Last weekend the Wairarapa Garden Tour was again held as a major fundraiser for the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre, allowing the centre to continue its conservation work in its 940 hectare native forest reserve north of Masterton. Like a lot of fundraising events, it is supported by a dedicated team of volunteers who make the event work so successfully.
Tūao Aotearoa Volunteering New Zealand, reports that using information from Statistics New Zealand’s latest quarterly Labour Market Statistics that:
- Approximately 21.5% of New Zealanders undertake formal volunteer work.
- The value of formal volunteering is estimated at $4 billion per annum.
- New Zealanders contribute a total of around 159 million hours of formal volunteer labour each year.
- 11.8% of New Zealanders undertake informal volunteering work, contributing a further total of 7.8 million hours of volunteer labour per year to these figures.
While this important work usually benefits society generally, it does have some challenges that need to be managed or the relationship between the “employer” and the “volunteer” can quickly become blurred.
The Employment Relations Act excludes a volunteer who does not expect to be rewarded and receives no reward for the work performed as a volunteer. “Reward” is a broad concept that can include intangible or non-monetary benefits. It has lead to some outcomes that at least one of the parties to the arrangement did not expect.
For example, in Hicks v Great Lake Aluminium and Glass Ltd, the “worker” was invited to the company’s Friday night food and drinks. When the company told him that he was no longer required this was enough to be considered a “reward” and enabled the “worker” to claim that he was entitled to wages and had been unjustifiably dismissed.
In The Salad Bowl Ltd v Thornley, Amberleigh Howe-Thornley was told at her interview that there was no reason why she would not be hired if she satisfactorily completed a three hour work trial. During the trial she was provided with a salad and this was considered to be sufficient to amount to a “reward”.
In another case, in Labour Inspector v Alpine Motor Inn and Café the “worker” was in New Zealand on a student visa which allowed her to work up to 20 hours a week. She applied for a housekeeper position. The employer intended to employ her full-time and could not do so while she was waiting for a work visa to arrive. In the meantime she was given accommodation and food and began to perform some work. The employer said that the “worker” was a volunteer who worked because she was bored. The Employment Relations Authority was not convinced and found that the food and lodging amounted to a “reward”.
If the parties want a volunteer relationship, it is important that they make it clear that the worker does not expect payment and does not receive payment. Otherwise, the worker may claim to be an employee. If the worker is successful in their claim they will be entitled to minimum entitlements; they will have to be paid minimum wage and cannot be dismissed unless it is justified.
Even if it is clear that the parties are in a volunteer relationship, the organisation should nevertheless be mindful that it may still have other “employer” type obligations to the volunteer. The Health and Safety at Work Act covers some volunteer workers, as does the Human Rights Act in respect of discrimination.
In the case of the Wairarapa Garden Tour volunteers, they receive a free t-shirt which identifies them as officially associated with the event. They are also given free access to the gardens on the tour. Such “freebies” could easily amount to a “reward” if the worker claimed that they expected to get rewarded for their work.
International Volunteer Day is an international event and is celebrated every year on 5 December. The purpose of the day is to recognize and support the spirit of volunteerism to help create a better future. It champions the impact volunteers have in communities, nationally and globally.
Thankfully, it is rare that volunteers in genuine volunteer positions challenge the relationship. The unpaid work done by many New Zealander’s often goes unrecognised. A big shout out to our volunteers – they help make New Zealand a better place to be! Read more....