Schurr v. Savigny

48 N.W. 547, 85 Mich. 144, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 679
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedApril 17, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 48 N.W. 547 (Schurr v. Savigny) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schurr v. Savigny, 48 N.W. 547, 85 Mich. 144, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 679 (Mich. 1891).

Opinion

Long, J.

Plaintiff entered into defendants’ employ on [145]*145September 15, 1888, under a contract of employment for one year.

The defendants are the owners and proprietors of a photograph gallery at Lansing, this State, and employed plaintiff as an operator therein. The contract of employment is made up of several letters passing between the parties, the plaintiff at the time of entering info it residing at Indianapolis, Ind. There is no contention as to what the contract is, or the time of its continuance. It was for one year, at $20 per week. Plaintiff continued in the service of defendants for the full time, and was paid in full for his services except the last - two weeks before the expiration of the time. At that time he called upon the defendants for his pay, and was put off until the next day. On that day the $40 was tendered him, and he was then asked to sign a receipt in full, which he refused to do. A few days thereafter the plaintiff’s attorney presented a claim to the defendants not only for the $40 remaining unpaid under the contract, but for extra time, being for work done on Sundays during the year, two weeks’ time for work done for which plaintiff was to be allowed a vacation, etc., and extra work done in the evenings. Payment of the demand being refused, this action was brought in the Ingham circuit court to recover for this extra work. On the trial the plaintiff had verdict and judgment for $245.15. Defendants bring error.

The bill of particulars filed in the cause is as follows:

50 extra days’ work and labor of plaintiff for the defendants at $3.31 per day, from on or about September 15, 1888, to September 15, 1889..............$165 50
Two weeks’ time as per agreement for work done and labor of plaintiff for the defendants at $20 per week..-------------------------------------- 40 00
Work and labor of plaintiff for the defendants, 30 [146]*146evenings, between September 15, 1888, and September 15, 1889, at §2 per evening--------------- 60 00
Two weeks’ time, at §20 per week, to be allowed by defendants to plaintiff as a vacation, as per agreement, for work and labor.................. 40 00
S305 50

The first item was for Sunday work, and was stricken out by the court at the close of the plaintiff’s testimony. Plaintiff was then allowed to amend his bill of particulars, and make claim for about 300 evenings’ work at 60 cents an evening. He was then recalled, and permitted to testify that he had worked almost every evening during the year, and testified to the value of such services. He also testified that he worked during the two weeks’ time for which he was to have a vacation. It was not contended in the trial court, and is not contended here, that there was any express agreement that he should have pay for such extra time; but it is contended that from the day the plaintiff commenced to work to the day he was discharged he had not only worked six working days each and every week, but had worked nearly each week-day evening from after tea until 8 or 9 o’clock, and had also worked during the two weeks in which he was entitled to his vacation. It is claimed from this that the plaintiff was entitled to recover for such extra tí me, though no express agreement to be compensated therefor was shown. The claim is—

1. That the statute of this State fixed the number of hours which constitute a day’s work in this particular kind of business, as well as all other kinds of business that are not by this statute or by contract exempted from its application. Act No. 137, Laws of 1885.

2. That, though this statute did not exist, there would be an implied agreement under the facts of this case to pay for such services, as it was shown by the plaintiff and all the leading photographers of Lansing who have [147]*147had experience that- it was customary to pay for overtime when performed in the evening or night-time; and that the court was not in error in so charging the jury, and also in directing the jury that, if they found that the salary was to go on during the vacation by the terms of the agreement, the plaintiff would have a right to recover for his services during that time.

We are satisfied—

1. That the statute above cited has no application to this kind of employment. Section 1 provides—

“That in all factories, work-shops, salt-blocks, sawmills, logging or lumber camps, booms or drives, mines, or other places used for mechanical, manufacturing, or other purposes within the State of Michigan, where men or women are employed, ten hours per day shall constitute a legal day’s work, and any proprietor, stockholder, manager, clerk, foreman, or other employers of labor who shall require any person or persons in their employ to perform more than ten hours per day shall be compelled to pay such employds for all overtime or extra hours at the regular per diem rate, unless there be an agreement to the contrary.”

It is provided by section 5 that—

“Nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to domestic or farm laborers, or other laborers who agree to work more than ten hours per day.”

The contract of employment in this case does not specify the number of hours to be considered a day’s work. The employment was not by the day or week, but by the year, at $20 per week. The plaintiff was employed as an expert in taking, finishing, and retouching photographs. It is a matter of general knowledge that in the printing of photographs the work of bringing them out and' retouching must greatly depend on the character of the weather, as sunlight is one of the essential elements in conducting-all such business; and it is to be presumed that the work was not continued day by day when each and every hour could be profitably employed. The work of necessity [148]*148must be fluctuating, dependent upon the custom wbicb the business might be able to bring, and which is shown by the record would at times be irregular, increasing during certain seasons of' the year, especially at and on all holidays, and at other times falling off, when the work and trade would be dull. This statute was not intended by the Legislature to apply to this character of service, or to service or employment such as the hiring by the week, month, or year. If the statute could be so applied, then in every store where clerks are employed at irregular hours, domestics in families, and in other employments of like character, such employment would fall within its provisions. The statute was intended to and does apply to factories, work-shops, saw-mills, logging and lumbering camps, booms, drives on the rivers, mines, and such places where the mechanical and manufacturing industries of this kind are carried on. The fact that section 5 of the act expressly exempts domestics and farm laborers from its operation does not imply that such labor as here performed should fall within the provisions of the act.

2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 N.W. 547, 85 Mich. 144, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schurr-v-savigny-mich-1891.