Volunteers and Employment Protection
Posted: Tuesday 13 April 2010
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has recently handed down a decision confirming that volunteers are not protected by the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act (“DDA”). The case, brought against the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (“CAB”), arose when the Claimant was asked to cease to attend as a volunteer.
In this case the EAT was clear that there was no question of the volunteer being considered to be in the employment of the CAB. However, the DDA prohibits an employer from discriminating against a disabled person in terms of the arrangements he makes for the purposes of determining to whom he should offer employment. The Claimant argued that the volunteering arrangements under which she provided her services to the CAB was covered by this and accordingly by preventing her from continuing to volunteer, they were discriminating against her.
The EAT accepted the conclusions of the Tribunal that in fact volunteers gained no preferential treatment to other applicants for paid employment with the CAB, and the volunteering arrangements were not used to determine whom the CAB offered employment. As such the Claimant was not protected by the terms of the DDA.
While on first sight this judgement may seem like a positive result for charities dependant upon volunteers it is not a blanket decision that would apply in all cases. Voluntary workers who have a contract with a charity whereby they contract personally to do work can be protected under the broad definition of employment used in discrimination legislation. It is also recognised that, while it may well have been impossible to avoid a claim being made in this case, the importance of reputation within the charitable sector means that individuals supporting the organisation should be treated fairly and equally irrespective of their employment status.
Morton Fraser’s award winning employment lawyers are able to advise on any aspect of the employment relationship. For queries specific to the charitable sector please contact Carrie Mitchell on 0131 247 3193.
