02-28-2007 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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exception to this duty to defend and indemnify the volunteer is if the volunteer's actions constituted malfeasance, willful neglect of duty, or bad faith. That is, the statutes don't require the city to protect an individual from the consequences of his or her own intentional wrongdoing. LIMIT liability coverage For member cities of the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, the city's LMCIT liability coverage is designed to provide similar protection to the city and its volunteers. Both the city and the volunteer are "covered parties" under the liability coverage. In other words, LMCIT would respond to a claim whether brought against the city, against the volunteer, or against both. The LMCIT coverage also provides an additional type of protection to the individual volunteer. It will cover the cost of defending a claim against a volunteer, even if the claim accuses the volunteer of an action that would constitute malfeasance, willful neglect of duty, or bad faith. LMCIT would not, however, cover the damages awarded against the volunteer if it is determined that the volunteer's action did in fact constitute malfeasance, neglect of duty, or bad faith. Keep in mind, of course, that the LMCIT coverage document does exclude coverage for certain kinds of liability; environmental impairment is an example. Those same exclusions would apply whether the claim is made against the city or against the individual volunteer. What happens if a volunteer is injured while performing volunteer work for the city? There are several possibilities, depending on the circumstances and the kind of activities the volunteer was engaged in. Workers' compensation Certain volunteers are defined by statute (M.S. 176.011, subd. 9) to be "employees" for purposes of workers' compensation. These include • Volunteer firefighters • Volunteer ambulance attendants • Volunteer First Responders • Law enforcement assistance volunteers • Civil defense volunteers • Disaster assistance volunteers, if registered with the city (M.S. 12.22, subd. 2a) These volunteers are entitled to receive workers' compensation benefits if they are injured while performing volunteer services for the city. Note that volunteer First Responders are considered to be "employees" only if the First Responder team is "acting under the supervision and authority of a political subdivision ". In other words, a volunteer member of First Responder team that's organized independently of a city or other political subdivision apparently isn't an "employee" for purposes of work comp, and would not be entitled to work comp benefits from anyone if injured. 2