32.02.010 Definitions

Employers/contractors may seek clarification as to all TERO requirements and definitions at the pre-bid conference for any on-reservation construction project, or otherwise by directing inquiries to the Tribal TERO Commission.

(a) "Chairman" shall mean the chairman of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribal Employment Rights Commission.

(b) "Commission" shall mean the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribal Employment Rights Commission.

(d) "Union" shall mean duly organized workers as recognized by any labor organization recognized as such under the national Labor Relations Act.

(e) "Council" shall mean the Tribal Council of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

(f) "TERO Director" shall mean the individual hired by the Tribal Council to keep the Council, Commission, employees and employers informed of this Ordinance and its violations. The Director has authority to resolve informal disputes on behalf of the Commission.

(g) "TERO" shall mean the Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance.

(h) "EEOC" shall mean the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission of the United States.

(i) "Employer" shall mean any person, business, company, contractor, subcontractor, or other entity located or engaged in work on the reservation, employing one or more persons, and without regard for whether the employer or its owner is Indian or Non-Indian or a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians or not. The term "Employer" excludes federal, state, county and tribal government. Tribally-owned or tribally-chartered private, for profit corporations are employers under this definition. Tribally owned or tribally chartered, non-profit corporations are employers under this definition. Tribally chartered or state chartered non-profit corporations authorized by the Tribe to contract with any federal agency pursuant to P.L. 93-638 or to enter into a grant agreement pursuant to P.L. 100-297 are employers under this definition. Tribally owned corporations are employers under this definition.

(j) An employer is "engaged in business on the reservation" if in connection with any portion of a business enterprise or specific project, contract or subcontract, the employer or any of its employees or agents performing work within the exterior boundaries of the reservation. Employers who have both on-reservation and off-reservation business locations shall also be subject to the TERO in their off-reservation locations if those off-reservation locations are on lands adjacent to the reservation.

(k) "Indian" shall mean any person recognized as an Indian by the United States Government pursuant to its trust responsibility. In complying with and implementing the TERO, following additional preferences shall be recognized and enforced.

(l) Indians residing in Rolette County, North Dakota. Indians residing in other counties in the State of North Dakota.

(m) Any Indian recognized by the U.S. Government pursuant to its trust responsibility wherever residing.

(n) The terms "residence" or "residing" shall mean the place of domicile of an applicant on the date the applicant seeks employment or contracting preference under the TERO and resides within 90 days prior to such application. Domicile shall mean the place where an individual Indian has his true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which whenever he is absent he has the intention of returning;

(o) The term "Indian-owned business" shall mean a business entity (in whatever form) of which at least 51% is owned by any federally recognized Indian Tribe or by Indians and which has been screened and certified as an "Indian-owned business" by the MBE/WBE office in Bismarck, North Dakota or the Indian Business Development Center in Bismarck. A copy of MBE/WBE certification will be furnished to the TERO Office.

(p) The term "Joint Venture" shall require that any Tribal member(s) or Tribe who enters a Joint Venture contract must control at least 51% of the Joint Venture and receive at least 51% of profits of the Joint venture. The Joint Venture shall show proof of Joint Venture to the TERO office by providing copies of ownership, state contractors license, bond and liability insurance. The Joint Venture must be certified and screened by the MBE/WBE office in Bismarck, North Dakota.

(q) Any employer is "located on the reservation" if in connection with any portion of a business enterprise or specific project contract or subcontract, he/she is doing business or performing work within the exterior boundaries of the reservation.

(r) The term "OFCCP" shall mean the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the United States.

(s) The term "Reservation" shall mean the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation proper and all tribal land and trust property held by the U.S. Government for the Tribe in Rolette County, North Dakota, including all land within the exterior boundaries of said reservation proper and said tribal land and trust property.

(t) The term "Secretary" shall mean the Secretary of the Interior or his duly authorized representative.

(u) The term "Tribe" shall mean the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

(v) "Key Position" means an ongoing position where a person is a permanent employee for a period of one year prior to the contract and it is vital to the contractor's ability to perform the contract as he bid it or to the special operation of a crew familiar with each other in their duties to perform, that said person or persons be used on the project in said position(s).

(w) MBE means "Minority Business Enterprises". WBE means "Women's Business Enterprise".

(x) "Informal Dispute Resolution"; Clarifying and trying to remedy a situation without a hearing.(See 32.07.020, 32.07.030 and 32.07.040)