Companies Cannot Be Organizers of Volunteering

Volunteers must not perform tasks that replace the work done by employees in employment. They must not be exploited, nor their work used for the purpose of gaining and increasing profit

Written by: mr. sc. Marija Zuber, advisor-editor at the magazine Accounting and Finance
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Volunteering is considered any performance of voluntary work for the public good, but the term ‘volunteer work’ is often used as a synonym for work in associations, local government bodies, political institutions, and other organizations without an established employment relationship, but with financial compensation. However, the law does not consider such work as volunteering, as it is performed for compensation. In June of this year, the Law on Volunteering came into force, which for the first time in Croatia normatively regulated volunteering as the performance of voluntary work for the common good. The institute of volunteering is also found in the Labor Law, but with a significantly different content from volunteering in the sense of the Law on Volunteering. In each of these regulations, the volunteer is defined differently, and consequently, the different financial and other obligations of legal and natural persons who use the work of volunteers.

According to the Law on Volunteering, volunteering is defined as the voluntary investment of personal time, effort, knowledge, and skills to provide services or activities for the benefit of another person or for the public good. Volunteers do not condition their voluntary work on the payment of a monetary reward or the demand for any other material benefit. The law precisely establishes what is not considered volunteering, explicitly stating that performing services without establishing an employment relationship for which there is a condition for the payment of a monetary reward or other material benefit is not considered volunteering, nor is the execution of tasks that have the characteristics of tasks for which, according to labor law regulations, the establishment of an employment relationship is required.

Who Can Organize Volunteering

Organizers of volunteering cannot be commercial companies, nor natural persons, not even natural persons who perform independent registered activities through personal work. Organizers of volunteering cannot be institutions unless they are public institutions. Only legal entities established and registered as non-profit organizations, such as associations, foundations, unions, religious communities, public institutions, tourist boards, and other non-profit legal entities, as well as state bodies and bodies of local and regional self-government units, can organize volunteering.

Selection of Volunteers

Organizations that are legally permitted to organize volunteer work must take care not only of the tasks that volunteers will perform but also of the individuals who volunteer. Volunteers must not perform tasks that replace the work done by employees in employment, nor tasks that replace the work performed by contractors based on contracts for work. Volunteers must not be exploited, nor their work used for the purpose of gaining and increasing profit. The selection of volunteers depends on the organizer of volunteering and the activities entrusted to the volunteer.

If volunteers are children, persons with disabilities, persons with developmental difficulties, elderly, frail, and sick persons, or persons completely or partially deprived of legal capacity, the organizer of volunteering must particularly care for the selection and education of volunteers. A volunteer working with the listed socially vulnerable groups of users must possess the necessary knowledge, experience, and skills for such work. Organizers of volunteering have special obligations towards minor volunteers, as they must not perform tasks that may harm their well-being, health, and morals. It is prohibited for minor volunteers to perform activities related to heavy physical exertion, risky for their life, health, morals, and development. The organizer of volunteering must organize the work so that the minor volunteer can fulfill their school obligations.

Internship Without Pay

In terms of the Labor Law, a volunteer is a person who, after completing their education without an established employment relationship, performs an internship with an employer with whom they have signed a volunteering agreement. Thus, in this sense, a volunteer is a person who performs work for an employer, but not for the purpose of earning a salary, but to gain work experience as an essential condition for taking a professional exam. Volunteering is essentially performing an internship without the right to a salary. The employer for the volunteer can be any legal or natural person with whom the volunteer performs the internship, without the right to a salary. A volunteer can only be a person who has completed education for a profession for which a professional exam or work experience is required. Practically, all persons who must be interns after completing their education can be volunteers. It always concerns individuals who have completed at least secondary school and have higher or university education.

Persons without a profession cannot be volunteers (e.g., persons who have completed primary school). Volunteer work can last no longer than the duration of the internship for a specific profession or level of education. According to the Labor Law, the duration of the internship is limited to a maximum of one year unless otherwise specified by another law. All provisions regarding employment relationships prescribed by the Labor Law and special regulations apply to volunteers, except for provisions regarding the conclusion of employment contracts, salaries, and salary compensation. The employer is obliged to register the volunteer with the relevant pension and health insurance authorities and provide them with a copy of the registration for pension and health insurance. Also, all provisions of labor law that regulate the maximum duration of full-time work, provisions regarding the right to daily, weekly, and annual leave apply to the volunteer. The volunteer has the right to annual leave of at least 18 working days for each calendar year, leave of up to seven working days in a year for important personal needs, and in case of illness, has the right to be absent from work for treatment, but does not have the right to salary compensation during sick leave.