3-18-1. Employees subject to chapter--Excluded officers and employees--Rights preserved to excluded persons. The words "public employees" as used in this chapter shall mean any person holding a position by appointment or employment in the government of the State of South Dakota or in the government of any one or more of the political subdivisions thereof, or in the service of the public schools, or in the service of any authority, commission, or board, or any other branch of the public service. The term does not include:

(1) Elected officials and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices and members of any board or commission;

(2) Administrators except elementary and secondary school administrators, administrative officers, directors, or chief executive officers of a public employer or major divisions thereof as well as chief deputies, first assistants, and any other public employees having authority in the interest of the public employer to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other public employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment;

(3) Students working as part-time employees twenty hours per week or less;

(4) Temporary public employees employed for a period of four months or less;

(5) Commissioned and enlisted personnel of the South Dakota National Guard;

(6) Judges and employees of the unified court system;

(7) Legislators and the full-time and part-time employees of the legislature or any state agency that statutorily is directed by the legislative branch.

This section does not preclude employees described in subdivisions (1) to (7), inclusive, from joining professional, noncollective bargaining organizations.

Source: SL 1969, ch 88, § 1, subdiv 1; SL 1978, ch 35, § 1; SL 1982, ch 41.