Non-Profits and Volunteers

KenB

Are non-profits required by the FLSA to pay minimum wage to volunteers who volunteer full-time for a non-profit with no expectation of or desire for remuneration, yet perform their volunteer work in capacities and positions that are equivalent in nature to the positions of other employees of the non-profit and who meet some of the indicia of employees, such as receiving benefits like health care, vacation time, etc. and are subject to a degree of control by the organization over their worktime, vacation, etc.? If so, does anyone have any suggestions or can point to resources regarding how to structure the workforce to permit full-time volunteers without having to pay FSLA wages?

Gillian

I work for a non-profit private university so have some of the same issues. You need to check your state wage regulations to see what might be there regarding volunteers. For us in California, there is a very narrow exception for charitable organizations. A Red Cross employee, for example, could volunteer at a disaster site and be a true "volunteer". For the rest of us, the regular federal and state regulations apply - pay overtime when work is done for the organization. Based on that, our policy is that the employee (non-exempt) who volunteers to work at our fundraising events are paid for the work, an employee who volunteers to be a stage hand at an event sponsored by a student club is not. Those are the two extremes and issues that are in the middle are decided on a case by case basis. Start with your state labor codes.