Legal Barriers to Volunteer Service.

This booklet is designed to help public and private community service organizations understand the applicability of wage and hour laws to volunteers used in their activities. It considers various legal interpretations of the differences between "volunteers" and "employees," and reviews the provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), adopted in the 1930s to prevent the exploitation of workers by public and private enterprises. The booklet lists five FLSA criteria that may indicate a volunteer qualifies as an employee for the purposes of FLSA wage and hour protection: (1) receipt of compensation for services provided; (2) displacement of paid workers; (3) voluntary work for an employer that is essentially the same work as that performed for compensation; (4) economic dependency on the organization for which the volunteer service is provided; and (5) the performance of tasks for the benefit of the organization itself rather than the community the organization serves. The booklet also reviews the applicability of the Davis-Bacon Act for volunteers engaged in construction, maintenance, repair, painting, and decorating of certain federally funded projects. Specific court cases and examples are cited. (Contains 36 legal citations.) ( ERIC: MDM)