[Ares-races] ARES and leadership liability

[Lloyd Colston]

Liability is a difficult term to define.

I understand, now, that the original inquirer was requesting
coverage for liability from neglect, resulting in a lawsuit,
rather than personal injury.

There are a number of protections in place that would mitigate
lawsuits stemming from almost all charges of neglect or abuse,
except in casees of willful, premeditated acts, ex. charges of
sexual abuse while on the job.

>From the Good Samaritan Act to the Federal protection afforded
documented "volunteer" workers, as long as I am operating within
the scope of my license and doing my job, using a "reasonable
man" test, then my concern is for my service to the Citizens I
serve, rather than to the harm the Citizen may do to me.

The key, again, to those protections is to be documented as a
volunteer through many of the service agencies that exist.  The
newest one of the block in Oklahoma is the Oklahoma Medical
Reserve Corp (http://www.okmrc.org).  They are seeking hams.

Again, I apologize for the confusion regarding liability (which
in dicussions with the local club ALWAYS came back to who pays
for my medical bills, if I am hurt as a volunteer).  As for the
"I'm going to sue you" act, I am told that the County will take
my case, IF I am acting in the capacity of my post and have done
nothing to expose the County to liability, ex. sexual harrasment
of a volunteer or subordinate.

Managers must attract the best volunteer, IMO, and manage them
in such as way that there is both the exposure to lawsuits AND
the risk of personal injury or death.  

Let me know how more I can help.



Lloyd Colston    Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK  USA    http://www.mayescem.us
   
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---- On Fri, 24 Jun 2005, N4AOF (n4aof at arrl.net) wrote:

> >>Has anyone investigated the liabilities of being a member of
ARES 
> >>leadership?
> >>Does the ARRL provide any coverage?
> >>
> > No, the League does not.
> 
> > Our solution is to have the ARES member also register in the
local RACES 
> > program.  Thus, the member is covered by the County
Workmans' Compensation 
> > insurance.
> 
> Keep two facts in mind:
> 
> 1) Workers Compensation insurance covers on-the-job injuries,
but would only 
> apply for injuries incurred as a result of duties being
performed in an 
> official RACES activation.  Workers Comp would also provide
partial coverage 
> for lost wages, but that only applies to the wages the person
loses from the 
> job where the coverage applies not to wages lost from some
other job, so for 
> a RACES volunteer there is no coverage for loss of wages
because they 
> weren't receiving any salary.
> 
> 2) Workers Compensation insurance does not provide any
liability coverage. 
> If someone sues you for whatever you did or failed to do as a
RACES 
> volunteer, city or county government MAY choose to defend you,
but they 
> probably do not have any obligation to do so (their obligation
would depend 
> on your state laws).  Again, simply being registered with
RACES wouldn't 
> make any difference if the act or omission was not committed
as part of your 
> duties in an official RACES callup.
> 
> 
> 
>