Can they force my husband to do jury duty if he is the only income in our home?

Clammy S

Hi
Unfortunately Yes and they do pay but it is nothing.
Lammy

Luis

Mandatory but the court will compensate him for it or at least they did for me.

coragryph

Yes. Mandatory jury duty is like the draft.

It's necessary for the continued functioning of the jury system.

But he can plead financial hardship to the judge and ask for either a defferment or a waiver. He may not get it, but he can ask.

Susie D

If I seem unsympathetic, it's because I am. No offense but if your husband serving on a jury puts you into complete financial ruin then you have issues that you truly need to deal with.

We have a jury system to be sure that everyone is judged fairly by a jury of their peers. It's our civic duty to serve, not whine about it.
You and your family are no more special than the thousands of other people who serve on juries every year, and lose income because of it. My husband and I got called to serve in back to back months - he got partial pay from his boss and used som vacation, but I am self-employed as an independent contractor - guess what I got? (Let's just say your hubbies $50 bucks looks GREAT compared to what I got!) Then again we refuse to live one paycheck away from financial ruin as it seems you and your husband have chosen to do - that is not anyone's problem but your own.
So I would suggest that you either go get a temp job, sell something, or just deal.

I would highly recommend that you and your husband talk about your financial situation - quite honestly I would be mortified if I had to admit I was $500 away from financial ruin.

Leogirl0804

Hey I was my only support and I had to serve. I didn't even have a back up source. Your husband needs to talk to the court and prove to them that this would be a major financial hardship.

Teekno

He can explain to the judge that having to serve on jury duty would be a undue hardship on his family, and hope the judge agrees.

Jessica S

I agree with the answers already given. If they won't release him from duty due to financial hardship, then there's no way out of it. Be glad he's at least getting the $50.00 a day from his employer. They don't have to pay you at all when you are on jury duty. When I got called to serve on jury duty, my employer didn't pay me anything and I was reimbursed $17.00 a day from the courts.

Will your husband's employer maybe let him use vacation time to cover the days he is missing for jury duty? Can't hurt to ask.

ya girl

you cant do anything about that its the law he shouldve tried to get out of it before the trial started thats the only thing i can tell you and maybe you can try to find somework to help your husband pick up the slack, anyway good luck hope everything goes well

Tom W

If he explained that the judge that way when he was being picked he might have been excused but it really sounds like you have exaggerated this. Its hell when people have to do something like civic duty isn't it? We should only have the homeless and unemployed serve on juries, or senior citizens. No wait we can because a citizen accused of a crime has the right to be judged by his peers and not people who don't have anything else to do at that time or who want to serve on juries to have fun.

lesroys

Here in the UK, salaried employees get paid their full salaries and the government compensates the employers if they have to bring in temps to cover. Usually what happens is that other employees work together to provide cover so that someone can sit on a jury.

In the past 5 years or so, we have had three employees get called for jury service and every one of them was on a murder trial which lasted for weeks. I think the longest one was 8 weeks. But we happily did their work, because we believe in the jury system, and believe that it is right that people who are intelligent enough to have good-paying jobs are intelligent enough to understand the judicial process, the evidence, and to think reasonably without letting their emotions interfere. I certainly believe that working people make the best jurors.

Someone here says they got compensated for the financial shortfall. I certainly hope there is a way for an intelligent working man like your husband to serve without suffering financial hardship. Everybody complains about how "dumb" jurors are - well, the States can do something about that by ensuring the jury pool is full of good minds.

Lucky 13

I used to live in Ventura County, CA and got a jury duty summons about twice a year. On the summons there was an option to get an excuse from based on an "extreme financial hardship." I would have to include a sworn statement stating my situation, but I would use this excuse and have no problems. If for some chance you live here, you can try this method.

jettaum97

Chances are he won't get picked anyways. Do not deliberately get disqualified though by saying something so they will not pick you. They can press charges against you for that. He can voice his concerns to the judge if he was choosen, but they may not care. If he does get picked he will have to sit. That is part of being a citizen. Most companies usually do not interrupt pay for you to sit, but they can. Trials are usually very short too. Keep that in mind. The average is about 4 days. So don't worry too much right now. You could always call your creditors and get them to work with you. Good luck.

Scouser

if you explain your situation to the mortgage provider they will give you a beak of a few weeks probley

ladywildfireok

There is really nothing he can do to get out of it, unless he does something against the judges orders and gets kicked off the jury.

My Lord

Unfortunately yes. But he should do it because it is his civic duty to do so.

buzyb

he should do something about that. however, if he is making $750.00 a week, dont you have a savings? i am a single parent, make about $700.00 every 2 weeks, and my rent is $700.00 a month, and i have food to buy, bills to pay, daycare etc....I would make sure that you guys sit down with this is done and make a savings plan so you dont have this problem. with that amount of income, you should have a savings. as far as the questions, i would have him speak to the judge and let him know what is going on and see if they can replace him. make it sound sappy, maybe they will let him off.

ed201283

He is doing his civic duty. What would happen if you got a job?

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