Volunteer Position

[Anon-e-Mouse]

Jurisdiction

Wisconsin

This is about an application for a volunteer position at my church.

Things have really changed! Seems like just a few years ago if they said they needed volunteers & you said, "I can do that," everybody applauded & praised God & you got handed the work.

Recently they asked me to volunteer to facilitate an on-line Bible study group for adults, not children. I said I'd volunteer & they sent me to an on-line application website that was worse than anything I've ever had to fill out to apply for a paying job!

I had to really dig for old addresses where I lived as a child, names of neighbors & whatnot from decades ago, etc. Basically it seemed to be trying to determine whether I'd ever been accused (not convicted, but accused) of sexual harassment (I haven't - that I know of - but can I prove it? Yikes.)

It also asked some very personal questions, including whether I'm addicted to drugs or porn (I'm not). It also asks whether I was ever sexually abused as a child. I was - decades ago - by an elderly alcoholic relative who tried to fondle me inappropriately several times when he was drunk. I reported that to my Aunt who I was living with at the time. She told me never to say anything about it again, so I didn't.

Can my church really require me to disclose this kind of personal info in order to serve as a volunteer?

 

[Tax Counsel]

Can my church really require me to disclose this kind of personal info in order to serve as a volunteer?

It may require volunteers to fill out forms asking for detailed background and personal information simply because there is no law that says it is illegal for the Church to do that. Unfortunately there are churches and charity organizations that have ended up owing huge sums of money to people who were injured or abused by one or more of their volunteers. Thus the old days of simply raising your hand and getting the position are largely gone. Any organization that is well advised by an attorney will screen carefully those they select to do work on behalf of that organization.

 

[army judge]

Can my church really require me to disclose this kind of personal info in order to serve as a volunteer?

Your church officials and/or pastor are behaving appropriately.

How is that, you ask?

The Boy Scouts of America failed to properly vet their volunteers in previous decades, which leads their organization into an expensive, legal mess today!



https://thelawaroundhere.com/2022/05/07/what-is-a-boy-scout-lawsuit/


First Payments to Sex-Abuse Victims in Boy Scouts Bankruptcy Could Take 18 Months


Boy Scouts Abuse Lawsuit: More than 80,000 Victims Abused as Scouts • Drugwatcher.org



The list of Boy Scouts leaders accused of sexual abuse has nearly 3,000 more names than previously known | CNN

 

[zddoodah]

Can my church really require me to disclose this kind of personal info in order to serve as a volunteer?

Yes.

 

[adjusterjack]

Goes to prove what they tell us in the military.

Never volunteer.

Eh, Judge?

 

[army judge]

Goes to prove what they tell us in the military.

Never volunteer.

Eh, Judge?

Amen, brother, amen.

A 1SG once told me, "A good leader never seeks volunteers, he just calls the names of the lucky soldiers and sends them off to do whatever needs to be done."

As with the great majority of what I was taught or learned in the Army, it absolutely works.

The right way, is only exceeded by the Army way. An old SGM was fond of that little nugget of Army wisdom.

 

[cbg]

A good leader never seeks volunteers, he just calls the names of the lucky soldiers and sends them off to do whatever needs to be done."

At a former position there was an all-company job that no one wanted to do, but everyone complained about how it was being done. It was a once-a-year project and I was on the project committee by default as the HR manager, along with the COO and the head of operations. Each year we would send out emails to the ones who had been heard complaining the loudest; "Congratulations, you have just volunteered to be on the (project) committee for 20xx. First meeting is Thursday at three in the second floor conference room. Be there."

 

[commentator]

My take on this is that they are doing this to "protect themselves." As in, if there were an incident, they'd have the volunteer's information, and of course, proof they had lied when asked if they were a pedophile. So the church could say they had been deceived after making a reasonable effort to determine if this person was a safe choice as a volunteer.

I once encountered a private school teaching application which asked if the applicant had ever had premarital sex. There's no way they can ask you to give them complete info about whether or not you were ever molested, or ever had premarital sex, were addicted to porn or any of those things and expect to get completely valid truthful answers. I understand that many of us have an aversion to lying, in any form, which will restrict the people who they get to do their chores to those who do not have a problem with marking "no" to everything.

 

[Disabled Vet]

Goes to prove what they tell us in the military.

Never volunteer.

Eh, Judge?

Not always, I once volunteered my guys to stay in Europe for another 14 days to clean equipment. Since we volunteered, we were used to train medevac crew on a C-141 and flown home 9 days early. Added bonus was a hot meal and showers the night before the flight.

 

[adjusterjack]

I'm sure we all have stories like that.

Graduation day of Basic Training. After the ceremonies I'm hanging out with a bunch of the guys. A First Sergeant from another BCT unit comes over, spots me, tells me he checked my records and saw that I had some college and was a touch typist. Asked me if I would be willing to clerk for him. Took me less than a New York minute to "volunteer" for that gig. Spent the rest of my two years pleasantly riding a desk in Georgia.