Were you called up for jury duty? Can you lose your job? Does your employer have to pay you for not working? Read on with Cashfloat to find out exactly what jury service means for you and what your rights are.
- What jury duty is
- How long it lasts and where it will be
- Whether or not employers have to pay their staff when they are are called up for jury duty
- If jury duty can lose you your job
- Compensation for jury servers
- How to claim money from the court
- How long it takes for you to get compensation
- Reasons for being exempt from jury service
- Conclusions
Story highlights
- You can not lose your job if you are called up for jury duty
- Compensation is available for loss of earnings and expenses
- You can only defer jury service once
Jury service
The law requires a jury of 12 people for a court of law to pass judgement on a criminal case. The government consider it a civic duty that ordinary people, who are randomly selected from the electoral registrar, are asked to perform. When a person is called up for jury duty, they receive a jury summons at home, which consists of a form you must complete and return within 7 days. Failure to complete and send the form back within the stated time period will lead to a £1,000 fine, as will failing to report for jury duty.
Length of jury service
Jury service is usually as close to your home address as possible. It is generally for a period of ten days, but can sometimes last for a longer period of time. During the length of your jury service, you may have to be on a jury for more than one trial. There are some reasons that members of the public can not serve on a jury. You will find these in the form that they get with the summons. A common reason for not being able to serve on a jury is if a person has been to prison during the last 10 years.
Do employers have to pay their staff when they are on jury duty?
It is the employer’s choice whether or not to pay their employee for attending jury service. When a person serves on a jury, they can provide a copy of the confirmation letter to their employer to prove why they will be absent from work. An employer has to allow their employee to do jury service but they have the right to ask an employee to delay their service if their absence will have a negative effect on their business.
Can you lose your job through jury duty?
If an employer refuses to give a person time off to do jury service, then the employee can complain to an employment tribunal. However, if the person were dismissed through their serving on a jury by their employer, then there would be a cause to claim an unfair dismissal. If an employer had asked an employee to delay their jury service and they had refused to ask permission, their claim for unfair dismissal could be invalid.
So what have we learned so far? |
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Compensation for Jury Service UK
When an employer does not pay a jury member’s salary during their absent days from work, the employee can claim compensation from the court. This helps them aviod worrying about monetary losses which could otherwise occur if they lose part of their salary and also helps them avoid the need for wage day advances. A juror can claim food, drink and travel or parking expenses from the court. If a jury member has to stay overnight away from home then the court is responsible for paying these expenses.
The amount of money that a juror can claim back has a limited amount. Compensation for loss of earnings includes any childcare costs that you may have to pay outside the usual hours of care. A list will all of the exact compensation amounts can be found on gov.uk.
Jury service claim form
Jurors get a jury pack when they begin jury service. This pack will include an expenses claim form. This form should be submitted with any receipts at the end of service and no longer than 12 months after jury service began. The form should include a certificate of loss of earnings completed by your employer or benefits office. The self-employed will need to provide their most recent tax return to prove their loss of earnings. Evidence of other expenses that you claim for, you’ll have to provide along with the receipts.
How long does it take to get the money back?
Once you submit the claim, it usually takes around 7 – 10 days for you to receive your money. When a court case is going on for a very long period of time the court is willing to make other, special arrangements to allow people access to money on a regular basis. Failure to do this could cause people to have to rely on UK payday loans online or other forms of high-interest short-term credit. This is turn could lead them into debt, making jury service very unfair.
Good reasons to be excused from jury service
You can only defer jury service once, and they could get permission if a person had a holiday booked, were due to have an operation or their employer does not permit them. You would have to write a letter to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau and provide proof of the reasons that you would not be available and listing dates of your availability in the 12 months after the start of your jury service. The court individually assesses other valid reasons for being excused from jury duty.
Conclusion
It is important that people do their civil duty in order to keep the justice system fair for criminals. A jury of their peers judge them as opposed to judgement from an official body alone. Jury service can cause upheavals, and many people are reluctant to do it. Compensation is available for loss of earnings and expenses. However, these amounts are difficult to prove for self-employed people so they could lose money during their period of service which may result in them requiring an online loan to help them cover their losses. There are legal reasons for some people to not serve on a jury. There are also other valid reasons that people may get an exemption or a delay in performing their service so be sure to know your rights when going on jury duty.
