individuals who provide work for an employer, but who do not receive wages, are
employees within the meaning of the Act.
Moreover, the unpaid staff do receive some form of compensation for their work.
They receive travel reimbursement and child care allowance. In addition, they receive
finances to produce their programs and are paid for the time they act as substitutes for
paid producers. Therefore, the unpaid staff do receive some form of monetary
compensation. However, regardless of whether or not they receive monetary
compensation, the law supports a finding that the unpaid staff are statutory employees.
The record evidence further shows that the unpaid staff and the paid staff share
a community of interest. First, the evidence shows that the paid and unpaid staff
perform the same work, they produce shows for the radio station. As mentioned above,
the unpaid staff engages in a variety of tasks in order to produce these programs. The
paid staff also perform these tasks. In addition, the paid staff and the unpaid staff
receive the same supervision from the Employer. All programs, whether produced by
an unpaid staff or paid staff, are approved by the Program Director. The Program
Director meets with the unpaid staff and the paid staff to discuss programming ideas,
grants and program issues. The Program Director also issues written warnings to both
paid and unpaid staff and can suspend or discharge both groups of employees.
Furthermore, the evidence shows that there is some interchangeability and
contact among the paid and unpaid staff. On occasion, the unpaid staff have continued on next page
12
Back to previous page -----Back to the Contract negotiations page -----Next page