Please read Juino v. Livingston Parish Fire District No. 5 Though the court was

Question

Please read Juino v. Livingston Parish Fire District No. 5

Though the court was quite clear that simply identifying workers as volunteers is insufficient to prevent Title VII application, does the name by which an employer calls its workers matter at all? In other words, does it matter at all whether the employer calls its workers volunteers or employees, or is it completely irrelevant?

Of the factors considered critical by the court in reaching its conclusion, which seem more critical to a determination of employment status?

Can you think of any public policy reasons why Title VII should be interpreted or amended to require employers to consider some or all volunteer workers as employees?

Explanation / Answer

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Case Brief:

Judge: Stewart

Appellant (Plaintiff or victim) Juino complaints;

Defendant (Accused, Appellee) defends against the accusation.

Cross appeal = re appeal = apply again in a higher court so as to try to review the decision made by a lower court;

She (Juino, the victim) appealed or complained saying that she was harassed sexually. But the district court dismissed her claim or complaint. So she went up to a higher court.

Will it make any difference whether an employer calls its workers as employees or volunteers?

What is Title 7 Application?

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The section related to our issue is that Title 7 prohibits assumptions about abilities – generally the paid employees are assumed to possess higher skill sets (hence more able) than the volunteers – hence when you call a paid worker as a volunteer, it could hurt their feelings. As a volunteer, as you are not paid, if you do a job without much quality, they cannot force you to improve quality as they do not pay you.

Even the court has said their rulings very clearly, the name by which an employer calls their employees matters to certain extent on a case to case basis – the bottom line is that the employees should like it – as long as they do not complaint, the employer is safe – otherwise it is best on the part of the employer to play conservatively.

So it will matter when the employees object – it will be completely irrelevant as long as the employees like the way they are called (and hence treated!)

The most critical factor that was perceived as important factor in finding out the status of your employment:

If you are an employee, you are at a higher status; if you are a volunteer, you are at a lower status – is that correct?

Let us see:

Juino’s claim was dismissed by the lower court – why?

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