Jury service

[Vanillapod]

Do employers usually pay you during Jury service?
I know they aren’t obliged to but wondered what the norm is.
I will check his stance on Monday but if not I can only claim £37 a day!

This seems spectacularly unfair. What if you really can’t afford to take that hit?

[Dougie]

The new company I work for Don't, and I know the Duty Free company I worked for at the airport didn't.

I think if people write to the court and explain it could cause financial hardship, they do take this in to consideration and possibly excuse the person from JS.

[Omega1]

Mine did, but my employer was a local authority. It went on for three weeks.

[Smilesonfaces]

We were both paid when we did jury service but I suspect many small employers may not. Husband was on a 2 month trial too, we couldn’t manage it now he is self employed.
If you defer don’t forget you can only do this the once and next time may be at an inconvenient time such as just before a holiday.
Unfortunately it is a public duty and expected to do it. I don’t think those expenses limits have changed in years.

[Chilli-pepper]

Originally Posted by Omega1

Mine did, but my employer was a local authority. It went on for three weeks.

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I'm also LA and was paid, mine went on for 5 weeks. But there were others with me that were not being paid by their work places and some were self employed.

I will say when I was on Jury duty they were very unsympathetic to anyone turning up saying they would be financially out of pocket if they did jury duty - just kept with the same line '' jury duty is your public duty'

Also there were two cases going on of people being brought into court for not turning up for jury duty.

There are various allowances that you may be eligible to claim but generally they are not at the same value as a wage.

[scoobydooby]

I was paid but also work for the State. They always recruit more people per Jury than they need so I I’d write to them with a covering letter from your employer that they won’t pay you and try and claim hardship. You can claim expenses. I know when I did it there were two more people turned up than needed. People were basically asked if they wanted to elect not to stay. I was about to jump in but after I heard two young men both explaining their were losing wages and had families I just shut up and stayed as I was not losing money.

[Button17]

I think it's so unfair that they expect people to face financial hardship to do jury service. When you think how much the lawyers etc are making. DH and I could not afford to do it but would clearly have no choice. Hopefully will never get called.

[Vanillapod]

Bit of a mixed bag then. Fingers crossed!
I just said to OH it would be ok for a couple of weeks but imagine if it was a long one 😳
I don’t think it’s fair at all!

[ROBBOTOO]

I’ve done it twice. Luckily paid by my employer.

The last time I was at the Old Bailey. Another set of jurors had been there on one trial for 3 months and were due to be there a couple more months ! If you weren’t getting paid I have no idea how you’d cope!

[YorkshireT]

It’s hard to swallow, but it’s a public duty, part of the societal contract.
But I also know how courts and judges work, and often the judges could be less keen at finishing at 4 and starting at 10.