Can they force me to work weekends during jury duty???

[luv2dive]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Florida nurse who's employed full-time by a large hospital in the Ft. Lauderdale area. I've been called to Federal jury duty, and I've just been seated on a trial which the judge says will last for 3 weeks or longer. Naturally, I'm obligated to report to the courthouse Monday through Friday from approximately 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. throughout the course of the trial.

I informed my clinical manager about this last night and she wasn't very pleased. She also told me that if I'm scheduled to work during any weekends during my course of jury duty, that I would need to work those shifts. To me this seems outrageous and I'm feeling very exploited! Has this ever happened to anyone else? Does my employer have legal grounds to demand that I work these hours? Thanks!

[realnursealso/LPN, LPN]

Thank goodness I work in NY, every time I read something unreasonable like this, it is from a southern state. I have served on a jury and never had my work place say anything but ok.

"Federal law requires employers to allow employees leave to serve on a jury or to act as a witness in a case. In addition, the jury duty protection laws state that employers cannot harass, coerce or otherwise have a negative impact on employees for taking leave due to these duties. An employee must be able to return to a job with identical pay and benefits. Employers may require adequate notice and proof in the form of a jury summons before leave is granted. Some states allow employers to require employees to provide proof that they were called for jury duty before they take any time off work."

Read more: Jury Duty Labor Laws | eHow

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I wouldn't think they would want a juror who has been up working all night the night before court.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Unfortunately.....they can make you work....by law...on the days you are NOT scheduled for jury duty

The full-time employee

shall be excused from work by the employer during each day the employee provides jury service

, regardless of the regularly scheduled time such employee reports to work, and shall be compensated by the employer as provided for in this subsection

I'm thinking the law wasn't written to cover shift/w/e /work. If they have to pay her for all days of jury duty she will be into overtime on the w/e.

[BluegrassRN]

Why wouldn't you be expected to work your regular weekend? They are only responsible for paying you for and excusing you from the jury duty days that fall upon your work day; not the ones that fall on your days off.

I don't see the problem here.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

The reaction from the clinical manager was rather negative, and her reply was---"I always know what to say to get out of jury duty."

I love this!! I think this information needs to be presented to your court clerk to be passed along to the judge. I'm doubtful the judge could rain legal repercussions on this person, but he/she may want to summon this genius to court to clarify if it's the hospital policy to encourage employees to shirk their civic duty by getting out of jury duty.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Here's another wrench: what if the jury gets sequestered? How is she supposed to work?

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Here's another wrench: what if the jury gets sequestered? How is she supposed to work?

C'mon, they could at a minimum have a pony courrier bring her charts to audit to make sure Braden scales and fall risk assessments were charted on every inpatient at least q12h in her free time.

[luv2dive]

Why wouldn't you be expected to work your regular weekend? They are only responsible for paying you for and excusing you from the jury duty days that fall upon your work day; not the ones that fall on your days off.

I don't see the problem here.

Oh...so I guess that when they're looking for someone to work seven days at your facility Bluegrass, you're always the first one to volunteer??? Please read what I posted previously about working excessive hours. In short, we all need to pitch in and do a little extra from time to time but there's a limit to what nurses should be expected to do. Wouldn't you agree???

[luv2dive]

As an update....we had to listen to a lot of testimony today, and I didn't have the chance to call HR and have my questions answered. I get to go in just a little later tomorrow a.m., so I'm going to call HR and fire away with all my questions. I promise that I'll post an update once I have more answers. BTW...thank you for your input everyone!!! :) Robyn

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Why wouldn't you be expected to work your regular weekend? They are only responsible for paying you for and excusing you from the jury duty days that fall upon your work day; not the ones that fall on your days off.

I don't see the problem here.

Another sad sign of how weakened the labor movement in the US is.

Aside from needing rest, some people have lives to attend to outside of work. I don't think it's reasonable to expect someone to spend that much of their waking time working.

[luv2dive]

Martyrdom seems to be the norm in nursing. Why are there so many nurses that have no self-respect??? Yes, give a little extra here and there whenever you can....but know when to set the limit!!!

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

It's all about civic responsibility.

Just as citizens have a civic duty to report to jury duty, so do employers to accommodate employees who are called up.

Forcing an employee who just spent Monday thru Friday as a juror to also report to work on Saturday and Sunday is not accommodating anything.

As hiddencatRN said, it is not fair to expect anyone to work 7 days a week without a day off.

What about employees in the national guard? Should they be forced to "make up" their one weekend a month, or whatever it is?

The employer has the responsibility to accommodate employees who serve society in such ways. That's just the way it is. Employers have to put on their big-girl panties and deal with it.