What is a volunteer?

Why do we need to know if our worker is a volunteer?

Your community organisation needs to know when a worker is an employee, because different legal entitlements and obligations apply, depending on whether the law regards the worker as a 'volunteer', an 'employee', or an 'independent contractor'.

How do we tell if a worker is a volunteer?

You think that a volunteer is someone who works for your organisation but doesn't get paid.  However, in Victoria, the law does not have one settled definition of a volunteer.

Instead, to decide whether a person involved in your organisation is a volunteer (as opposed to an employee or independent contractor), your organisation will need to look at the nature of the relationship between your organisation and person.

The law says that there are certain indicators (attributes) which are usually present in each type of relationship and these help determine what kind of 'worker' that person is.

Your organisation should be aware of the generally accepted 'attributes' of a volunteer, to make sure it does not engage in the kind of actions (such as certain payments or arrangements) which might lend weight to a claim that a person is no longer a volunteer but has become, for example, an employee.

PilchConnect Guide for Victorian community organisations: Employee, contractor or volunteer

PilchConnect has produced a Guide which includes information on:

• the importance of correctly classifying different working relationships
• the basic legal differences between employees, independent contractors and volunteers, and
• an overview of some of the main legal obligations an organisation owes to its employees, independent contractors and volunteers.

Resources

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