Volunteers

Every year, volunteers contribute many hours of unpaid labor to support various organizations. Ministries, nonprofits, and educational institutions often rely on volunteers to lead governing boards, conduct programs, and serve clients. Employees may also wish to support your organization by performing volunteer service in addition to their normal, paid tasks. Due to labor laws, there are a few factors to consider before allowing employees to do volunteer work without pay for your ministry, school, or higher education institution.

Job duties

An important thing to note is whether a volunteer activity is also a requirement of an employee’s job description. If your organization requires an employee to perform a certain duty as a job requirement, and the employee is not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), you likely will need to pay the employee for any “volunteer” time spent on that activity. Here’s why: The employee is spending time on something mandated by your organization as part of the employee’s job. Therefore, the person must be paid for all hours worked.

If an employee is exempt from the FLSA’s overtime provisions, you would not be required to pay the employee any additional wages for the volunteer activity, even if their duties are the same. Exempt employees are paid a set amount of money, regardless of how many hours they work. 

Unrelated activities

If your organization wants to let employees volunteer to serve in areas unrelated to their normal, paid duties, it could be helpful to create some guidelines. For instance, you may wish to establish a clear description of what is required of the employee in his or her paid job position, as well as what is required in the employee’s volunteer role.

It may be useful to document that any volunteer activities an employee performs on behalf of your organization is:

• Done on the employee’s own time.
• Not a part of the employee’s job description.
• Voluntary and not mandated by the organization.
• Unpaid.

Your organization may consider having the employee sign an acknowledgement that he or she understands the distinct roles. Also, you will want to make sure the employee does not mix together the separate roles. This might happen if an employee were to work on volunteer tasks during his or her scheduled time to perform paid duties. The roles should be kept separate and distinct. 

You are encouraged to have your volunteer policy and acknowledgment form reviewed by a local attorney to ensure that they comply with applicable law.  

SAMPLE POLICY:
VOLUNTEERS

Employees who desire to volunteer with the [ministry, school, college, university] during non-working hours must first obtain approval from the [insert name of position, such as Director of Human Resources]. Approval of the employee’s request to volunteer will depend on several factors, such as the nature, extent, and duration of the voluntary activity. Because the [ministry, school, college, university] must comply with applicable labor laws, non-exempt employees cannot volunteer for, and will not be allowed to perform, activities that are normally part of their job responsibilities.

If a former employee wishes to continue his or her volunteer efforts for the [ministry, school, college, university], approval will be contingent upon a positive recommendation from the prior employee’s supervisor and [insert other person, if applicable, such as the Director of Human Resources].

The [ministry, school, college, university] encourages volunteer efforts by non-employee volunteers. Before engaging in volunteer activities, non-employees must complete a volunteer application and agree to background and reference checks, an interview, and completion of a signed volunteer agreement.

All volunteers, whether employee or non-employee, serve with the knowledge and approval of the [insert position, such as Director of Human Resources], who may terminate the volunteer’s relationship with the [ministry, school, college, university] at any time.

This is a sample handbook policy only. Your organization is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. Accordingly, this document should not be used or adopted by your organization without first being reviewed and approved by a licensed attorney in your area. Brotherhood Mutual assumes no liability in preparation and distribution of this sample document.

Working Together © 2022 Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. All rights reserved. www.brotherhoodmutual.com/working-together. Updated 9/2021.