What nonprofit employers should know about employee volunteers

In September 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) addressed whether exempt employees of a private nonprofit organization that breeds and trains service dogs could volunteer outside their normal work hours to perform juvenile canine socialization services for their employer. The DOL concluded that employees could perform those services for the organization, provided that certain requirements are met.

Volunteering for your employer

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) permits individuals employed by public agencies to provide volunteer services for their employer without compensation, so long as the volunteer services are: 

• Done freely without coercion; 

• Done without contemplation of pay; and 

• Not the same type of services that the individual is employed to perform. 

The FLSA doesn’t expressly extend this rule beyond public agencies. However, the DOL has consistently applied the rule to private nonprofit organizations as well, where employees often volunteer their services for charitable, civic, or humanitarian purposes.

Same or different?

The key factor in this analysis is the “same type of services,” which means “similar or identical services.”