Volunteer Legal Handbook Section I  General Introduction

I. Should You Be Worried?

There really isn't any question about it: there are legal risks associated with being a volunteer; you can't get around them, you can only educate yourself about those risks and ways of managing them.

A. Examples to Worry About

At the risk of scaring you, here are some all too common examples.

1. The auto accident

You volunteer to drive a group of little league baseball players to a baseball game. You are involved in an auto accident and some of your little league passengers are hurt. Are you liable for their injuries? If so, will your insurance cover the claim?

2. The embezzling employee

You serve as a director and the treasurer of a nonprofit corporation. You are advised that your executive director has embezzled monies that were supposed to have been paid to the IRS as withholding taxes. Now the IRS has demand that you pay it the embezzled monies. Are you liable?

3. The fired volunteer

You are an unpaid supervisor of a group of volunteers. One of the volunteers has failed to perform adequately, and you have terminated his volunteer status with the organization. Now the former volunteer has sued you and the organization for slander, libel and wrongful dismissal. Are you liable?

4. Sexual misconduct

One of your organization's volunteer coaches has been arrested and charged with child sexual abuse. Now several of the parents are threatening to sue you and the organization. Are you liable?

B. Am I liable?

To understand these questions, let alone find the answers, you need a little knowledge about the law and a larger amount of knowledge about risk management. This manual approaches both of those subjects. At the end of the manual, we'll revisit these issues.

C. What can I do?

The theme of this manual is to help you understand and apply the principles of risk management. While all of Part III of this manual talks about it in more detail, the fundamental concept of risk management is the identification and management of risk areas. Through a variety of techniques, you can control known risks and plan against unknown risks. The most important technique is education. It starts with knowing a little law.

The first half of the manual tries to explain some of the legal rules under which nonprofit corporations, and the volunteers who serve them, are required to operate. Because nonprofit corporations fill so many roles in society today, the laws that impact them are pretty extensive, as well. In particular, the IRS weighs in with some extensive regulation.

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