Master-Servant Rule
Categories: Ethics/Morals
Yeah...the name of this term doesn’t help paint the employee-employer relationship in a particularly cooperative light. But leaving that fact aside, it represents a key legal precept.
The rule states that employers are responsible for the actions of their employees. It means companies can't just declare ignorance if one of their workers does something wrong on the firm's behalf.
You run a chemical factory that produces a lot of toxic waste. You order an employee to dump poisonous leftover sludge in the nearest river. They get caught. You can't just say, "Good luck getting a lawyer, pal." Because of the master-servant rule, you have responsibility for that employee's actions.
The master-servant rule doesn't apply to every situation. If the fry tosser at McDonald's freaks out and throws a vat of hot oil on a customer, it's not necessarily McDonald's fault.
The guideline only covers situations where the employee is in the service of the employer (so...what they do after-hours doesn't count) and doing things within their job duties (unless the McDonald's manual has a section directing employees to throw hot oil on people, they would have some defense against liability for the employee's freak-out).