Volunteer ant then ask for payment!

[Gregory Matthews]

For almost 30 years, Lucille Kilgore worked as a volunteer for the Nebraska juvenile parole office--sometimes as much as 70 hours per week. In all of that time she neither asked to be paid, nor did she apply for employment.

In 2004 the woman, now 87, filed a lawsuit which asked, among othre things, for back-pay for her almost 30 years of volunteer work. In 2008 a district judge ruled that she was entitled to $447,005.00 in back pay. The State has appealed that decision.

This coming Wednesday the Nebraska Supreme Court will hear arguements in the case.

Kilgore's attorney, Ray Aranza is expected to argue that Kilgore's volunteer work was not voluntarily given and that she was actually an employee who was never paid for her work. He has also argued in documents submitted to the court that the State of Nebraska failed (was negligent) to supervise its emplyees and in that failure, failed to intervene to protect Kilgore.

Nebraska is expected to argue that no person above the level of Kilgore's immediate supervisor was aware of her volunteer work and therefore could not have intervened to keep her from being exploited.

It is believed that granting Kilgore's request would have significant impact on volunteer work all accross the spectrum of cheritable agencies.

[Liz]

Wow, if she was really "hired" then why did she wait 30 years to ask for a paycheck?

And I wonder why she doesn't think she was protected? I wonder what happened to her? And why did she keep going back, if whatever it was kept happening?

[Cosmin M.]

Still, it might have been a trick up her sleeve to get money. But if you lay it out on a scale, the employee would have made more money then the little scam she did.

[Outta Here]

In another link, the reasons she's suing become painfully obvious:

Quote:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-169685836.html

Yet the elderly woman reported that she worked 80 hours a week -- sometimes through the night -- doing the reports that should have been done by Nebraska's paid parole officers, according to state documents submitted in court Tuesday.

Seems to me that she's suing because for all these years, she's been doing the work that others were getting paid to do. They'd pawn the work off on her when all the while they'd received a paycheck.

Though the State of Omaha may not be the actual entity causing the exploitation, they certainly are responsible to see that their employees are doing their work and not pawning it off to volunteers in the meantime.

[Cosmin M.]

Ha. Lol.

[Outta Here]

As someone who's done unpaid volunteer work for over two decades myself, my post was entirely serious.

[Cosmin M.]

I was laughing at what Liz said. Sorry.

[Gail]

Hmm... I'm like Liz, wondering why she waited so long to at least ask to be hired and renumerated.

I wonder how she lived in the meantime. 80 hours a week is 2 full-time jobs.

[Outta Here]

I was laughing at what Liz said. Sorry.

I accept your apology, Cosmin. Please understand, however, that your post was made in response to my post. In the header of your post, it reads "Re: Aubrey." I had no way of knowing that you intended it as a response to Liz's post.

[phkrause]

It almost looks like some lawyer found out and than told her she should get money. Because according to what gregory stated she volunteered and never was employed there. So I'm going to guess that the lawyer will take 1/3 or more. I'm not saying that she doesn't deserve any money, but the lawyer should do this for alot less.

pk

[GreatLakesGramma]

Seems to me that she's suing because for all these years, she's been doing the work that others were getting paid to do. They'd pawn the work off on her when all the while they'd received a paycheck.

And perhaps she only recently learned that someone else was being paid wages for the work she did. Can't blame her for finding that unacceptable. They need to investigate some employees, it sounds like.

[Amelia]

This article has a bit more information. Notice that this was published last year.

Published Sunday March 16, 2008

Elderly volunteer is up against the state

BY TODD COOPER

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Hunched over a state-issued desk in her run-down north Omaha home, Lucille Kilgore punched away at the keys of her 1940s manual typewriter.

Her bone-thin fingers plunged deep into the machine, her work deep into the night.

On that relic, she wrote reports for judges and corrections officials. She drafted proposals for where a juvenile should be placed in state custody. She drew up affidavits to obtain arrest warrants for parole violators.

When day came, she went with state parole officers to court, monitored juveniles and arrested parole violators. She trained new parole officers.

She presided over parole revocation hearings — deciding whether a juvenile would be sent to a detention center.

She worked anywhere from 80 to 112 hours a week — doing the job of a parole officer.

And the state never paid her a dime.

Kilgore performed all of those duties as a volunteer in her 60s, 70s and 80s. A dedicated, spirited woman living off her minimal railroad pension. A woman who became so destitute that parole officers took up monthly collections to buy her groceries.

A woman who says she was taken advantage of — to the tune of $47,000 in credit card charges — by former state parole officer Mel Washington.

After a trial last week over her lawsuit, a judge had to decide what, if anything, Washington and the state owed her for her 20 years of service.

The state argued it owed her nothing.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10284539

[Amelia]

And this bit

Former worker alleges state was negligent

Associated Press - March 1, 2009

"...When her work came to light in 2002, the state health department directed Kilgore to stop volunteering and took precautions to protect her..."

[GreatLakesGramma]

All of this definitely puts the story in a different light than the first one. Sounds like she was definitely taken advantage of, to her detriment. And deliberately on the part of at least one individual.

[carolaa]

the State of Omaha

I wasn't aware of this.

(It's ok, you're not the first one to make a slip up like this! Welcome aboard, Aubrey.)

[Outta Here]

Thank you for calling that to my attention, carolaa. I do appreciate it when others catch my errors. I would have appreciated it, however, if it were brought to my attention via PM rather than broadcast here on the forum.

If an editor here would be so kind as to go in and fix my original post, I would be most grateful. I would do it myself if the statute of limitations on self-editing that post hadn't already passed.

It should read, "State of Nebraska".

Thank you.

[Woody]

Yeah. That's funny Aubrey. One does have to have a thick skin to post in the Forum. I doubt you will get much compliance with your request. But for what it is worth ... I kinda agree with you. But, I have been called all kind of names here ... so I am just developing or trying to develop a thick skin.

[carolaa]

It's just humor - not serious enough for a PM. You don't have to be perfect here.

[Liz]

I am still really curious (and I am not trying to be funny) about the volunteer thing. If she really thought she was just a volunteer why did she allow herself to be so ill used? Why did she allow herself to be worked 80 hours and sometimes all night long? She had to have been smart in order to have done the type of work she was doing--so being mentally challenged is out, so I really just don't get it.

This will be an interesting court case to follow.

[Outta Here]

Volunteerism often comes at the price of burn-out. It is evident in our churches, in our communities and our homes. Often people who volunteer to assist are the very people who see the real need for the work to be done. They are those who give of their time, talents and resources because they whole-heartedly believe in the cause. For the altruistic, this sometimes means they give their very all.

[carolaa]

I don't believe much in altruism. There's always a payoff of some kind.