# Labor and Employment (GLE)

## Title 5. Occupational Safety and Health

### Subtitle 1. Definitions; General Provisions

#### Section 5-101

(a) In this title the following words have the meanings indicated.

(b) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Industry.

(c)

  (1) "Employee" means, except as provided in Sec. 5-401 of this title, an individual whom an employer employs, for a wage or other compensation, in the business of the employer.

  (2) "Employee" includes:

    (i) an individual whom a public body employs;

    (ii) an individual who is licensed as a taxicab driver and leases or rents a taxicab from a person who operates or owns a taxicab business in Baltimore City;

    (iii) an individual who is employed for part-time or temporary help by a public body or person who engages in a business that directly employs individuals to provide part-time or temporary help to another public body or person; and

    (iv) an individual who performs work for a public body or person to whom the individual is provided by another public body or person who engages in a business that directly employs individuals to provide part-time or temporary help.

(d)

  (1) "Employer" means:

    (i) except as provided in Sec. 5-401 of this title, a person who is engaged in commerce, industry, trade, or other business in the State and employs at least one employee in that business; or

    (ii) a public body.

  (2) "Employer" includes:

    (i) a person who operates or owns a taxicab business in Baltimore City and leases or rents a taxicab to a licensed taxicab driver, to provide services to the public;

    (ii) a public body or person who engages in a business that directly employs individuals to provide part-time or temporary help to another public body or person; and

    (iii) a public body or person who contracts directly with another public body or person who engages in a business that directly employs individuals to provide part-time or temporary help to another public body or person.

(e) "Occupational safety and health standard" means a regulation that requires:

  (1) a condition that is reasonably appropriate or necessary to make employment and places of employment safe and healthful; or

  (2) the adoption or use of a means, method, operation, practice, or process that is reasonably appropriate or necessary to make employment and places of employment safe and healthful.

(f) "Person" includes a successor.

(g) "Place of employment" means a place in or about which an employee is allowed to work.

(h) "Public body" means:

  (1) a governmental unit;

  (2) a public or quasi-public corporation of the State;

  (3) a school district in the State or any unit of the district; or

  (4) a special district in the State or any unit of the district.

(i)

  (1) "Workplace violence" means an act of violence or a threat of violence that occurs at a place of employment and that is not a lawful act of self-defense or defense of another person.

  (2) "Workplace violence" includes, regardless of whether the employee is physically or psychologically injured:

    (i) using or threatening to use physical force against an employee; or

    (ii) an incident involving the use of or threatening the use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon.

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Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. (as displayed at mgaleg.maryland.gov, October 16, 2026)