456 CMR 24.01 provides definitions for words and phrases used in 456 CMR 24.00 when used with reference to M.G.L. c. 150F.

Active Transportation Network Driver or Active TND. “Active transportation network driver” or “active TND” means a transportation network driver so designated pursuant to the following process: Upon request by the department, and at the completion of each calendar quarter thereafter, each transportation network company (“TNC”) shall provide the department with information that identifies all transportation network drivers (“TND”) who completed five or more rides that originated in the commonwealth of Massachusetts on the TNC’s platform in the previous six months. Each TNC shall provide this information within two weeks after the end of each calendar quarter (March 31st, June 30th , September 30th , December 31st). Such information shall include only the name of the TND, the TND driver’s license number, and the number of rides the TND completed through the TNC’s platform in the previous six months. The Department shall combine the data provided by all TNCs to determine the distribution of the number of rides completed by all TNDs for which data has been submitted and then shall determine the median number of rides across TNDs for whom data has been submitted in the previous six months. Any TND who completed more than the median number of rides shall be considered an active transportation network driver in the rideshare industry, as set forth in M.G.L. c. 150F, § 2A.

Appropriate Bargaining Unit. For purposes of 456 CMR 24.00, each TND shall be included in an industry-wide bargaining unit of all Transportation Network Drivers.

Board. For purposes of 456 CMR 24.00 and the administration of M.G.L. c. 150F only, all references to the Board in M.G.L. c. 150F shall refer to the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (“CERB”) established pursuant to M.G.L. c. 23, § 9R, and its designees, and shall include the Department of Labor Relations, as defined in M.G.L. c. 23, §§ 9O, 9P, 9R and 9T. Both the CERB and the Department of Labor Relations shall be authorized to take any action that M.G.L. c. 150F authorizes the Board to take unless these regulations clearly and explicitly limit authorization to take the action to the CERB alone.

Company Union means any committee, employee representation plan, or association of workers or others that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with TNCs concerning grievances or terms and conditions of work for TNDs, which:

1. (a) a TNC has initiated or created or whose initiation or creation it has suggested, participated in or in the formulation of whose governing rules or policies or the conducting of whose management, operations or elections the TNC participates in or supervises; or
2. (b) which the TNC maintains, finances, controls, dominates, or assists in maintaining or financing unless required to do so by 456 CMR 24.00 or any regulations implementing 456 CMR 24.00 whether by compensating anyone for services performed in its behalf or by donating free services, equipment, materials, office or meeting space or anything else of value, or by any other means.

A TND organization shall not be deemed a company union only because it has negotiated or been granted the right to designate workers to be released with pay for the purpose of providing representational services in labor-management affairs on behalf of workers represented by the TND organization, or where, in the course of providing representational services to workers for whom it is the exclusive bargaining representative, a TNC allows agents of the TND organization to meet with workers at the TNC's premises, as set forth in M.G.L. c. 150F, § 2C.

Days. For purposes of calculation of dates pursuant to 456 CMR 24.00, Days shall mean calendar days, including Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.

Department. The Department of Labor Relations established pursuant to M.G.L. c. 23, §§ 9O, 9P, 9R, and 9T.

Designation of Representative Evidence.

1. (a) Authorization cards, petitions, or other evidence demonstrating that a TND Organization has been designated as the exclusive bargaining representative for purposes of collective bargaining, provided that any such evidence has been executed and dated by the TND within one year before the date that the TND Organization submits the designation of representative evidence to the Department. Execution may be electronic in a manner approved by the Department and satisfy the criteria set forth in 456 CMR 24.05.
2. (b) Authorization cards, petitions or other evidence demonstrating that the TNDs in the bargaining unit no longer wish to be represented by any TND Organization, provided that any such evidence has been executed and dated by the TND within one year before the TND submits such evidence to the DLR. Execution may be electronic and must satisfy the criteria set forth in 456 CMR 24.05, as applicable.

Director. The Director of the Department of Labor Relations, as defined in M.G.L. c. 23, § 9T.

Exclusive Bargaining Representative. A Transportation Network Driver Organization certified by the Department in accordance with M.G.L. c. 150F and 456 CMR 24.00.

Hearing Officer. Any Board member or Department attorney designated by the Board to conduct a hearing pursuant to M.G.L. c. 150F and 456 CMR 24.00 or a quorum of the Board acting together to conduct such a hearing.

Network Company. A TNC, except that a business entity that maintains an online enabled application or platform that meets all three of the following tests is not a network company subject to 456 CMR 24.00:

1. (a) it is used to facilitate primarily non-rideshare services within the commonwealth of Massachusetts,
2. (b) less than 7½% of service requests fulfilled through the platform on an annual basis are for rideshare services, and
3. (c) fewer than 10,000 service requests fulfilled through the platform in any year are for rideshare services.

For purposes of Network Company, all applications or platforms used by corporate entities under common control shall be considered a single application or platform, as set forth in M.G.L. c. 150F, § (E).

Party. Consistent with the terms set forth in M.G.L. c. 150F, § 4C, and for purposes of 245 CMR 24.00, only, party shall mean the respondent to a charge, a charging party, or any other persons, labor organizations, or entities whose intervention in the proceedings has been permitted by the Department.

Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development. The Executive Branch Secretary of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Transportation Network Company or “TNC”. A transportation network company as described by M.G.L. c. 159A½, § 1.

Transportation Network Driver or “TND”. A transportation network driver as described by M.G.L. c. 159A½, § 1. TND shall not include any individual who, with respect to the provision of services through a TNC’s online enabled application or platform, is an employee within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 152(3).

Transportation Network Driver Organization or “TND Organization”. Any organization in which TNDs participate, and which exists and is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining, or of dealing with network companies concerning grievances, terms or conditions of work, or of other mutual aid or protection and which is not a company union as such term is defined in M.G.L. c. 150F, § 2G.