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for wages and salaries under direct
supervision. (citing House Report
No. 245 on H.R. 3020 (Leg. Hist. of
the Labor Management Relations Act
of 1974, Vol. 1, p. 309). (emphasis
added).
Based on the foregoing NLRB and case law interpreting the term "employee," it is clear
that an employee is one who works for another for hire - i.e., a wage. Accordingly, volunteers,
who do not receive wages or fringe benefits, are clearly not "employees" within the meaning of
the Act.
In the present case, the evidence is overwhelming. The volunteers do their work
without pay. Indeed, their motivation is entirely altruistic. The Union offers no theory or
rationale in opposition. Their evidence consisted of the fact that the volunteers work with
paid employees, sometimes performing the same or similar functions and that they are at present
a large majority of the bargaining unit. Neither fact changes the ultimate fact that they are
not employees under the Act. They are not employees who work for wages or for financial
compensation or for hire. Indeed, the evidence is such that if they were paid, their status
would be that of an independent contractor, focused on the end results, rather than the detailed
supervision required for an employee relationship.
The fact that when a volunteer substitutes for a paid staffer they are paid only
underscores the distinction between the two groups. Paid positions are discrete and identified.
There are fixed procedures for filling vacancies in paid
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