I have been having a rather lengthy discussion with my MD as to whether an organisation should support an employees "jury service" time away from work. It is my understanding that If your earnings are higher them the expenses limit paid by the justice system you loose out on income whilst doing your duty to society? I have suggested that an employer should continue to pay either ones salary in full or top up the expenses paid by the system so the hit on the individual is softened by the company one works for therefore demonstrating an organisations commitment to the welfare of their employee. So the question is: What company do you work for and do they pay you whilst on Jury service, or indeed not???
Good question Carl . I did it back in 06 /07 .The company sent a letter to court prior to my attendance telling them how important I was and that I must be excused this of course has been heard hundreds of times before ,very similar to when the jury is picked and you all go up before the judge and he says anyone in here who for any reason can't do two weeks or more ? And the poor green grocer steps up to the plate and says its a one man band and he has to go to the market at 3 am but before he has finished the judge says sit your old arse back down and let's get started .Back to the question . The newbies including me sat smug thinking nice two weeks off a few early darts and of course everyone's on a grand a week ......until you talk to the batch of servants who are on there way out and are filling in their expenses sheet! . Who much can you milk bays the newbies? Gulp it was about £27 .00 per day less the car parking you don't get paid for and less the canteen coffee at £ 3.00 per cup .So at dinner and carefully dodging the unsavoury looking crowd giving support from the public gallery who come out of the same door as the Jurors ,I made a quick phone call to my Director who agreed to pay me whilst away big relief. I am not employed there now but one thing is for sure there would be absolutely no chance whatso ever of getting a bean now .So valued or not its a tough call but for those self employed you could be there for ten weeks no mortgage paid and it could ruin you and no redress from the court .
I am self employed and lost out big time on wages for my two weeks, lucky it was only two weeks, you could claim on fuel/train tickets and parking Hopefully my lot is done now?
Never been nabbed but most of the permie employers I have had would have made the money up to cover wages. Work for myself so would be a major pain to get called up. Have known people who have got called up, some did a few days and then got let go, whilst others did the full 2 weeks and multiple cases. Think one of them had done jury service before as well.
Am part owner of the company, so I still get paid in full. Haven't been selected for it though. Well, not in a while, and I squirmed out of it.
How did you damage to get out of it I was under the impression you can put it off for up to 12 months but can not get out of it? Unless you have a mental problem
Who says I am not mental ? *wibble* I used to know a guy who worked at the courts the last time I got out of it. Previous to that I went but wasn't selected.
I used to be exempt and so got away with it for over 30 years until 18 months ago when the brown envelope dropped through the door. Funnily enough, my daughter who was 21 at the time did her jury service the 2 weeks prior to mine, so fo a month we had a member of the family trecking off down to the crown court every day. Anyway, I digress. When I got called up, I was told that I would not get paid during jury service even though we have no say in the matter. Its not as if you can say, Sorry mate, don't fancy that!" You have to do it, even if you defer it for a year. So I had to take 2 weeks leave to ensure that I continued to get paid, and then the cheeky feckers would call me when I got home asking if I could do this that or the other. They got short shrift on that one which put their noses out of joint, but as I told them, it worked both ways. Had they continued to pay me, I would happily have done some work in the evening, but given their attitude a word beginning in B and finishing with S came to mind. The ironic part of it was that the first case I was called up for I could not sit on the jury because I knew the investigating copper and had arrested the defendant myself in the past, and the second case was a benefit fraud case which collapsed after about 6 hours because of the por quality of investigation and evidence gathering during the investigation. It was an interesting experience though as despite the numerous times I have given evidence at the Crown Court, it is a very different experience as a juror.
Are you sure about that? There used to be exemptions, Coppers, armed forces, solicitors, judges etc but that was removed about 5 or 6 years ago. The exemption used to apply for a period of 5 or 10 years after you retired or left that exempt occupation (I cannot remember the length of time) but it is how I got away with it for so long. When I did my stint there was a prison officer on jury service. If you are a someone that used to be exempt, it has to be declared on the first day, but I think you will find that you can no longer play that card.
