Approved:
City of Riverside, California
Human Resources Policy and Procedure Manual
_________________________
Human Resources Director
_________________________
City Manager
Number: I-9 Effective Date: 0XX/22
SUBJECT: Municipal Volunteer Program
PURPOSE:
The City Council and the City Manager’s Office recognize Volunteers are a valuable resource in enhancing and improving the City’s ability to provide a meaningful and positive impact on City services. and supports the use of Volunteers to assist and support various City Departments in providing efficient and cost-effective programs and services. In turn, volunteers gain valuable experiences and a sense of personal satisfaction. To establish a framework for meaningful and productive utilization of volunteers by City Departments.
Volunteer activities in municipal government shall include but are not limited to the direct delivery of services through, board service, health and wellness programs, and a broad range of social service activities.
Except as set forth herein, the City of Riverside Volunteer Policy applies to all persons who perform voluntary service to the City of Riverside including, but not limited to Boards; Commissions; Library; Museum; Parks, Recreation and Community Services; the Mayor’s Office; and other all City Departments utilizing the services of Volunteers.
Generally,Theddliaison
DEFINITIONS AND POLICY:
A volunteer is a person who is 1614 years or older who performs hours of service for a public agency for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons, without promise, expectation, or receipt of compensation for services rendered, or exclusive consideration for future employment opportunities for services provided. and donates hours of service to the City for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons. They do so without promise, expectation, or receipt of compensation or exclusive consideration for future employment opportunities for services provided. To qualify as a City volunteer, an
individual must be willing to provide service according to the procedures in this policy.
This policy applies to all City Departments and volunteers.
Existing City employees may not assume volunteer roles unless they meet the aforementioned definition.
Existing City employees may not assume volunteer roles unless they meet the aforementioned definition.
Volunteers serve on a part-time basis and aremay not displace regular employed workers or perform work that would otherwise be performed by regular employees.
Volunteers are not permitted to substitute, supplement, or replace any vacancy of paid City staff.
POLICY:
The Human Resources Department shall establish and maintain a list of prospective volunteers to enable departments to complement their paid municipal workforce in pursuit of established goals and objectives. Departments are not required to accept volunteers referred to the Department and shall not request volunteers to substitute, supplement or replace any vacancy of paid municipal staff.
Overall program coordination will be under direction of the Human Resources Department. Department Heads will designate an employee within the department to be responsible for the volunteer program and who will serve as the liaison to Human Resources.
The administration of volunteers and the volunteer program will be the responsibility of the Department for which the volunteer works. Each department shall establish and maintain a list of prospective volunteers to complement their paid workforce in pursuit of established goals and objectives. Each Department will develop and maintain written procedures to supplement this policy to address department-specific methods to recruit, interview, select, orient, train, supervise, track, and recognize volunteers.
Departments shall not request volunteers to substitute, supplement or replace any vacancy of paid municipal staff.
Employees as Volunteers
Per CFR Title 29, § 553.102 of the FLSA does not permit an individual to perform hours of volunteer service for a public agency when such hours involve the same type of services which the individual is employed to perform for the same public agency. For a City employee seeking to volunteer for the City, assuming no promises or expectation of Approved:
City of Riverside, California
Human Resources Policy and Procedure Manual
_________________________
Human Resources Director
_________________________
City Manager
Number: I-9 Effective Date: 0XX/22
compensation, (1) the services must be offered freely and without pressure or coercion from the City; and (2) the services provided by a City employee volunteer cannot be the same, similar or identical services the employee already performs for the City as an employee. Furthermore, the City does not permit employees to “volunteer” in another department or their own department with the sole purpose of training or learning a new job in order to gain experience before applying for a new position.
In order for City employees to be considered for a volunteer opportunity with the City, a City department must have a need for volunteers to perform specific volunteer services.
City employees who wish to volunteer their services to a City department must submit a request in writing to the Human Resources dDepartment for review and approval. If approved by Human Resources, the employee may only be allowed to volunteer their services as long as the work they perform as a volunteer is outside the scope of their duties as a city employee and occurs outside the scope of their regularly assigned normalwork schedule working hours. The services provided by a City employee volunteer cannot be the same, similar or identical services the employee already performs for the City as an employee as defined under FLSA. Tracking and logging of volunteer hours must be submitted by the employee volunteering and verified by the department requesting the volunteer services. Timesheets, which are maintained by the Department, should verify that the hours worked were outside of the hours during which employees are regularly employed and specify that the work they performed was voluntary and not paid. Typically, volunteers serve on a part-time basis and do not displace regular employed workers or perform work that would otherwise be performed by regular employees. Volunteers are not permitted to substitute, supplement, or replace any vacancy of paid City staff.
In addition, paid employees cannot volunteer to provide the same type of services to their organization that they are employed to provide. An example which would not be considered “same type of services” would be an employee such as a Financial Analyst, Engineer, or Police Officer who wants to volunteer at the park to coach a youth sports team.
The city also does not permit employees to “volunteer” in another department with the sole purpose of training or learning a new job in order to gain experience before applying for a new position.
Types of Volunteer Activities
Volunteer activities in municipal government shall include but are not limited to the direct delivery of services through community action groups, board service, health and wellness programs, and a broad range of social service activities.
Background Check
As a condition of volunteering, prospective volunteers, 18 and older, must be cleared by the California Department of Justice and the Human Resources Department which may include but is not limited to fingerprinting, confidentiality acknowledgement, waiver of liability, and Wworkers’’s cCompensation acknowledgement. Prospective volunteers, 16 14 to 17 years old, must have written approval of a parent or legal guardian to volunteer. Per Human Resources Policy I-14, criminal background /livescan applies to all volunteers 18 and older; refer to this policy for process, rules and requirements.
Driving Guidelines
Volunteers are not eligible to drive City-leased or owned vehicles, except for Police volunteers. If a City department requires a volunteer to drive their own personal vehicle Friend of the Library volunteer is required to drive their personal vehicle for to perform volunteering activities, performing an activity, they must follow all vehicular-related guidelines as outlined in III-02 Vehicle and Driver Safety Program policy of the City of Riverside Safety and Health Policies and Procedures Manual. Mileage reimbursement shall not be granted.
If a volunteer is involved in a non-injury motor vehicle accident in their own vehicle while performing volunteer duties, the volunteer shall follow the same accident reporting procedures used by paid municipal staff.
One-Day Volunteer Needs
Departments interested in hosting a one-day event with the aid of volunteers must receive approval from the Human Resources Department in advance. As a condition of participation, prospective volunteers must be cleared through the California Megan’s Law online portal. In addition, a signed Agreement to Release All Liability form must be received prior to volunteering.
Discrimination-Free and Harassment-Free Environment
Approved:
City of Riverside, California
Human Resources Policy and Procedure Manual
_________________________
Human Resources Director
_________________________
City Manager
Number: I-9 Effective Date: 0XX/22
Policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment, and other standards of conduct which apply to paid municipal staff, shall apply to volunteers.
Worker’s’ Compensation Coverage
Volunteers shall be covered through the City's Worker’s’ Compensation Program.
Utmost care should be taken to ensure that volunteers are not working in hazardous situations. It shall be the dDepartment's responsibility to instruct volunteers in the proper use of tools and equipment. Volunteers have the same obligations as paid municipal staff to cooperate with and follow the rules and regulations of the department and the City.
Workspace and Training
If applicable, Departments shall be responsible for identifying an appropriate workspace, equipment, and materials for the volunteer's work assignment. Volunteer supervisors are responsible for providing any department-wide or position-specific training, as needed.
Hours Documentation
Departments shall ensure volunteer timesheets are submitted and approved within the guidelines set by the HR Department.
Volunteer Recordkeeping
Human Resources will provide and maintain a centralized system for dDepartments to recruit volunteers and maintain their volunteer recordkeeping and hours tracking.
Departments are responsible to ensure the accuracy of the data input to the system including volunteer assignment start and end dates and provide reporting on volunteers as requested by City leaders .or labor unions.
Departments shall ensure volunteer timesheets are submitted and approved within the guidelines set by the Human Resources Department.
Termination of Services
Departments may terminate a volunteer’s service at any time and for any reason.
Likewise, a volunteer may terminate their volunteer service at any time and for any
reason. All volunteer service end-dates must be recorded in the volunteer system of record. Departments must notify the Human Resources Ddepartment when a volunteer assignment endsis no longer interested in volunteering.
One-Day Volunteer Needs
Departments interested in hosting a one-day event with the aid of volunteers must receive approval from the Human Resources Department in advance. As a condition of participation, prospective volunteers must be cleared through the California Megan’s Law online portal. In addition, a signed Agreement to Release All Liability form must be received prior to volunteering.