Master and servant is a term used to describe the legal relationship between an employer

(master) and employee (servant) for purposes of determining an employer's liability for acts of
an employee. A master and servant relationship is determined based upon the amount of control
the employer exercises over the service provide by the employee. A master will be liable for acts
of an employee committed while within the scope of employment. Such liability attaching to an
employer due to acts of an employee is called vicarious liability.

This is distinguished from a relationship between an employer and independent contractor. An

employer is generally not vicariously liable for acts of an independent contractor, whether or not
they were done within the scope of employment.

Mutual Obligations of
Master and Servant

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MASTER AND SERVANT, MUTUAL OBLIGATIONS OF. - It is universally admitted that a

good master makes a good servant; and one of the best signs of a proper understanding existing
between the employer and the employed is furnished by servants remaining for a lengthened
period in the same situations. A master should treat his servant with firmness but not with
severity; he should lead his servant to understand that when to once ordered anything to be done,
he expected it to be promptly and properly obeyed, without being compelled to reiterate the
order. A servant should be paid at a fair and just rate for his services. A master should carefully
avoid commissioning his servant in questionable offices, as, for instance, inducing him to tell a
falsehood, or ordering him to commit some mean act by which a petty advantage may be gained.
By such a course of conduct all moral restraint will be lost, and the servant will in all probability
avail himself of similar acts against his master's interest.

Family quarrels and disputes with any member of the househould never be carried on in the
presence of a servant; such displays have a tendency to lessen the parties in the eyes of the
servant, and encourage acts of insubordination. No master should make a confidant of his
servant, or intrust him with any secret to his prejudice; this at once gives a servant undue
importance, and leads him to take liberties which he would not otherwise dare to contemplate.
Some allowance should b« made for the feelings and sufferings of a servant; thus, when he is
overtaken by illness, or visited with affliction, he should be treated with merciful consideration;
such a concession is never thrown away, for should an employer subsequently share a similar
fate, he will find in his servant a sincere sympathizer and a watchful attendant. Servants should
be indulged in occasional holidays and hours of relaxation; under these conditions, labour will be
performed with more alacrity and greater interest.

The duties of a servant towards his employer may be summed as follows: He should implicitly
obey the orders given him, without murmur or dissent. He should also endeavour to gain a
knowledge of his employer's habits, and anticipate his wishes, so as to spare the necessity of
being continually reminded of duties which he is sure to be called upon to perform. A servant
should avoid giving himself airs of consequence, or acting or speaking impertinently; such
conduct only serves to display his ignorance, and an unfitness for the situation he holds. All
duties should be performed as conscientiously in the employer's absence as in his presence; eye-
service is a species of hypocrisy which must be sooner or later detected, with very humiliating
consequences. A servant should act with the same zeal and probity on his employer's behalf as he
would for his own; any petty advantage gained by aa opposite course a more than
counterbalanced by the guilty consciousness of wrong, and may be attended by an irretrievable
loss of character.

Whatever is done or said by the members of a family, which may be repeated to their prejudice,
should never be carried beyond the walls of the house; a servant who circulates gossip and
scandal respecting the household in which he lives, is unworthy of his trust, and brands himself
as a domestic spy and a traitor. Harsh expressions and hasty words, occasionally addressed by an
employer to his servant, should be overlooked instead of being resented. This is sometimes
difficult of observance, but it never fails to be appreciated, and will invariably win respect and
esteem.

A servant should always be true to his promise; thus when he is permitted leave of absence on
condition that he return at a stated time, he should be back at his post to the minute; any extra
liberty taken beyond that stipulated for is calculated to irritate an employer, and by shaking his
confidence, renders him reluctant to grant a like indulgence on a future occasion. Truthfulness
and stralghtforward conduct should be ever observed; when a servant has committed an error, or
has met with some mishap in the performance of his duties, he should not endeavour to screen
himself by subterfuge and misrepresentation, but at once acknowledge the fault he has
committed, or reveal the accident that has befallen him.

A servant should be cheerful and willing, and content with the station which has been assigned
him; he should remember that there must of necessity be some grades in life lower than others;
and, in order that he may reconcile himself to this order of things, he should contrast his lot with
that of thousands who are much worse situated than himself; and find comfort in the fact that he
is spared the responsibilities and vexations which attach themselves to the higher spheres of
society.

A servant is anyone who works for another individual, the master, with or without pay. The
master and servant relationship only arises when the tasks are performed by the servant under the
direction and control of the master and are subject to the master's knowledge and consent.

A servant is unlike an agent, since the servant has no authority to act in his or her employer's
place. A servant is also distinguishable from an Independent Contractor, who is an individual
entering into an agreement to perform a particular job through the exercise of his or her own
methods and is not subject to the control of the individual by whom he or she was hired.

The master and servant relationship arises out of an express contract; the law, however, will
sometimes imply a contract when none exists if a person was led to believe there was one by the
conduct of both the employer and the employee. No contract exists, however, unless both master
and servant consent to it. The contract can contain whatever terms and conditions the parties
agree to, provided they are legal. It is essential that the terms be sufficiently definite so as to be
enforceable by a court in the event that the contract is breached. An employment contract is
legally enforceable by the award of damages against either party who breaks it. No employment
contract, however, can be enforced by compelling the employee to work, since that would
constitute Involuntary Servitude, which is proscribed by the U.S. Constitution.

Federal and state laws regulate certain conditions of employment, such as minimum wages,
maximum hours, overtime pay, time off for religious observances, and the safety of the work
environment. Statutes ordinarily restrict employment of children, and federal Civil Rights laws
prohibit employment discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Employment agencies are generally licensed and regulated, due to the risk that dishonest
agencies might come into existence.

Duties of Master and Servant

The general rule is that a master may hire and fire servants; however, this is limited to a certain
extent by the law. An employee cannot be discharged for a reason not permitted by his or her
employment contract or the collective bargaining agreement that may govern the employment;
nor can the person be fired because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In addition, an
employer cannot fire an employee who is exercising certain rights, such as filing a discrimination
complaint with a governmental agency or filing for worker's compensation benefits.

An employee can be discharged for misappropriating funds, being unfaithful to his or her
employer's interest, refusing to perform services that were agreed upon in a contract, or for being
habitually late or absent. An employee cannot be fired for insubordination for refusing to
subscribe to unlawful directives from his or her employer, nor can the employee be required to
perform such illegal tasks as committing perjury or handling stolen property. A suit for damages
may be brought against an employer who wrongfully discharges an employee.

An employee has the obligation to be honest and faithful in the performance of duties. When
trade secrets are disclosed to an employee, he or she must not reveal them to others either prior
or subsequent to employment. In some cases, an employment contract specifies that the
employer owns any new ideas or inventions created by the employee during the period of
employment. When this is true, the employee has no rights in the idea or invention nor any right
to ask for additional compensation.

Compensation

An employee can enter into an agreement to work without compensation, but in the absence of
such an agreement, an employer must pay an employee at the agreed rate. The employer cannot
delay payment of wages or substitute something other than money unless the employee assents.
The employee is entitled to his or her wages as long as the work is completed. If an employer
wrongfully discharges an employee, the employee can collect all the money the employer had
agreed to pay him or her.
The amount and type of compensation is ordinarily regulated by agreement; however, it is
affected by a number of statutes. Employers are required to pay at least a certain prescribed
Minimum Wage under most state laws, which must be no less than the amount set by federal
law, unless it is a type of employment that is excluded under the law or the employer is small
enough in size to be exempt from the minimum wage laws. Other state and federal laws mandate
employers to allow for paid sick time and additional wages for overtime or holiday work. It
constitutes a violation of federal law, the Equal Pay Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 206 [1963]) to pay men
and women different wages for substantially similar work. Special laws protect Infants
(individuals under the age of majority) by restricting the hours they can work at certain ages and
proscribing their employment in certain kinds of jobs.