Volunteer Waivers

marc

Do any of you non-profits, hospitals or anyone else for that matter, have a volunteer waiver form related to workman's compensation coverage?

We have a carrier who will take us out of the high-risk pool and cut our preimiums by about 30%, but they will not cover volunteers. We think a possilbe way out is to get a waiver and thus are looking for same.

Help is greatly appreciated and will help insure your transition to a higher plane of existence.

Don D

I wonder about the legality of saying volunteers at the organization have no protection in the event of job related injuries. I have a family member who volunteers at a local hospital. All of the volunteers are protected just as the employees are. This person had rotator cuff surgery paid by the carrier for a condition caused by pushing people in wheelchairs and assisting in lifting people over a 7 year period of time. I would think either your carrier must carry them or your organization must separately guarantee their coverage in-house. The latter may cause your premiums to decrease.

marc

I appreciate your input and perspective.

Right now we have volunteer coverage, and by itself, it is not that expensive. But it is a deal-breaker for the prospective carrier, which would mean we stay in the "pool" and pay the higher costs.

Our broker indicates several large non-profits do not provide it and, in fact, require waivers prior to allowing individuals to volunteer. Red cross is one he mentioned in particular. We have contacted the local chapter but have not gotten to the right person yet.

In the meantime, I am going to also put pressure back on the broker to come up with the waiver. I think it makes sense to have someone work on it with significant economic incentive.

So while we continue our direct contact process to try and find some samples, I thought I would ask the forum if anyone had experience with the waivers?

Balloonman

Most states will not let you contractually waive your rights under WC.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

marc

Thanks for replying Balloonman. My research so far indicates that volunteers are not employees by statute, therefore no WC coverage because they do not qualify. I have some information that indicates 48 of the 50 states do not have volunteers covered by WC insurance.

Even some very large national non-profits, of which you would all know the names, do not cover volunteers nor do they have any sort of acknowledgement that the volunteer is self-insuring. I have spoken so some Exec. Dir.'s of the local branches of these non-profits and they were not even aware of any issues until I brought up the question. They are posing the question and trying to ascertain any reasoning or lack thereof for the various positions being taken or not taken with regard to these issues.

Our local counsel says waivers are not even a good idea unless you can uniformly enforce them to be signed by all volunteers. So if a volunteer does not sign the waiver is he/she then covered? We have some events (one of them is a balloon race) where volunteers just step out of the crowd and help unfurl and raise hot air balloons and also help take them down. Nameless and nearly faceless, it would be difficult to stop them and ask them to sign something.

In any event, I am proposing we go forward with the new carrier without the coverage, but I am going to lock the Board of Trustees in the closet with me by having them approve the action. We'll see if they do.