“When I think of contractual relationships, I immediately think of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, which is a duty implicit in all contracts and which, at a minimum, imposes the duty… not to lie or deceive, in the performance of the contract; and the obligation to exercise contractual discretion reasonably and not be unduly insensitive.

“As a result, I believe this decision has expanded our traditional notion of a volunteer’s relationship with this organization and imputed some serious legal principles to it.”

Hannan’s efforts were not simply passive volunteering, as in a social club or church congregation, and required a significant ongoing commitment on his part, which is similar to an individual’s commitment to an employer, Buchanan says.

“So I think at least the door has been opened and I think it will be interesting to see how this decision is applied in the future and whether or not it will allow the expansion of employee rights into the area of ​​volunteering. .”

Drawing a line between employees and volunteers

As someone who sits on a board of directors, it was good to see that there was a very clear decision that these people were not employees, but there was a breach of contract, says Sheryl Johnson, labor and employment law partner at Sullivan Mahoney. in Niagara Falls, “especially when they’re so regulated, and you have all your bylaws and your rules of conduct and your evaluation and your applications every year…they’ve created a process, and it’s that process that creates the contract.”