Taylor v. Beatty

Citations

• 202 Pa. 120
• 51 A. 771
• 1902 Pa. LEXIS 478

Syllabus

<p>Master and servant — Presumption of periodicalpaymenis — Wages—Housekeeper.</p> <p>A person is a servant within the ruling that her services were presumed to have been periodically paid where it appeared that after she had entered her employer’s service she complained that the place was lonely, that he thereupon agreed to pay her at the rate of $5.00 a week for an indefinite term of service, that she remained in the employment for seven years, that she worked about the house, did the cleaning, tended the house, cooked occasionally, tended defendant’s bar, helped to do washing and ironing, and nursed her employer when he was ill. In such a case it is immaterial that the claimant was occasionally assisted by other servants, that the occupants of the house, except on rare occasions, consisted only of her employer and herself, and that certain of the witnesses spoke of her as a housekeeper.</p> <p>The term housekeeper has reference to services performed in the taking care of a house in connection with the inmates residing therein, but exactly what special and particular duties are to be regarded as embraced within the term must always be decided by the duties which are actually performed under the agreement as made.</p> <p>Where a person serves in the capacity of a domestic servant, and no demand for payment of wages is made by the servant, for a considerable period after such service has terminated, the inference is, either that the wages have been paid, or that the service was performed on the footing that no payment was to be made.</p> <p>Wages for domestic service are presumed to be paid at the periods customary at the time and in the neighborhood, and claims for such wages for an unusual length of time, and especially those not made until after the claimant has left the service must be supported by affirmative proof that they have not been paid.</p> <p>In an action by a servant to recover weekly wages at the rate of $5.00 per week for over six years and six mont