Section 260-RICR-30-05-4.4 - DefinitionsA. As used in this Regulation, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings: 1. "Chronic short staffing" means a situation characterized by long standing vacancies in that portion of the facility's master staffing plan applicable to the work unit of an employee who files a complaint where such vacancies are the result of open positions that continually remain unfilled over a period of 180 days or more despite active recruitment efforts.2. "Director" means the Director of the Department of Labor and Training.3. "Department" means the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training4. "Employee" means an individual employed by a health care facility as a nurse licensed pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-5-34 or a certified nurse assistant registered pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-17.9;5. "Employer" means a person, partnership, association, corporation or person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of a health care facility;6. "Health care facility" means any private, public or state hospital;7. "On-call time" means time spent by an employee who is not currently working on the premises of the place of employment, but who is compensated for availability, or as a condition of employment has agreed to be available, to return to the premises of the place of employment on short notice if the need arises;8. "Reasonable efforts" means that the employer shall:a. Seek persons who volunteer to work extra time from all available qualified staff who are working at the time of the unforeseeable emergent circumstance;b. Contact all qualified employees who have made themselves available to work extra time;c. Seek the use of qualified per diem staff;9. "Unforeseeable emergent circumstance" means an unpredictable or unavoidable occurrence relating to health care delivery that requires immediate action, and which shall include a major power outage, a public health emergency, an irregular increase in patient census, or an irregular increase in the number of employees not reporting for predetermined scheduled work shifts.260 R.I. Code R. 260-RICR-30-05-4.4