Vocational placements & volunteers

A person serving a placement with an employer for which no entitlement to remuneration arises as a requirement of an education or training course authorised under a law or administrative arrangement of the Commonwealth, State or Territory is not an employee within the meaning of s.13 of the Fair Work Act 2009.

A volunteer is ‘someone who enters into any service of their own free will, or who offers to perform a service or undertaking for no financial gain’.[1]

The Fair Work Commission considers volunteerism as an arrangement generally motivated by altruism, rather than for remuneration or private gain. Therefore, the commitments shared between the parties are usually considered moral in nature, rather than legal.[2] Payment unrelated to hours of work or the actual performance of work does not of itself imply that a worker is an employee.[3] In these circumstances, the payment can more aptly be described as an ‘honorarium’ or gift.[4]

For example, a worker may receive board and lodgings[5] or reimbursements for expenses[6] and still be considered a volunteer. In other situations, a worker who performs work for non-monetary benefits, such as rent free accommodation, can be considered to be an employee rather than a volunteer.[7]

Volunteer

Bergman v Broken Hill Musicians Club Ltd T/A Broken Hill Musicians Club

Bergman v Broken Hill Musicians Club Ltd T/A Broken Hill Musicians Club [2011] FWA 1143 (Steel C, 21 February 2011).

The applicant acted as a bingo caller in a club and was paid $50 per week. She was found not to be an employee of the club, since there was no mutual intention of the parties to enter into a legally enforceable arrangement or contract.

Employee – NOT volunteer

Daniels v Bentleigh Calisthenics Incorporated

Daniels v Bentleigh Calisthenics Incorporated, Print N9259 (AIRC, Whelan C, 4 March 1997).

The applicant performed work as an instructor for a non-profit voluntary sporting association. The association submitted that the applicant was a volunteer, and the payments to her were an honorarium. The applicant was held to be an employee of the association, being paid $15 per hour at the time of dismissal.