Labor lawsuit with implications for MINE:
April 14, 1999
America Online Is Facing Challenge
Over Free Labor
By LISA NAPOLI
or the last 10 years, America Online Inc., the nation's
largest online service, has relied on volunteers to help
maintain the virtual community it offers its members. The
volunteers, who are known as "community leaders," perform
tasks like answering questions from subscribers, supervising
chat rooms and enforcing the service's rules.
The reward has been a free account with the service and,
America Online says, the opportunity to play a more active role
in its community of 16 million members.
Now at least seven former volunteers are
challenging the practice, and have asked
the Labor Department to look into
whether the use of volunteer labor by
America Online and its subsidiary,
America Online Communities Inc.,
violates the Federal Fair Labor
Standards Act.
A Labor Department spokesman would
neither confirm nor deny that AOL was
under investigation, but several former
volunteers provided copies of a letter from
the department's Employment Standards
Administration saying it would look into
the matter.
Information about the investigation was published two weeks
ago on Observers.net, a Web site set up last September by
former volunteers.
A spokeswoman for America Online, Ann Brackbill, said on
Friday that she was aware of the Web site and the information
about an investigation, which she said had prompted the
company to "initiate contact" with the Labor Department. But
she added, "We do not elaborate on discussions we have with
regulatory agencies."
America Online, which has 12,000 employees, also has more
than 10,000 volunteers, Ms. Brackbill said. Volunteers commit
to a minimum of four hours a week of work, in addition to
training time and time spent on required paperwork. Some of
the former volunteers said they devoted much more time to the
company.
Marilyn Perkins of Chicago, a co-founder of Observers.net, is
one of at least seven people who have registered separate
complaints with the Labor Department. Ms. Perkins and other
volunteers acknowledge that they signed on to work for AOL in
exchange for a free account, which now costs $21.95 a month.
But many volunteers signed up when the value of a free account
was potentially much higher, because the online service billed
users at an hourly rate and charges for heavy users ran in the
hundreds of dollars.
Although their complaints vary, the former volunteers say that
AOL relies on volunteers to do work that should be paid. Ms.
Perkins says the company has dismissed volunteers who have
asked for compensation or complained about the program, and
has taken away their free accounts.
In their complaints to the Labor Department, the former
volunteers do not make explicit demands for back pay. The
issue, they said, is to publicize the situation and to change the
way the online service uses unpaid labor.
"Some are filing for revenge, some are filing to stop AOL from
abusing others, some simply want their AOL accounts returned
to them," said Kelly Hallissey, a former volunteer who lives in
Greensboro, N.C.
"I'm filing to support others' allegations and also to object to how
AOL has treated myself and many others."
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a person must be
compensated for time spent at job-related activities that benefit
the employer, regardless of how the job is classified. There is a
difference between volunteering for a charitable cause and
volunteering to perform work that is critical to a company's
business, said Jeffrey Chamberlain, an employment lawyer
based in Albany who is not involved in the AOL dispute.
In a claim like the one made by
the former AOL volunteers,
Chamberlain said: "The more it
looks like a real job, the less
likely it is to be deemed
volunteer. The kinds of things
they are describing would make
lawyers' bells go off."
But Ms. Brackbill defended the
volunteer program, saying it was
a formalization of contributions that AOL subscribers have
made to the service since it began in 1985. "It's an organic thing
that sprouted from what people love to do online," she said.
"Community and participation are the DNA of the Internet."
AOL is not the only online company to use volunteers. Many
Internet companies that offer community features rely on
members to enforce standards and to contribute to the
community in some fashion.
For instance, Ivillage, an online women's network, uses more
than 1,000 volunteers to manage message boards and chat
communities.
Michael Rubin, an employment lawyer in San Francisco, says
the nature of work is being redefined because of computer and
Internet connections that are readily available in homes,
potentially creating new legal issues for companies that use
remote help.
If found in violation of wage and hour laws, an employer could be
required to pay double the compensation to which the workers
should have been entitled, Rubin said. If it is found that the
violations were willful, the employer could be subject to civil
penalties and possibly criminal prosecution.
A decision against AOL could set a precedent for the online
industry that might force companies to rethink the way they use
volunteers, Rubin said, adding, "If the industry in fact was kept
operating because of volunteer workers, it may have to
reconfigure."
Lisa Napoli at napoli@nytimes.com welcomes your
comments and suggestions.
source: NY Times 4/14/99 www.nytimes.com |
