Volunteers are likely to be treated as employees if there is an agency relationship, characterized as the right of the principal (the library) to control the actions of the agent (volunteer) with regard to the details of the task to be accomplished. See Florida Attorney General Opinion No. AGO 2002-84 (December 17, 2002).

Additionally, volunteers may find possible protection in the Florida Volunteer Protection Act (FL-VPA). Florida Statute § 768.1355

The FL-VPA imposes three crucial requirements on all volunteers. When volunteers commit an act or omission that results in personal injury or property damage to another, they can be protected from civil liability only if:

(1) they are “acting in good faith within the scope of any official duties performed under such volunteer service.” Florida Statute § 768.1355(1)(a);

(2) they do not cause the injury or damage “by any wanton or willful misconduct.” Id., Sec. (1)(b); and

(3) they are “acting as an ordinary reasonably prudent person would have acted under the same or similar circumstances.” Id., Sec. (1)(a); E.