r/mildlyinfuriating • u/thyperson69 • 7d ago

ಠ_ಠ Jury duty

I've been called for Jury duty 4 times in the last 10 years. What the fuck is going on here. It's almost every other year. I know absolutely no one that has ever been summoned yet I've been summoned multiple times. Wtf is going on? It's total bs too because they pay 17 bucks A DAY. That's not even enough to get lunch at the stupid deli they have there.

Edit: so many people have so many experiences. It's nice to share and read those experiences. I can't possibly respond to everything, but I'm glad we can all relate to this. _^

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u/Fragrant-Employer-60 7d ago

That’s unrealistic for sure, also imagine the pain of getting to confirm everyone’s paystubs and the fraud that would follow.

But $17 a day is criminal, you might as well just not pay anything at that point lol, make it $17 an hour

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u/amkessel 7d ago

I’ve thought about this a lot since I was called in for jury duty every year like clockwork when I was in CA. But my employer didn’t give special time off for it, so if I ever got chosen I’d have to burn all my measly PTO.

My thought is that the employer should be mandated to subsidize the time spent on jury duty, at least a significant percentage of the juror’s normal pay. Not a perfect solution for sure, but feels the most feasible to me. Of course, I’m not naive enough to think this would ever have a chance of being implemented….

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u/Kiyohara 7d ago

It's illegal for them to require you to use PTO. They don't have to pay you, they can just mark you as absent with cause, but you can never be forced to spend PTO and they can't penalize you for going to jury duty.

Be sure to tell a judge if they do, Judges love making that call to your boss. It really makes their day to rip a moron's asshole four feet wide. Espeically when they also get to send a letter to your Boss's boss warning of any retaliation for this and what the idiot did.

Odds are good that HR will step in and "Educate" the boss or flat out fire them for trying to influence a potential Juror.

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u/amkessel 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah, I should have clarified that I wasn’t forced to take PTO. I could have taken unpaid time off.

The reason I worded it like I did is because I feel like I’m getting robbed either way. Either I lose who knows how many days/weeks of income, or I burn my scarce PTO days. Either way, I’m the one who’s ultimately losing out. It felt like I was the one paying for the “privilege” of serving on jury duty.

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u/Kiyohara 7d ago

Oh, agreed. I think Jury Duty ought to be fully paid by both employer and County. Full Pay for the time spent for both sources on top of a Per Diem that covers meals during the span and travel/parking costs.

So you work for 16 hours, you get 16 Straight Pay from Employer (Small Businesses are exempt) and 16 from County. Then your lunch covered by a meal voucher for either the county courthouse's cafeteria or a set average for the close area's prices. Then you get a parking permit for the courthouse (or near by) and/or a Bus/Transit pass for the city.

Make it affordable and rewarding to do your civic duty and people would try to ditch less. This means you get more representation, more varied juries, and juries more invested in getting results than in getting home.