{"id":1923,"date":"2017-06-09T02:17:19","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T02:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/feverbee.staging.wpengine.com\/superusers\/?p=1923"},"modified":"2023-05-03T11:49:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T11:49:38","slug":"legal-considerations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/legal-considerations\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Considerations"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content standard\"><div><\/p>\n<p><aside class=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/10\/feverbee-logo-yellow-1.png\" width=\"116\" height=\"100\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Legal Considerations<\/h1>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">Planning<\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"boxout quote\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxoutIcon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-content\/themes\/feverbee-superuser-microsite\/images\/boxout-icon-info.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is a Volunteer?<\/strong><br \/>\nAccording to the US Department of Labor, a volunteer is: an \u201cindividual who performs hours of service for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons, without promise, expectation or receipt of compensation for services rendered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/div><br \/>\n<\/aside><\/p>\n<p><article class=\"\"><\/p>\n<h3>When designing your program there is an important legal consideration to be mindful of \u2013 namely the line between a volunteer and an employee. Members are often trained to undertake a role, given a set of tasks that they are expected to perform, and rewarded in some way for being an engaged program member.<\/h3>\n<p>If you don\u2019t follow some careful guidelines around how you approach these things then you could be in breach of the law.<\/p>\n<p>There are a couple of things that come into play here:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The fact that \u2018employee\u2019 is defined differently from country to country<\/li>\n<li>The nature of your incentives or rewards<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The definition of volunteer is different in different countries. In the US it is grounded in the idea of <em>service without contemplation of pay<\/em>. The key here is that there is no expectation of reward and no receipt of reward for the work.<\/p>\n<p>In the UK it is also important that:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"simple\">\n<li>the individual is free to voluntarily work (or not) as they wish<\/li>\n<li>there must be no element of compulsion to their attending work, or the hours that they work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that the above definition applies to non-profit organizations only. In the US, work of any type for a for-profit organization is considered employment and must be paid. Unpaid internships are allowed, but the intern must not take the place of an employee.<\/p>\n<p><\/article><\/p>\n<p><\/div><\/section>\n<p><section class=\"content flipped grey\"><div><br \/>\n<aside class=\"\"><br \/>\n<div class=\"boxout example\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxoutIcon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-content\/themes\/feverbee-superuser-microsite\/images\/boxout-icon-example.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In 1999, two ex-AOL community leaders filed a class action lawsuit against the company, claiming that AOL volunteers performed work equivalent to employees and should therefore be compensated according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fair_Labor_Standards_Act\">Fair Labor Standards Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly the expectations of AOL Community Leaders were high. They had to undergo a 3-month training program and were required to file timecards for shifts, work at least four hours a week, and submit detailed reports outlining their work during each shift.<\/p>\n<p>The Community Leaders ultimately won a settlement of 15 million dollars.<\/p>\n<p><\/div><\/p>\n<p><\/aside><br \/>\n<article class=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>The easiest way to avoid breaking the law is to reward people for prior behavior. Rather than soliciting people to perform tasks, reward those that performed those duties satisfactorily the year before. This means there is no further obligation to work, but members will be motivated to continue to perform in order to retain their position within the group.<\/p>\n<p>Important questions to ask:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are the tasks or services of the kind typically associated with volunteer work?<\/li>\n<li>Have regular employees been displaced to accommodate these volunteers?<\/li>\n<li>Does the worker receive (or expect) any benefit from your organization which are tied directly to the completion of services?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you tie your rewards directly to the work performed you are treating members as employees, rather than volunteers. Provided the rewards are \u2018gifts\u2019 and aren\u2019t implicitly promised, then that\u2019s probably ok.<\/p>\n<p><\/article><br \/>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n<section class=\"content standard\"><div><br \/>\n<aside class=\"\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/roi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/Extrapolate-1.png\" \/><br \/>\n<\/aside><br \/>\n<article class=\"\"><\/p>\n<h2>Payment<\/h2>\n<p>So what constitutes payment? Payment does not include:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"simple\">\n<li>Reimbursing the volunteer for the expenses they incurred when performing the volunteer work.<\/li>\n<li>Honoraria (a payment given for professional services that are rendered nominally without charge).<\/li>\n<li>Any personal satisfaction a volunteer may get from the work.<\/li>\n<li>Access to products or services that are used in the commission of the work.<\/li>\n<li>Special access to organizational resources or communication channels.<\/li>\n<li>Virtual rewards such as badges or titles.<\/li>\n<li>Gifts\u00a0e.g. a coffee cup, t-shirt, admission to an event where the volunteer is representing the organization, one-off holiday gifts etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An important factor in determining whether rewards or gifts to a volunteer are a substitute for compensation is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nonprofitrisk.org\/resources\/articles\/employee-or-volunteer-whats-the-difference\/\">whether the amount of the fee varies as the particular individual spends more or less time engaged in the volunteer activities.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/article><br \/>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n<section class=\"content flipped grey\"><div><br \/>\n<aside class=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/06\/risk-1.png\" \/><br \/>\n<\/aside><br \/>\n<article class=\"\"><\/p>\n<h2>Risk Management Tips<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Have a clear agreement in writing that the person is a volunteer and will not be paid<\/li>\n<li>Limit the number of hours worked<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t have volunteers doing work that would normally be done by a paid employee<\/li>\n<li>Make your rewards variable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Another consideration is the amount of control that you have over your volunteers. If they have the flexibility to do as much or as little work as they like (within the agreed scope), and the ability to do that at a time that suits them, then you\u2019re unlikely to be overstepping the employee\/volunteer mark. If you retain very tight control and tie rewards directly to the amount of service undertaken, you\u2019re on unstable ground.<\/p>\n<p>Alison Clements of UK law firm <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lewissilkin.com\/\">Lewis Silkin<\/a> advises that a requirement for compulsory training will likely also represent a risk factor in the UK, as it detracts from the voluntary nature of the role. Ideally the role should either be unskilled (and therefore require no training) or the individual should already have the knowledge which they then use on a voluntary basis.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately you are more likely to encounter an issue if a member feels mistreated and lodges a grievance or claim of some description. Have clear, open communication, and agreed upon expectations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>IMPORTANT NOTE<\/strong><br \/>\nThis chapter does not constitute legal advice. Every case should be considered individually, with considerations made for the program structure, expectations placed on members, mutual understanding of the boundaries, and the law of the locale (country, state, province, etc.) in which the community and the volunteers are based. <em>It is always best to consult a lawyer and have all documentation and processes cleared before you launch publicly.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/article><br \/>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feverbee.com\/superuser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}