Some thoughts on protecting the volunteer (ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2021:2730 and ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2019:5206)

The Netherlands has a tradition of volunteering. Many experience volunteering as enriching, while organizations enjoy using volunteers as a motivated and unpaid workforce. In this regard, volunteer work ranges from helping in the canteen of the sports club to being regularly employed as part of the more primary activities of the employing organization. Roughly speaking, it can be said that about 47% of the Dutch population aged 15 years or older volunteer annually. Despite the large number of volunteers and the value volunteering has for society, volunteering is not regulated under civil law, at least not specifically. This can be seen as remarkable when considering that other forms of employment have specific legal regulation, often with the aim of providing protection to the weaker party in the employment relationship.