How does the Volunteer Protection Act Affect Your Organization?

In the 1980s, the number of lawsuits against nonprofit volunteers grew dramatically. As a result, insurance companies increased premiums and added exclusions causing many organizations to terminate coverage for volunteers. Consequently, the number of willing volunteers decreased in fear of a lawsuit against them personally.

To promote volunteerism, the Volunteer Protection Act (VPA) was signed in to law in 1997 under President Clinton. This Act pre-empts existing looser state laws protecting nonprofit volunteers. The law encourages the public to participate in social service, as these programs need workers to remain in existence.

The VPA protects volunteers against civil liability if:

• the volunteer was acting within the guidelines of his/her job description;
• the volunteer had the proper licenses, certifications or was authorized to act AND those acts were within his/her job description;
• the volunteer did not cause harm that was caused by willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed;
• the volunteer did not inflict harm while using of a motor vehicle, aircraft or other vehicle.

VPA provides consistent protection for all nonprofit personnel since the states’ laws vary.

More specifically, many states only provide protection to the organization’s director or board members, while others protect everyone associated with the organization. The VPA does not, however, protect a volunteer from litigation brought by the organization onto the volunteer for violating one of previously mentioned criteria.

Most importantly to the organization, the VPA does not protect the nonprofit organization from litigation; it only protects the volunteer. In other words, the organization may be liable for the negligent actions of the volunteer, even when the volunteer is immune from litigation under the VPA. Therefore, the burden of responsibility is on the organization to assure that its volunteers are acting in a lawful manner while carrying out the duties assigned to them by the nonprofit.

Examples of the Scope of VPA

• A child is severely injured while swimming at a church sponsored summer camp. The volunteer camp counselor who neglected to supervise the pool would not be liable for the incident. However, the church is liable for not hiring a properly trained lifeguard to supervise the pool.
• While driving several young players to a little league baseball game, a volunteer coach makes an illegal left turn and hits another car. In this instance, the volunteer is liable and is not immune under VPA or the state law because he violated a traffic law.

Consequences of VPA

Though the Act does encourage the public to volunteer without fear of litigation and assures that volunteer protection laws do not vary significantly from state-to-state, it also poses threats to the organization. With this added security blanket in place, volunteers may take more risks while doing assigned jobs or take on responsibilities without the proper training. Furthermore, they may not exercise the type of caution needed or become careless in their dealings with the populations the organization serves.

The Act may also deter organizations from enacting risk management programs to ensure that volunteers are properly trained, knowledgeable and prepared.

Organization Liability Prevention

To prevent excessive liability on your organization in response to the VPA, you should do the following:

• Establish a risk management program - A risk management program established by a designated committee will address factors that could negatively affect your organization. The committee should identify the high risks first which have the potential to be costly for the organization and/or may have a detrimental affect in another capacity.
• Have risk financing in place - To be prepared in the event of a lawsuit, your organization should have funding in place to pay for damages, legal expenses, injuries or other costs associated with litigation.
• Obtain general liability insurance - A general liability policy protects against bodily injury and property damage claims that are brought against the agency regarding acts committed by the volunteer. Many organizations do not have any general liability insurance to protect their personnel affiliated with the organization, whether they are an employee or volunteer. However, some have policies covering their employees, and boards and directors, but do not have policies covering volunteers. General liability insurance will protect an organization’s assets in the event of a lawsuit. In some cases, the VPA may also reduce the organization’s risk and, therefore, may reduce the insurance premium.
• Contact The McLaughlin Company to learn more about our cost-effective liability insurance solutions designed specifically to protect against litigation as a result of volunteer actions.