(1) "Adverse action" means the same as defined at § 21-1-602;

(2) "Appropriate authority" means the same as defined at § 21-1-602;

(3) "Communicating in good faith" means making a verbal or written report at a time and in a manner that gives a state agency reasonable notice of the need to correct a waste or violation;

(4) (A) "Employee" means a person regularly appointed or employed in a position of state service by a state agency for which:

(i) He or she is compensated on a full-time basis or on a pro rata basis; and

(ii) A class title and pay grade are established in the appropriation act for the agency or institution in accordance with the Uniform Classification and Compensation Act, § 21-5-201 et seq.

(B) "Employee" does not include a supervisory employee;

(5) "Party" means the employee affected by a state agency decision or the state agency that made the decision at issue in the grievance;

(6)

(A) "State agency" means a board, commission, department, division, or office of state government within the executive branch.

(B) "State agency" does not include:

(i) An institution of higher education;

(ii) A public school district;

(iii) The Arkansas Department of Transportation; and

(iv) The Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission;

(7) "Supervisory employee" means an individual having:

(A) Authority in the interest of a state agency to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees of the state agency; or

(B) If his or her exercise of authority requires the use of independent judgment and is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, the responsibility to direct other employees of the state agency by which he or she is employed;

(8) "Violation" means the same as defined at § 21-1-602; and

(9) "Waste" means the same as defined at § 21-1-602.