Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

PsychoCelloChica t1_itxig7n wrote

Sometimes clauses like this are included specifically for public employees. We’re paid our full daily rate for time missed for jury duty, and there’s always a public outcry if there’s any perception of getting something ‘free’.

Heck, it’s not always even public. Sometimes it’s the folks in your own shop who bitch because they had to cover your shift and now you get the day off.

Often, they make rules like this apply to everyone equally (at least on paper), so we can’t claim we’re being discriminated against solely for being civil servants.

250

SourCeladon OP t1_itxk82t wrote

That makes a lot of sense. As someone who gets paid hourly, this didn’t occur to me. Thanks for the insight :)

61

sgarst t1_itxrdbi wrote

I just served on a week long jury. A lot of stuff (procedures, attendance) seemed to be based on public employment? There was a near riot when we didn't have to report one day, because no one knew how this was handled as a municipal employee.

23

bierdimpfe t1_itxiosi wrote

Assuming you cant get busted, you won the free day off lottery.

149

SourCeladon OP t1_itxkrdo wrote

Right?! Sadly, I’m still working tomorrow. No day off. But at least I get money instead of negative money from having to pay for parking.

69

DoctorSumter2You t1_itxtqrg wrote

Wait, why if you have a free day off? Do you need to be at the office ?

1

la_vidabruja t1_itxuesl wrote

Some people don’t have the benefit of PTO, and so don’t get paid if they aren’t at work

59

Smasa224 t1_itxujb2 wrote

They are paid hourly, probably does not get paid for taking a day off for jury duty (not usually something companies pay for employees not considered "full time")

17

DoctorSumter2You t1_itxv36o wrote

You both are correct. For some reason I thought the FSLA required PAID time off for Jury Duty. It requires unpaid and the courts can decide to pay you if selected.

Sorry, I've only been on a jury once in my life and my job at the time paid me for it. I see now I just had a convenient employer.

12

Smasa224 t1_itxvdma wrote

Yup, I've been called in numerous times over the years... Some jobs will pay, some won't. The one that hurt me the most was 3 days where I was working full time hours, but not technically considered full time by my employer, so I didn't get paid.... Had to pick up overnight shifts to make up the difference... Terrible week. I was not a juror you wanted on your case.. I was cranky

12

DoctorSumter2You t1_itxvqmj wrote

Wow, that's so unfortunate. It doesn't help that the courts only pay a few dollars per DAY for each day served. I was on a criminal trial for 2 or 3 days and I think they paid us something like either $18 per day or $18 total.

10

SourCeladon OP t1_itxv00a wrote

I’m hourly, not salaried. My boss and I decided to play jury-chicken and keep me on for tomorrow just in case I wasn’t needed. So yeah, no day off. But at least I won’t lose income.

8

DoctorSumter2You t1_itxvggy wrote

Yea, I understand now. I misunderstood the Labor Laws around Jury Duty. The law is you are required to allow unpaid time off if necessary, so in theory you could've taken the day off and not get fired or reprimanded for it. For some reason I thought it was a paid requirement.

6

SourCeladon OP t1_itxvlnb wrote

Paid would have been soooo niiice :)

3

cockytiel t1_itz96xe wrote

I used to but we had to give them the check we got the city. It was like $9.

2

SourCeladon OP t1_itzb6w0 wrote

I always thought it was weird that you got paid for jury duty. Why bother with such a small amount? It’s kind of a slap in the face considering not all employers pay you for the time you have to take off (I’m poor but I make more than $9/day) and then pay for parking/transportation on top of that loss. I’m sure there’s a reason, but I have a feeling it probably doesn’t apply to my employment situation.

1

PhillyPanda t1_itxizyl wrote

You need the slip of paper that says you were on jury duty in a lot of places, otherwise you won’t get paid for the day off. For most 9-5s, you’d usually just go to work as scheduled if you didn’t actually have jury duty

28

SourCeladon OP t1_itxkxyh wrote

Ah, makes sense. My job is at a small business so I wouldn’t have needed any slip.

7

illydelphia t1_iu1bs97 wrote

I got picked and ended up being On Call as well. I just told my company I had jury duty for the day a week earlier and basically got a free day off

2

wyueprouqi t1_itxkfht wrote

All's I know is the second you go in to jury duty and scan that barcode, that message is no longer valid and you are signed in. I willing went to jury duty because it was basically a day off even after getting that message and asked about it. So if you still want to serve cause your job sucks and you need a day off, you can. Chances are that they have few cases and may dismiss you anyway if you just need that paper saying you did the thing.

20

Purple_Routine1297 t1_itxmz45 wrote

Yea, I got summoned during the summer, right? So, while the prosecutor and defendant’s attorney is doing their jury striking or whatever, I’m zoning off thinking ok, it’s only 11am, I can get lunch, go home, do laundry, etc. While I’m in my “best day ever” thoughts, my name gets called. Got stuck in that for 3 days. My boss was NOT HAPPY, lol.

13

elentiyaa t1_itxlm3k wrote

i went like a month ago and they only had two cases they needed people for that day so must of us got dismissed by lunchtime

7

wyueprouqi t1_itxm03a wrote

I went like a month ago after deciding "well technically I did have to tell work for coverage reasons". They only had one case, but the defendant wasn't available and they dismissed the entire room. Then I got my actual day off plus the paper proving I went. It was good and I later went on to get a better job.

5

Buddy_Fluffy t1_itxnx0l wrote

Have you ever seen the “Jury Duty” episode of The Office?

13

arslashjason t1_itxr1na wrote

Have you ever seen the film Jury Duty starring one Pauly Shore?

6

snowwarrior t1_itxmjxk wrote

I don't work for the courts, but I interact with courts (from MDJ/County/State/Federal) every day.

​

Jury selection, for the most part in PA, is a demand for 8 or 12 people.

Out of a pool of 50, on average 10-15 will have personal conflicts (aka they know someone directly involved - be it attorney, ptf/def, arresting officer).

This takes the jury pool to 35.

10-15 will be, for lack of the better word, unreliable (i.e. don't trust the police, have a really bad record, which believe it or not knocks your credibility)

This takes the jury pool to 20. Depending on the type of case, the attorneys will weed people out by age/race/sex/assumption of political party, bringing the realistic jury pool down to ~15 people.

The reason for the highlighted part, is some of these remaining ~15 people, frankly, will just not show up. So if you can go, they desperately want you to go to make the jury pool more diverse.

​

I've seen jury selection as fast as a few hours, up to a week.

​

EDIT: This is a vast generalization by the way. Jury pools are not limited to 50 people, but the numbers usually even out to be the same percentage wise.

12

SourCeladon OP t1_itxq9us wrote

That’s really interesting. Thanks for the explanation :)

4

CalicoHair t1_itxhu0r wrote

Its been like that for a long time, they'll take you if you have no where to go.

6

TherabbitTrix0 t1_itzf0fo wrote

You lucky bastard, as I type this from the juror bullpen

5

PRB15 t1_itzikpi wrote

Kennedy? Street?

2

TherabbitTrix0 t1_iu1k6ui wrote

Kennedy. Didn’t get chosen thankfully. I dropped off my ballot today so the civic duties canceled out.

2

SourCeladon OP t1_itzola0 wrote

Taking one for the team. Thank you from all of us. I’m so glad I didn’t have to go. May the day go by quickly and not require you to be on a jury.

2

melikeybouncy t1_itzer5e wrote

Employers are allowed to request that you sign over your jury duty check to them if you are paid for your time off. it's a way to dissuade people from claiming they have jury duty to get free PTO days

If you have already told your job you have jury duty you need to show up to get the check for the day. You can't call and ask the jury office for a check because you didn't show up and now your boss is asking for it as proof that you actually had jury duty.

3

tharussianphil t1_itzamo9 wrote

I'm so jealous. I work a 9-5 so technically I'm paid but my billable hours will suffer. Think that's a valid excuse for getting out of it?

2

SourCeladon OP t1_itzbic0 wrote

Having never worked a standard 9-5, I have no idea. Maybe someone else here will have some insight :)

1

ThanosSnapsSlimJims t1_iuattds wrote

You have nothing to concern yourself with here. Just go with the first part and disregard the rest.

2

medicated_in_PHL t1_itxxva9 wrote

Some employers will give you paid time off, completely separate from your vacation, if you have jury duty. I think this is their way of saying “If you are collecting paid time off for Jury Duty from your employer, you need to actually be here for Jury Duty.”

1

SourCeladon OP t1_itz5yp3 wrote

That makes sense. All of you lovely people commenting have helped me not only understand what this email meant, but also how many benefits I don’t get having a non-salaried job lol

2

medicated_in_PHL t1_itz87t1 wrote

Yeah. It’s crazy how much easier life gets if you work for a company that treats its employees well. My company makes you forfeit the check that the court gives you (the $9/day or whatever it is), but in turn, they give you the full day’s wage.

1