(August 12, 2004) California Chamber-supported legislation that introduces a much needed exception to the prevailing wage requirements applying to volunteer workers is expected to be voted on as early as today.

AB 2690 (Hancock; D- Berkeley) creates a necessary solution to the problem of prevailing wage requirements that apply to volunteers.

“Many companies encourage their workers to volunteer on community projects in a variety of ways, including providing paid time off for volunteer projects,” said Julianne Broyles, Chamber director of employee relations and small business. “Without the exception created in this bill, employers who support volunteerism would be required to pay these workers a prevailing wage that could be more than what they normally would be paid for their time.”

This bill corrects the problem created by recently enacted changes to prevailing wage requirements that inappropriately applied the laws to volunteer projects if any public sector worker was involved in overseeing the volunteers.

AB 2690 provides that the provisions of existing law dealing with the payment of prevailing wages on public works projects do not apply to work performed by a volunteer or volunteer coordinator if the volunteer’s services are freely offered. 

The projects protected by AB 2690 include work for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons for a public agency or 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and the changes will apply retroactively to work concluded on or after January 1, 2002, to the extent permitted by law.

The Chamber believes that this bill will be beneficial to all parties.  Many programs that were unable to meet the current requirements will now be able to accept volunteers without the obligation of paying them a prevailing wage.

Action Needed
The Chamber is urging employers to contact their Assembly representative and urge a “yes” vote on AB 2690.

For more information about AB 2690 or other Chamber-supported bills, please visit our website at www.calchamber.com.