Skip to main content
NC DOL logo NC DOL

Topical Navigation

  • Home
  • Regulations
  • Safety and Health
    Safety and Health
    • Agricultural Safety and Health
    • Amusement Device
    • Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety
    • Elevator
    • Library
    • Mine and Quarry
    • Occupational Safety and Health
    • Public Sector Injury and Illness Survey
    • Publications
    • Recognition Programs
    • Training
    • Tramway and Funicular
  • Workplace Rights
    Workplace Rights
    • Drug Testing
    • E-Verify
    • Employee Rights Regarding Time Worked and Wages Earned
    • Employer Responsibilities
    • Retaliatory Employment Discrimination
    • Youth Employment Rules
  • News
    News
    • Media Contacts
    • Inside NC Labor Podcast
    • Labor Ledger
    • News Releases
    • Fatality Fact Sheets
  • About NCDOL
    About NCDOL
    • Divisions
    • Historical Note About the Labor Building
    • Leadership
    • Meet Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson
    • NCDOL Annual Reports
  • Contact
  • NC.GOV
  • AGENCIES
  • JOBS
  • SERVICES
NC DOL »   Workplace Rights »   Employee Rights Regarding Time Worked and Wages Earned »   Volunteer Firefighter-EMS Volunteer Work Hours

Volunteer Firefighter-EMS Volunteer Work Hours

Questions related to volunteer firefighters under the N.C. Wage and Hour Act are covered by N.C.G.S. § 95-25.14 (b)(1), which states that the minimum wage and overtime rules of the N.C. Wage and Hour Act do not apply to hours worked as a bona fide volunteer firefighter in an incorporated, nonprofit volunteer or community fire department or hours worked as a bona fide volunteer rescue and emergency medical services personnel in an incorporated, nonprofit volunteer or community fire department, or an incorporated, nonprofit rescue squad.

This subsection was added specifically to address the “hybrid volunteer-employee combination” for firefighters and rescue-emergency medical services personnel in incorporated, nonprofit volunteer or community fire departments or rescue squads. Before this change, a paid employee for these organizations could not volunteer to do the same or a similar job that they were paid to perform if the “volunteer” hours combined with the “paid” hours brought the employee below minimum wage or resulted in the employee working more than 40 hours in a workweek. With this change, the N.C. Department of Labor cannot enforce and an employee cannot sue for the payment of state minimum wage or state overtime pay for the “volunteer” hours worked for an incorporated, nonprofit or community fire department or rescue squad when the employee is also a paid employee.

This group of “hybrid volunteer-employee” firefighters or rescue-emergency medical services personnel may still be protected by the federal minimum wage and federal overtime provisions pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the “volunteer work hours” if they are also a paid employee for the same organization. The federal wage and hour law looks at each firefighter and rescue-emergency medical services personnel on an individual basis to see if they are involved in interstate commerce. The federal wage and hour officials take the position that an individual employee may be covered by the federal minimum wage and federal overtime pay provisions if they respond to a vehicle accident on a public road, and any public street, country road or state highway is considered a public road since all roads lead to an interstate highway. For assistance with federal labor laws, contact the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s national Call Center at 1-866-4-USWAGE (toll-free) and website.

This subsection does not affect bona fide volunteer firefighters or rescue-emergency medical services personnel who are strictly volunteers where they volunteer 100% of their time. The N.C. Wage and Hour Act does not require payment of wages to bona fide volunteers who only volunteer their services. This subsection also does not affect paid firefighters or rescue-emergency medical services personnel who do not perform any volunteer work at all.

The N.C. Department of Labor can assist if the issue concerns wage payment, which has to do with promised wages such as hourly pay at more than the minimum wage, a promised salary, or shift differential pay; or promised wage benefits such as vacation pay, sick leave, severance pay, jury duty pay, and holiday pay. Governmental employers are not covered by the state wage payment provisions. For more information about workplace rights, contact our Call Center toll-free at 1-800-NC-LABOR (1-800-625-2267).

 

Revised December 2017

Employee Rights Regarding Time Worked and Wages Earned

  • Adverse Weather Policies in the Private Sector
  • Changes or Reduction in Wages
  • Debit-Payroll Card Payment and Direct Deposit
  • Deductions from Wages
  • Derechos al Trabajador
  • Employment-At-Will
  • Fluctuating Workweek Overtime Pay
  • Full-Time vs. Part-Time Employees
  • Garnishments in North Carolina
  • How to File a Wage Complaint
  • Independent Contractor vs. Employee
  • Job Reference and Blacklisting Laws
  • Job Reference and Blacklisting Laws
  • Maximum / Minimum Hours Worked
  • Medical Payment Law
  • Minimum Wage in N.C.
  • Overtime Pay Coefficient Table
  • Overtime Pay, Salary and Comp Time
  • Overtime–Weighted Average (WAOT)
  • Parental Leave
  • Payment of Final Wages to Separated Employees
  • Prevailing Wage Rates
  • Promised Wages Including Wage Benefits
  • Recording Time and Rounding of Hours Worked
  • Riding and Driving/Meeting and Training
  • Volunteer Firefighter-EMS Volunteer Work Hours
  • What to Know About Breaks

Share this page:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

How can we make this page better for you?

Back to top

Contact Information

N.C. Department of Labor
Physical Address
4 West Edenton St.
Raleigh, NC 27601

Mailing Address
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101

1-800-NC-LABOR
(1-800-625-2267)

Tweets by NCDOL

Tweets by NCDOL

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • NC.GOV
  • NCDOL Employee Directory
  • Translation Disclaimer
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Open Budget
NC DOL
https://www.labor.nc.gov/workplace-rights/employee-rights-regarding-time-worked-and-wages-earned/volunteer-firefighter-ems