Opinion ID: 1952376
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Master/Servant Employer/Employee

Text: Because all employers are masters and all employees are servants, the terms employer/employee are often used interchangeably to denote a master/servant relationship. See Gooden v. Mitchell, Del.Super., 21 A.2d 197, 200 (1941). The appellations employer and employee, however, are used most frequently in determining workers' compensation rights or obligations. See White v. Gulf Oil Corp., Del.Supr., 406 A.2d 48 (1979); Price v. All Am. Engineering Co., Del.Supr., 320 A.2d 336, 339 (1974); Lester C. Newton Trucking Co. v. Neal, Del.Supr., 204 A.2d 393 (1964). Accordingly, the words employer and employee have become imbued with the connotations that arise from the implications of that direct relationship pursuant to the workers' compensation statute. See White v. Gulf Oil Corp., 406 A.2d at 50-52. [7] Consequently, in situations like the case sub judice, when the issue is vicarious liability to a third party, use of the terms master and servant eliminates any unnecessary confusion.