View all text of Chapter 31 [§ 1451 - § 1477]
§ 1475b. Volunteer authority
(a) In general
(b) Restrictions on activities of volunteers
(1) In general
(2) Private property
(3) Hazardous duty
(4) Supervision
(c) Provision of services and costs
(d) Federal employment status of volunteers
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a volunteer shall not be deemed a Federal employee and shall not be subject to the provisions of law relating to Federal employment, including those provisions relating to hours of work, rates of compensation, leave, unemployment compensation, and Federal employee benefits.
(2) Volunteers shall be deemed employees of the United States for the purposes of—
(A) the tort claims provisions of title 28;
(B) subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5; and
(C) claims relating to damage to, or loss of, personal property of a volunteer incident to volunteer service, in which case the provisions of section 3721 of title 31 shall apply.
(3) Volunteers under this Act shall be subject to chapter 11 of title 18, unless the Secretary, with the concurrence of the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, determines in writing published in the Federal Register that the provisions of that chapter, except section 201, shall not apply to the actions of a class or classes of volunteers who carry out only those duties or functions specified in the determination.
(Pub. L. 109–125, § 3, Dec. 7, 2005, 119 Stat. 2544.)