Jury Duty

It depends. According to the law in my state at least, I believe companies are obligated to pay you for a period of time, but certainly not for that long. It's maybe two weeks or so. After that, it's up to the company. I'm pretty certain they can't just fire you, however.

Most large companies, though, will pay for however long you have to serve. Mine did. (The parent company was/is a giant media concern. The largest, I believe.) So I was on full salary the whole six months, and basically worked part-time. The state was willing to pay $46 a day to help those who weren't getting paid. I didn't take that money because I was getting full pay anyway.

I thought it would basically kill my career to be out of the mix that long because I worked at a very competitive, crowded place (well, it's less crowded now, but still). As it turned out, though, it probably helped my career because the trial ended in a brief blaze of publicity. That was useful because I'd just accepted a new writing job within the company and it increased my profile internally a bit.

 

I was called once. I went to the first day, went home, called that number, never had to show back up. It was easy, but I didn't get paid.

 

Interesting, Pete. Your points about how we complain about joke juries yet work to avoid them is right on, but I think people are afraid of what happened to you -- most people couldn't take that kind of hit to their career.

I think if you could guarantee people it would be a three-day gig, most people would be willing or even happy to serve (I wound up the foreman in a four-day federal trial once and found the experience really interesting). But the risk of ending up in something long-term is a major concern.

 

The grand jury I was called for was for a four- or six-week session. My former company wasn't going to pay me for that time off, but I was going to be paid something like $50/day, plus mileage/hotel/food/whatever else while I was serving.

But they wouldn't let me serve after finding out I had moved out of the Louisville district.

 

Some judges don't have a sense of humor. I got called a couple of months ago for circuit court. One of more than 300 called and nobody got off. I was one of a group of 50 for one trial. During the voir dire, I told the judge I had hearing loss in one ear (from too much target practice -- job related). He said "No problem Mr. Z3, we'll bring in a hearing device." Then defense atty. started questioning each of us about how many and what types of firearms we owned. When I answered, smart-aleck next to me said "no wonder he's hard of hearing." Bailiff gave me an iPod On Steroids with a headset and some techno-geek set up a transmitter on the bench. Trouble was, I would hear too much -- papers rustling and computer keys clicking on the bench. It was distracting. After a break, told the bailiff I didn't want to wear the rig. No problem, he said. BIG PROBLEM! After the defense questioned us and we went outside. I was called back in -- alone. "Mr. Z3, why did you take off the headphones?", judge asked. Answered honestly, but he wasn't pleased. I wasn't selected as a juror and several people said I was lucky not to be cited for contempt.

 

Contempt for that?

 

I am reporrting live from the jury box, where I am hoping to be weeded out during the voir dire process. If not, I am told to expect at least a five day trial for a guy accused of sexually abusing two young girls.

 

ASk if they use the electric chair or give the needle in your state....

 

"I'd be perfect to be on your jury because I can spot guilty people just like that..." - George Carlin

 

My brother was a jury member on a very high profile murder trial about twenty years ago. Lasted about five weeks.

Difference is, up here, jurors cannot talk about the trial after the fact--to anyone.

My brother still won't share anything.

 

Saw the thread title and gave this post an over/under of 6.
Sadly, I took the under.

 

"Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races." [/homer simpson]

Seriously, once they find out you're in the media, they'll probably let you out. They don't want people who pay attention to the news (local crime reports, etc.) on juries.