Re: hiring community members
From: Lynn Nadeau (welcomeolympus.net)
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 18:02:24 -0700 (PDT)
RoseWind is about 15 years in and we have done a lot of the work 
ourselves. Hiring community members is VERY tricky. It can be done, but 
here are some factors to consider. 

Jealousy. In a situation where some people are volunteering and others 
are being paid, some volunteers will have no problem, and others may ask 
"why are they paid and I'm not?" The most complex version of this was a 
family-dynamic: "Why was [Joe] paid, when my HUSBAND was volunteering? My 
husband should have been paid." Said husband was glad to volunteer, but 
his wife wished he were doing things for her, or for money. There are 
some members here where when they say "Oh, I'll build that!" I (only half 
jokingly) now say "Do you need a note from your wife?" Mostly, it works 
OK, but even one member with a festering grudge can cause a lot of damage 
to community. Be sure you have clear consensus on any such deals. 

Liability. Whether volunteer or contract, L & I (state-administered labor 
and industry/workman's comp) needs to be paid. A licensed contractor will 
take care of it for themself; volunteers or amateurs need to have the 
paperwork and fees handled by the organization, or show that they are 
doing it themselves. It was a pain, when we built our common house with a 
lot of member-volunteer labor, but we did it. And wouldn't you know, the 
one time we cut corners, and assumed a cash-pay carpenter who did a 
last-minute job for us would cover his own medical insurance or 
liability, was the one time there was a construction accident and it 
consumed massive time and energy, and a fair amount of money, to get it 
all sorted out. It could have been catastrophic instead. 

Your general liability insurance probably does not cover anyone who is 
being paid for a job. 

Obviously, there is general volunteer work, like cleaning, mowing, 
work-party stuff that is not in this arena. But for hired work of any 
kind, be cautious about the liability coverage. 


Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com
http://www.ptforpeace.info (very active peace movement here- see our 
photo)

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