When Your Volunteer Is Also a Licensed Professional: Understanding the Scope-of-Practice Line

A retired registered nurse is sorting donations at a food pantry when a client asks whether to continue taking a prescribed medication. Answering as she would in a clinical setting could take the nurse beyond her assigned volunteer responsibilities. The same concern applies to other licensed professionals, including accountants and attorneys. These volunteers operate within two scopes: their professional license, which state law governs; and their volunteer role, which the organization defines. Establishing clear boundaries for each role helps organizations manage potential liability and determine where volunteer insurance fits.

Two Scope Lines: The License and the Volunteer Role

The scope of licensure comes from state law, and each profession answers to its own state regulators. Every state has a nurse practice act, and each act establishes a board of nursing with authority to write the rules that govern nursing practice. State boards of accountancy license certified public accountants and regulate the practice of public accountancy in the same way. For your organization, the license scope sets an upper limit: No role description can authorize a professional to do more than his or her license allows in the state where he or she volunteers. 

Within that limit, your organization decides how much of a professional’s training each role uses. The role scope comes from your role description. A professional role calls for the volunteer’s license, such as a nurse staffing a health screening table or an accountant preparing returns at a free tax clinic. A general role, such as driving clients or sorting donations, can exclude professional services entirely.

Risk increases when a professional’s expertise is applied in a general role. A professional can cross the role scope in two ways. One is giving professional advice, as the pantry nurse would by answering the medication question. The other is performing a professional task, such as checking a client’s blood pressure or reviewing a client’s lease. Either action takes the volunteer outside the role your organization assigned, which changes how the law treats any resulting harm.

How Stepping Outside the Role Changes Liability

The Volunteer Protection Act shields volunteers from certain liability claims, and two of its conditions directly affect licensed volunteers. The volunteer must act within the scope of his or her responsibilities to the organization. He or she must also hold any license required for the activity.

A professional who exceeds the scope of their role can fail the first condition even with a valid license. Medication advice falls outside a donation-sorting role, so the pantry nurse would not be acting within her responsibilities to the organization. If the client claimed the advice caused harm, the act’s protection might not apply. The nurse would then face the claim personally, including the cost of a legal defense.

Because a licensed volunteer may face that claim without the act’s protection, the next question is whether insurance would provide his or her defense.

Where Volunteer Insurance Fits for Licensed Volunteers

VIS volunteer liability insurance defends volunteers against allegations of bodily injury, personal injury or property damage made against them, but excludes coverage for acts that are beyond the scope of the volunteer’s duties. For example, medical professionals, attorneys or accountants acting in their professional capacity would not be covered by the liability insurance policy, because they should have their own professional liability insurance..

Whatever the profession, ask each licensed volunteer to confirm with his or her carrier whether the policy covers unpaid work for your organization. If the policy excludes unpaid work, the volunteer may have no coverage for professional services in that role, and assigning him or her to a general role removes the gap.

Your coverage answers depend on whether each role is general or professional, so start by defining every role a professional fills.

How To Set Each Role’s Scope Before the First Shift

Five steps put the role scope in writing:

• Classify each role: Label every role a professional fills as general or professional, because the label determines which of the remaining steps apply.
• Write the exclusion into general roles: State in the role description that the role excludes professional advice and services, and review the exclusion during onboarding. A written exclusion shows your organization defined the role if a claim later argues it did not.
• Verify the license for professional roles: Confirm with the licensing board in the state where the volunteer serves that the license is active and covers the role’s tasks, because that state’s law sets the license scope. Recheck the license when it renews.
• Confirm the professional’s own coverage in writing: Keep the carrier’s confirmation in the volunteer’s file so you can show the role had coverage before the volunteer began.
• Give general-role professionals a referral response: Provide a short script, such as “I’m here as a volunteer today, so please ask your doctor, accountant, or attorney,” so the volunteer can answer a client without giving professional advice.

A Clear Role Protects the Volunteer Who Knows the Most

A professional’s training serves clients best when your organization decides in advance where it applies.

VIS members enjoy 24/7 access to the “VIS Vault” of risk-management resources, including dozens of “Preventer Papers” addressing injury prevention and vehicle safety. To protect your volunteers with volunteer insurance designed specifically for them, click “Get volunteer insurance now” on the VIS home page, call 800.222.8920, or explore VIS member benefits.

About the Author

William R. Henry, Jr. is Vice President and Director of Member Benefits at Volunteers Insurance Service Association, Inc. (VIS), where he leads membership development and delivers risk management solutions tailored to volunteer-based organizations nationwide. A recognized authority on volunteer risk management, he is a frequent speaker and author on best practices for safe and effective volunteer engagement. He is accredited by the International Association of Business Communicators. With a background in communications, journalism, and public affairs, Henry brings a strategic perspective to supporting nonprofit organizations across the United States.

About VIS

Volunteers Insurance Service Association, Inc. (VIS) is a membership organization serving more than 3,500 volunteer-based nonprofit organizations and public entities nationwide. VIS is the only association that offers these three insurance programs designed specifically for volunteers: volunteer accident, volunteer liability, and volunteer excess automobile liability.

If you are interested in protecting your volunteers through the unique VIS insurance program, please click on the “Get volunteer insurance now” link on the home page, or call 800.222.8920. For more information on VIS’s risk-management resources for members and our vendor partners, click on the “Member Benefits” tab.