With summer trips and camps about to be in full swing for many churches, there is always the need to find extra help. Unpaid volunteers are certainly a great way to full the need. But what about having nonexempt, nonministerial employees from the church serve as volunteers for such activities? Is this a possibility?
The US Department of Labor (DOL) “has recognized a narrow exception from the definition of employment, an exception in which an employee of a nonprofit organization ‘volunteers’ in an activity sponsored by the organization,” CPA and attorney Ted Batson says.
To see if the exception applies, Batson says that the DOL considers a number of factors, including if the services are:
Offered freely without pressure or coercion;
Of the kind typically associated with volunteer work; and
Different in nature from the employee-volunteer’s normal work activities.
Regarding that third factor, Batson says that “if the camp trip will be attended by youth of the church, and the … hourly worker’s normal duties include working with the church’s youth, then this exception would not apply.” Such a situation would mean that the employee should be paid for the camp trip.
Article by Chris Lutes, Web Editor, ChurchLawAndTax.com
Photo by Tegan Mierle on Unsplash