Your rights as a volunteer
Volunteer Protection Act
In recent years, volunteers working with nonprofit or government organizations have increasingly become targets of litigation. When a child is injured playing sports, the volunteer coach may be sued. Someone harmed by a nonprofit organization's actions may attempt to hold its uncompensated directors or officers liable. Volunteers may be sued because they represent a potential "deep pocket" of recovery to an injured plaintiff. Congress became concerned that these lawsuits were discouraging volunteerism -- to the detriment of nonprofit and government organizations throughout the United States -- and proposed legislation to limit both
- the circumstances in which volunteers could be held liable for their actions and
- the types of liability which may be imposed.
On June 18, 1997 President Clinton signed the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, Public Law 105-19 ("VPA"), which protects volunteers of nonprofit organizations and governmental entities from liability, as long as a number of conditions are met.
Under the VPA, a volunteer working with a nonprofit or governmental organization, such as YMCA's and other Mentor Duluth program sites, cannot be held liable to a third party for any harm caused by his or her action or omission, as long as the volunteer
- was acting within the scope of his or her responsibilities,
- was properly licensed, certified or authorized (under applicable state law) to perform the activities engaged in, and
- did not act with gross negligence, willful, criminal or reckless misconduct, or with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed.
Under the VPA, therefore, a volunteer's mere carelessness or negligence will generally not be actionable. A plaintiff would have to show some special circumstances – for example, that particular volunteer activities require special training or licensing, or that the volunteer acted with malice – in order to recover damages from that person.It is important to note that the VPA does not eliminate a volunteer's potential liability in all circumstances.
For example, the VPA does not limit liability for harm caused by a volunteer operating a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other vehicle, if applicable state law requires the owner or operator to possess a license or maintain insurance.
Moreover, the VPA does not limit liability for any crime of violence, hate crime, or sexual offense for which the defendant was convicted, for any civil rights offense, or for any misconduct where the defendant was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Volunteer Confidentiality Policy
Mentor Duluth respects the confidentiality of volunteer records and, with the exception of the situations listed below, shares information about volunteers only among the agency staff. All records are considered the property of the agency and not the agency workers, or volunteers themselves.
In order to provide a service which is in the best interest of the children served by the program, information from outside sources (i.e. personal references, counselor reports, etc.) will be reviewed along with information gained from the volunteers. Case record information not deemed confidential is available for review by the volunteer. Information will be released to other individuals or organizations only in cases where we have a volunteer's written permission to do so.
The only exceptions to this policy would be in the following instances:
- Reporting suspected physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect of children by their parent, caretaker, guardian, etc. to the local police and/or Child Protection Agency (staff and volunteers are mandated by state law to report suspected child abuse--3 year statute of limitations).
- Providing information to law enforcement officials or the courts in response to a valid and enforceable subpoena.
