Note 359 — Chapter XVII · DOMESTIC SERVICE IN EUROPE

The laws of insurance against accident, sickness, invalidism, and old age compel the employer to pay one-half the insurance,—about three dollars per year. It is said, however, that as a rule the employer pays the entire amount. It is true this amount is small in families employing but one servant and paying low wages, but where several servants are kept and high wages given the total amount is considerable. On the other hand, the burden is often relatively, though not absolutely, heavier in the family with one servant on low wages, since this means a small income. The amount of insurance varies with the wages, but the wages received by most domestics place them in Class II. The government rates board and lodging received by servants at 350M. per annum, and this with the cash wages received puts the insurance at about three dollars annually, an amount slightly in excess of that paid by the employees in Class I. See Unfallversicherungsgesetz, Krankenversicherungsgesetz, and Das Reichsgesetz über die Invaliditäts- und Altersversicherung. Each of the states of the Empire has its own Gesindeordnung and the conditions of insurance are often stated in these.