enable a qualified applicant with a disability to be considered for the
				  position such qualified applicant desires;
* Modifications or adjustments to the work environment, or to
				  the manner or circumstances under which the position held or desired is
				  customarily performed, that enable a qualified individual with a disability to
				  perform the essential functions of that position; or
* Modifications or adjustments that enable a sponsor's
				  apprentice with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of
				  apprenticeship as are enjoyed by its other similarly situated apprentices
				  without disabilities
* Reasonable accommodation may include but is not limited
				  to:
* Making existing facilities used by apprentices readily
				  accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities; and
* Job restructuring; part-time or modified work schedules;
				  reassignment to a vacant position; acquisition or modifications of equipment or
				  devices; appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations, training
				  materials, or policies; the provision of qualified readers or interpreters; and
				  other similar accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
* To determine the appropriate reasonable accommodation, it
				  may be necessary for the sponsor to initiate an informal, interactive process
				  with the qualified individual in need of the accommodation. This process should
				  identify the precise limitations resulting from the disability and potential
				  reasonable accommodations that could overcome those limitations.
Registration Agency
means Maine Apprenticeship Program, that has responsibility for registering
				  apprenticeship programs and apprentices; providing technical assistance;
				  conducting quality assurance assessments and reviews of registered
				  apprenticeship programs in compliance with the Federal requirements.
Selection procedure
means any measure, combination of measures, or procedure used as a basis for
				  any decision in apprenticeship. Selection procedures include the full range of
				  assessment techniques from traditional paper and pencil tests, performance
				  tests, training programs, or probationary periods and physical, educational,
				  and work experience requirements through informal or casual interviews and
				  unscored application forms.
Sponsor
means any
				  person, association, committee or organization, operating an apprenticeship
				  program, and in whose name the program is (or is to be) registered or
				  approved.
State Apprenticeship
				  Agency
(SAA) means an agency of a State government that
				  has responsibility and accountability for apprenticeship within the State. Only
				  an SAA may seek recognition from OA as an agency which has been properly
				  constituted under an acceptable law or Executive Order (E.O.), and authorized
				  by OA to register and oversee apprenticeship programs and agreements for
				  Federal purposes. The Maine Apprenticeship Program is the recognized SAA for
				  Maine and is administered by the Maine Department of Labor.
Undue
				  hardship
:
*
In general, u
ndue hardship means, with
				  respect to the provision of an accommodation, significant difficulty or expense
				  incurred by a sponsor.
*
Factors to be considered i
n determining
				  whether an accommodation would impose an undue hardship on a sponsor,
				  include:
* The nature and net cost of the accommodation needed under
				  this part, taking into consideration the availability of tax credits and
				  deductions, and/or outside funding;
* The overall financial resources of the facility or
				  facilities involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodation, the
				  number of persons employed at such facility, and the effect on expenses and
				  resources;
* The overall financial resources of the sponsor, the overall
				  size of the registered apprenticeship program with respect to the number of
				  apprentices, and the number, type and location of its facilities;
* The type of operation or operations of the sponsor,
				  including the composition, structure and functions of the workforce of such
				  entity, and the geographic separateness and administrative or fiscal
				  relationship of the facility or facilities in question to the sponsor;
				  and
* The impact of the accommodation upon the operation of the
				  facility, including the impact on the ability of other apprentices to perform
				  their duties and the impact on the facility's ability to conduct
				  business.