Volunteers at Brown University Practice Statement

Background

As an institution of higher education, Brown University presents opportunities for individuals to volunteer their time at the University to perform a task or service to benefit themselves or a Brown department or to engage in a learning experience otherwise difficult to obtain.  Some examples of volunteer activities on campus would include “athletics “boosters” who to make telephone calls to encourage ticket purchases; students performing unpaid internships or practicums in their fields of study; and students and other participants in job training or retraining programs.

Volunteers receive no remuneration from Brown; they are not employees and are not entitled to the many benefits available to employees.  They also are not entitled to the protections of employees, such as Workers’ Compensation coverage.  Additionally, there are restrictions placed on the use of volunteers. Supervisors must understand that it is a violation of federal law to allow a volunteer to perform work that would otherwise be completed by a paid employee. Volunteers cannot perform work they could not legally perform for pay. Volunteers are required to adhere to all federal and state law requirements in the performance of their tasks and to observe all University policies applicable to employees, including safety practices and maintaining confidentiality of University information.  Special precautions must be taken to prevent volunteers from accessing personal data such as Social Security Numbers, home addresses, salary or benefit information, student information, records or grades or the highly confidential individually identifiable health information.

Requirements

No volunteer work should be performed until both the supervising department and the individual volunteer complete and sign a Volunteer Worker Agreement and Release. The agreement must include a statement detailing the nature of services to be provided and the approximate length of the volunteer assignment. The original signed document should be forwarded to Human Resources or BioMed HR along with a copy of the volunteer’s resume and emergency contact information. When the volunteer work ends, or if the anticipated end date changes, the department should notify the appropriate Human Resources Office by email.

Volunteer Worker Agreement and Release forms will be retained in HR for three years following the end date of the services.