I'm A Volunteer - What Applies To Me?
Photo by International Fund for Animal Welfare from Pexels
By this point in my blog series, we’ve come to understand the basis for the employee-employer relationship as well as the parameters of an independent contractor relationship. In subsequent blogs I will be addressing matters related to such things as overtime, remuneration, and other aspects of working with an organization, but, before I do, it is important to understand what, if any of these things applies to volunteers?
Volunteering is the life blood of many groups within the animal advocacy movement, and without volunteers many groups would either not exist at all, or would be far less productive.
During my over five years as the President of the Board for Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary (HEEFS), home of Esther the Wonder Pig, I was constantly astounded by the generosity of our volunteers. We had volunteers who transitioned to shorter work weeks in their paid jobs in order to spend more time volunteering. We had volunteers who would drive from New York State to Ontario to volunteer weekly (until Covid hit), and we had volunteers who spent almost countless hours every single week doing both hands-on farm work and administrative work - myself included! Remember, Boards of Directors for charitable organizations must not be paid.
While the law is somewhat ambiguous regarding volunteerism in certain jurisdictions, some of the employment laws that apply to employees may also apply to volunteers such as Health and Safety and Respect in the Workplace. Regardless of what might be required in law, it is always the right thing to treat all people fairly and to apply equitable rules for everyone.
As such, and because of the deep appreciation I have for volunteers, one of the first major tasks I undertook at HEEFS was the creation of a Volunteer Handbook - well before I created the Employee Handbook.
A Volunteer Handbook is one way in which organizations can show their appreciation for volunteers, and a good Volunteer Handbook is made up of many components including but not limited to:
An overview of the history of the organization,
The mission, and guiding principles of the organization,
A description of the various volunteer jobs that exist,
Policies on alcohol and substance use, confidentiality, email and internet use, and appropriate codes of conduct,
Health and safety protocol, and
A robust policy regarding Respect in the Workplace (also called anti-discrimination and anti-harassment).
Volunteers should be provided with a Volunteer Handbook in advance of becoming a volunteer, they go through an orientation program, they should be provided ample opportunity to ask any questions regarding any aspect of the Volunteer Handbook, and they should sign off on having received it and on having received training regarding its contents.
In other words, volunteers should be treated with the same deep respect and appreciation as employees.
As we close out 2020, this is also a good time to show volunteers how much they are valued - and some fun ways to do that can be found in the links below.
“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.”
I want to help to empower you to be the best activist you can be. Please reach out with any questions and I’ll try to answer them in future blogs, anonymously of course!
Always for the Animals,
Krista
P.S. Note that this blog does not address matters that arise when paid employees also volunteer for the organization that they work for, nor does it address the matter of interns. Both of these circumstances require separate and distinct consideration.
Volunteer Recognition:
https://www.wildapricot.com/blog/volunteer-appreciation-guide#how-would-you-want-to-be-recognized-
https://www.keela.co/blog/nonprofit-resources/volunteer-appreciation
https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/volunteer-appreciation/
For American readers, please find here an article title Our Nation’s Forgotten Worker: The Unprotected Volunteers, a legal analysis of volunteerism in the United States: https://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/jbl/articles/volume9/issue1/Rubinstein9U.Pa.J.Lab.&Emp.L.147(2006).pdf
For Canadian readers, please review these articles for more information on volunteerism:
This blog series is provided for general information purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal advice or opinions of any kind. No one should act, or refrain from acting, based solely upon the materials provided on this website, any hypertext links or other general information without first seeking appropriate legal or other professional advice.
The intention of this blog is to promote the longevity and engagement level of the activist community within the Animal Advocacy Movement (AAM). The majority of the advice will be geared towards employees within the AAM in Canada and the United States, but may be applicable to other countries. All information provided assumes that the employee works within a non-unionized environment.
Krista is the Executive Director of For The Greater Good where she consults with animal protection organizations across North America on matters of organizational development and governance. In addition to holding five degrees and designations in human resources, including a master’s degree in organizational development and leadership, she is pursuing her doctorate focused on the employment experiences of animal rights activists in Canada and the United States. Krista first joined the Animal Advocacy Movement as the VP of Mercy For Animals in Canada where she led twelve undercover investigations into factory farms and slaughterhouses. Krista also served as the President of the Board for Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary for over five years, also now serves on several other Boards including One Protest, The Rancher Advocacy Program, Egg-Truth, and Dairy-Truth. Prior to joining the Movement, Krista founded a boutique employment and labour law firm in Toronto where she consulted to employers across Canada and the U.S. for a decade, and before that she spent fifteen years in human resources including as the Vice President of HR for one of the largest software companies in the world.