Volunteers

The University of Tennessee recognizes the valuable contributions of those persons giving freely of their time and talents for the benefit of the University without compensation. These persons are "VOLUNTEERS" in every sense of the word. The State legislature in the enactment of the Tennessee Claims Commission Act of 1984 recognized the need the protection of volunteers from legal actions while performing their service on behalf of the University. As such, the volunteers who are registered with the University receive the same civil immunity from liability, as does an employee of the University under the Act. Volunteers under the Claims Commission Act are not covered for Worker's Compensation.

The term "Registered Volunteer" means those persons who are not employees of the University who provide service to the University in an approved program that are listed and reported to the Division of Claims Administration, State of Tennessee.

To become a "Registered Volunteer" the department having the volunteer must report (register) the volunteer through IRIS. The link to access the electronic form is: ZPHRRECORD000 - Record Friend / Pending EE / Guest Traveler Request to go to the Record a Friend/Pending Employee/Guest Traveler screen.

Submitting E-Forms for Individuals without Social Security Numbers:
Each employee, friend, and guest traveler of the University is uniquely identified within the IRIS system by the assignment of a personnel number. The Record Friend/Pending Employee/Guest Traveler e-form allows for the entry of either a personnel number or a social security number when no personnel number has been assigned. When a social security number is entered, that number is used to determine whether or not the person is already in IRIS, and therefore, already assigned a personnel number.

If the person for whom you are originating this e-form does not have a social security number (such as some non-resident aliens), please verify whether or not the person is already identified in IRIS by searching for the person's name. If found, please use the personnel number for entry rather than leaving it blank. Failure to take this step may cause the person to be duplicated in IRIS, with each record having a different personnel number.

NOTE: For departments associated with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA)-  to become a “Registered Volunteer,”  Extension volunteers must be registered in SUPER and all other departments must register  volunteers through Lotus Notes Database.

A report will be sent from the University of Tennessee, Office of Risk Management, to the Division of Claims Administration on a quarterly basis. In the event a volunteer is not properly registered and a claim is made against that person for his/her University service, the Claims Commission will accept the claim as though the volunteer was registered. However, the University of Tennessee will be charged for any expenses or payments made rather than these costs being paid from the Liability Claim Fund. The department failing to register/report their volunteer would be charged for these costs, up to the limit of $300,000.00.