One of the great things about our region is the fact that so many people are willing to donate their time, experience, and money to non-profit organizations. Were it not for volunteers, the important work of our churches, youth sports, scouting programs, food banks, service clubs, and other non-profit organizations would never survive.
I hate to be the bad guy but as well intentioned as we may be when we volunteer, we can assume a great deal of personal liability while trying to be of service.
Just because you are volunteering your time does not make you immune to being sued for injuries to others. Consider the following situations:
You are coaching a Little League team and a child is hurt. His parents claim that the helmet you loaned him was not in compliance with safety standards. A worse situation is that you are wrongly accused and sued for sexually abusing a player.
You are serving on your church board and a decision is made to terminate the pastor. He then sues you and other board members for wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination.
While participating in a Rotary pancake feed, a customer is made sick by tainted eggs, dies, and his widow sues the club and you personally for serving him.
You are helping on the local fund raising campaign and drive to several businesses to solicit donations. While on your way to one of them, you are momentarily distracted, drive through a red light, destroy another car and cripple three lawyers who are on their way to court. They sue you and the United Way. Are you insured while on business for another and is the United Way insured?
You are responsible for a work party to paint your community theatre building. You are holding the ladder for a volunteer and she falls off the ladder. Her son is a hungry attorney.
These may sound like hypothetical situations but the reality is that they are common. They can be easily taken care of by the organization purchasing General Liability, Directors and Officers Liability (with Employment Practices), Hired and Non-owned Auto Liability, and Elective Coverage of Excluded Employments.
A much larger article could be written about each of these but here are the basic details.
General Liability Insurance: This coverage will pay for an attorney to defend the organization and will pay any amounts for bodily injury or property damage to others. It is important that the insurance be written so that volunteers as well as employees are named as additional insureds. In the instance of the baseball coach or the volunteer holding the ladder, the general liability insurance will pay for injury to the other person who claims you are negligent and caused the injury.
Directors and Officers Insurance: This coverage will defend the board, employees, and volunteers for many of the decisions they make in their capacity managing the affairs of the non-profit. It is crucial that you have Employment Practices Liability included to cover workplace issues like wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, etc.
Hired and Non-owned Auto Liability: Many non-profits have employees and volunteers who operate their own cars on behalf of the organization. This coverage will defend the non-profit if it is sued by a third party who is injured by a volunteer using his or her car.
Elective Coverage of Excluded Employments: I didn’t know until this week that this actually has a name but every non-profit should have it. Briefly, you apply for this through Labor and Industries, report the monthly or quarterly hours of volunteer labor, pay a very minor premium, and then your volunteers are covered for injuries they sustain while working on projects.
Before you commit any more time to an organization, you need to make sure that you are not going to suffer personal financial harm because the organization does not have proper liability insurance. Moreover, the insurance must be written so that volunteers are included within the definition of “Who Is An Insured” in the policy.
Community service is important and most of the time very rewarding. But you put your personal assets on the line if something goes wrong. The cost of hiring an attorney to defend you can be expensive even if you are found to not be negligent.
Properly structured liability insurance for the organization can protect its mission – and also the well being of its volunteers. Feel free to e-mail at jack@durney.com or call me at (360) 532-0905 x 103 with any questions.
