226 Wis. 16 | Wis. | 1937
The sole question upon this appeal is whether a minor child, injured while working for his father, is entitled to the benefits of the Workmen’s Compensation Act.
Applicant left high school in 1934 and worked for his father thereafter. In June, 1935, his father made an agreement with him under which applicant was to receive sixty-five cents a hundred for drying casein and was guaranteed eighty dollars a month. He lived at the home of his parents, occasionally received presents of money, and was accustomed to do chores about the house, such as shoveling snow, cutting grass, running errands, etc. The father testified that putting the son on a salary and charging him for what the father gave him was a part of the boy’s training, and that in all respects except the matter of wages he treated him as a father would ordinarily treat a son. Plaintiffs contend that, while
We conclude that the trial court correctly disposed of this matter. In Prelipp v. Prelipp, 203 Wis. 488, 234 N. W. 730, this court held that emancipation may be implied even where a minor resides at home and works for his father from a promise on the part of the latter to pay him for services during minority. In the Prelipp Case plaintiff sued one standing in loco parentis to him for wages earned during minority under an alleged contract of hire. While the court denied recovery upon the ground that the emancipation and contract for services were not sufficiently established, it is inferentially held that, except for the failure of proof, plaintiff would have prevailed. It would follow, even without resort to the compensation act, that where an agreement by father to pay wages to his minor son has been established, a relationship of employer and employee exists.
Sec. 102.07, Stats., provides in part as follows:
“ ‘Employee’ as used in this chapter means: . . .
“(4) Every person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, all helpers and assistants of employees, whether paid by the employer or employee, if employed with the knowledge, actual or constructive, of the employer, including minors (who shall have the same power of contracting as adult employees), but not including farm laborers, domestic servants and any person whose employment is not in the course of a trade, business, profession, or occupation of his employer, unless such employer has elected to include them.”
While in each of these cases the alleged employer was not the parent, we think the principle compels the same conclusion where, as here, the parent has entered a contract of hire with his minor child. The act does not interfere with the parental right to custody and control because the parent is always in a position to prevent the relation of employer and employee from arising.
Judgment affirmed.