Volunteers - paid or not

[Just Plain Ruff]

I have a simple question that need not drizzle down into the vollies and paid road.

If you are a volunteer and you are paid a stipend then are you really a volunteer?

[mobey]

When I started in EMS I was paid $4.50/hr to be on call 24hrs, then $21/hr when I actually got a call.

The service was registered as a "Volunteer non-profit ambulance" But I did not consider myself volly.

Some months I cleared over $3000 depending on how many shifts I would take.

EDIT: I usually consider $50/day a kind of cost recovery (volly), anything over that I would consider a paid position.

[Michael]

mobey, does "clear" mean after taxes etc.? That's what I'm used to thinking it means. Just for clarification.

[Dustdevil]

I usually consider $50/day a kind of cost recovery (volly), anything over that I would consider a paid position.

LOL! When I started in EMS, we considered $50 a day the most money we'd made in our lives!

Oh, that's right. We never made $50 in one day.

[mobey]

mobey, does "clear" mean after taxes etc.? That's what I'm used to thinking it means. Just for clarification.

Yes... It did not happen often, I usually brought in over $2000 though (based on a 22 shift month).

We had a 2.5hr transport to the hospital, and then a hallway wait. I remember one time I brought in a hyperglycemic on valentines day and sat in the er for 9hrs.... made LOTS that month!

[paramedicmike]

I have a simple question that need not drizzle down into the vollies and paid road.

If you are a volunteer and you are paid a stipend then are you really a volunteer?

If you get paid, even a stipend, you are not volunteering. So the answer is "no".

-be safe

[Michael]

hyperglycemic on valentines day

A seasonal disorder.

[Dustdevil]

If it is not your primary profession, if it is not the job you depend on to pay your bills, if you are not regularly scheduled by someone who does not care what days you do and do not want to work, if you do not pay taxes on the income, you are a volunteer.

[Michael]

If it is not your primary profession, if it is not the job you depend on to pay your bills, if you are not regularly scheduled by someone who does not care what days you do and do not want to work, if you do not pay taxes on the income, you are a volunteer.

That also might describe a few Heads of State.

[CBEMT]

I have a simple question that need not drizzle down into the vollies and paid road.

If you are a volunteer and you are paid a stipend then are you really a volunteer?

Ok, I'll bite. Which one does EMTCity decree is worse?

Speaking for myself, in addition to my fulltime EMS job, I work usually one, sometimes two duty shifts a week at an EMS service that pays a per-call stipend. Being "on duty" is not required to get said stipend, if you come in from home you get the same amount. Cutoff is 4 people per call (ie a code) or per patient on multiple patient incidents). Assisting at the scene but not actually going on the transport also qualifies for a payment.

Stipends are disbursed quarterly. Taxes are not taken out, we have to report it as "independent contractor" income.