Jury Duty

[der_kluge]

I got called up for Grand Jury in Arkansas right after I graduated college. While that sounds cool, it was in Little Rock, and I lived in Bentonville (a solid 4.5 hours away). The letter arrived at my Mom's house, who resolved the matter for me.

And it was one of those where you had to go to be present in case they wanted to select you. No thanks.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I got $17 a day for being on a jury. Luckily, my employer paid my regular wage also. But they didn't have to do that; I've known people who were called for jury duty, their employer wouldn't pay their wages, they told the judge that, and the judge still made them sit on juries that took more than 2 weeks. I don't know how they can do that with any conscience - people have bills, dangit.

I thought this was illegal. Isn't your employer obligated to pay you while you're on jury duty? Or, maybe you are entitled to payment from the state?

 

[Jdvn1]

I thought this was illegal. Isn't your employer obligated to pay you while you're on jury duty? Or, maybe you are entitled to payment from the state?

I think it depends. I know if you're paid by the hour, you don't get paid by your employer for jury duty.

 

[RuminDange]

Just got done with this wonderful event myself. Spent two days sitting around, got interviewed twice for two seperate trials but didn't get picked to served. The afternoon of the second day after sitting around a couple of hours after lunch, I was one of five they randomly picked to be released otherwise it was an everyday all week event.
Lucky being on salary I was getting paid normally without losing any vaction time or anything. Got lucky as there was also a major murder trial going on that was also picking jury members this week. That would have been a long one to get selected for.

RD

 

[RuminDange]

I thought this was illegal. Isn't your employer obligated to pay you while you're on jury duty? Or, maybe you are entitled to payment from the state?

Doesn't help if you are self-employed contractor, had two that were called up and they were complaining the whole time about losing money. They had like teams of 6 that worked for them that they had no way to know if things were getting done or not.

RD

 

[drothgery]

I think it depends. I know if you're paid by the hour, you don't get paid by your employer for jury duty.

I suspect employers aren't mandated to reimburse your for jury duty (though this may vary from state to state), because the state's supposed to pay you (though the rate is pathetic, and some states, like CA, only start paying you more than mileage after the first day).

But it's definitely not a stratightforward hourly vs. salaried thing (and I'm sure about this, as I'm hourly, and I get compensated for up to 7 days of jury duty per year). If there's a split within a company, it's likely to be full-time/part-time, not hourly/salaried (my position became hourly because of oddities in CA state law; I used to be salaried, but my benefits didn't change).

 

[Desdichado]

In this area, jury duty barely pays enough to cover for parking, and you're not getting paid at work, so it really sucks. You're basically just losing money.

Not in my area. I get reimbursed for mileage, too. And I get paid leave for jury duty from work.

But I haven't been called since I moved here. I was on a jury once; a civil case where someone was suing for injuries after being rear-ended by some spoiled college girl princess jabbing on her cell-phone or something like that (maybe that was before cell phones became really big; can't remember now.)

My wife, on the other hand, got selected to be on a murder trial in Detroit, which was a nasty business for her.

And hey! We've got a surgeon in our group, he's a good guy!

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I suspect employers aren't mandated to reimburse your for jury duty (though this may vary from state to state), because the state's supposed to pay you (though the rate is pathetic, and some states, like CA, only start paying you more than mileage after the first day).

In Massachusetts you are required to be paid by your employer your standard daily wage for the first three days of jury duty. After that the state pays some tiny amount ($35/day? I don't recall) and your employer is not required to pay you anything. My employer will continue to pay your daily wage minus the state stipend.

I got called for the first time last month. I sat in a room reading for three hours and then was told we were not needed, so go home - so I did. It was nice of the state to give me a day off from work so I could finish the novel I was reading and then do some stuff around the house.

 

[HellHound]

I suspect employers aren't mandated to reimburse your for jury duty (though this may vary from state to state), because the state's supposed to pay you (though the rate is pathetic, and some states, like CA, only start paying you more than mileage after the first day).

But it's definitely not a stratightforward hourly vs. salaried thing (and I'm sure about this, as I'm hourly, and I get compensated for up to 7 days of jury duty per year). If there's a split within a company, it's likely to be full-time/part-time, not hourly/salaried (my position became hourly because of oddities in CA state law; I used to be salaried, but my benefits didn't change).

In most States, there is no such requirement. That's why juries are paid $17 a day (or whatever incredibly small amount, depending where you are), compensation for their time. Employers have no such responsabilities in most jurisdictions.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I don't what kinda cosmic dice I'm rolling, but in more than 20 years, I've been called for jury duty once, and I had long since moved out that state when I was called.

Carl

The one time I was called, it was for the wrong county. I wrote them and never heard back.