A volunteer nurse’s aide for a nonprofit hospital injures her back lifting a patient. The injury is:

A volunteer nurse’s aide for a nonprofit hospital injures her back lifting a patient. The injury is:

• A. Not compensable.
• B. Not compensable due to volunteer status.
• C. Compensable because as a volunteer she received free lunches.
• D. Compensable if the Board of Directors declares volunteers be deemed employees in writing prior to the injury.

Answer: (D)

Understanding how volunteers are treated for workers’ compensation is key. In California, volunteers aren’t automatically covered because they’re not employees. But if the nonprofit’s Board of Directors had, in writing and before the injury, declared that volunteers are to be deemed employees for workers’ compensation purposes, that creates an employer–employee relationship for comp benefits. Then injuries sustained while volunteering are compensable. In this scenario, the only way the injury would be compensable is if there was a prior written board declaration designating volunteers as employees. Free lunches or other perks don’t change that status. So the correct condition is the board’s prior written declaration, which makes the injury compensable.

Understanding how volunteers are treated for workers’ compensation is key. In California, volunteers aren’t automatically covered because they’re not employees. But if the nonprofit’s Board of Directors had, in writing and before the injury, declared that volunteers are to be deemed employees for workers’ compensation purposes, that creates an employer–employee relationship for comp benefits. Then injuries sustained while volunteering are compensable.

In this scenario, the only way the injury would be compensable is if there was a prior written board declaration designating volunteers as employees. Free lunches or other perks don’t change that status. So the correct condition is the board’s prior written declaration, which makes the injury compensable.