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!
It seems, OP, realistically your options are to suck it up and work your scheduled weekend days, call in sick those days, or switch with a coworker for days that fall during the week while you are at jury duty.
Good luck.
If OP worked a Monday to Friday full time job, there would be no question of having to work while on jury duty. So just because OP has a full time job that includes shifts, this means that weekends would still have to be worked? That's ridiculous.
If OP worked a Monday to Friday full time job, there would be no question of having to work while on jury duty. So just because OP has a full time job that includes shifts, this means that weekends would still have to be worked? That's ridiculous.
Doesn't mean a judge will honor an exemption letter...
Agree. Judge will be real careful to not carve out easy exemptions that every manager would then be able to manipulate to keep employees from doing their civic duty.
He / she will not allow others to dictate who will be excused. Otherwise, the legal system would be bogged down even more than it already is... which would subject the judge to huge negative criticism.
If the Op works scheduled 8 hr shifts /5 days a week and 2 of those days are the week-end why shouldn't she be expected to work the week-end. Just because she was in the courtroom 5 days doesn't exclude her for working a scheduled week-end Being on a jury is not a "job" as many posters alluded to. A juror sits in a chair and listens... they are not doing any labor. Again as a juror you are not "working" . Sure your not doing what you may like to be doing on your days off but as mentioned it is only for 3 weeks and your civic duty. If you are a 12 hour employee and 2 of your 3 days are the week-end then absolutelty you are expected to work. Now if you are a night shift employee and had to work Sun night then you would need to be excused from work Sunday night so you could attend jury Monday morning.....if you worked Friday noc and Sat noc you would be expected to work even if you were in court all day friday. My hospital excuses you on the days you have to serve only. The hospital pays your wage for the day . If the employee missed all their scheduled shifts during the week our employeer can not make the employee pick up other days during the week such as the week-end they can only make them work if they were scheduled the week-end.
A juror sits in a chair and listens... they are not doing any labor. Again as a juror you are not "working".
I think the Federal judge involved with this case would take a huge issue with this statement. The jury is not just sitting and listening, they are taking notes, observing, staying engaged. And when they are done "sitting" then they get in a room and really hash things out, similarly to what is done during many committee meetings. I know we are not going to pass judgement based on how much physical labor is done right? If so, then I'm not about to work for 36 hours this next weekend, not compared to what the gardners I hired this week did.
Specializes in med-surg, home health, dialysis, NICU-MB.
If the Op works scheduled 8 hr shifts /5 days a week and 2 of those days are the week-end why shouldn't she be expected to work the week-end. Just because she was in the courtroom 5 days doesn't exclude her for working a scheduled week-end Being on a jury is not a "job" as many posters alluded to. A juror sits in a chair and listens... they are not doing any labor. Again as a juror you are not "working" . Sure your not doing what you may like to be doing on your days off but as mentioned it is only for 3 weeks and your civic duty. If you are a 12 hour employee and 2 of your 3 days are the week-end then absolutelty you are expected to work. Now if you are a night shift employee and had to work Sun night then you would need to be excused from work Sunday night so you could attend jury Monday morning.....if you worked Friday noc and Sat noc you would be expected to work even if you were in court all day friday. My hospital excuses you on the days you have to serve only. The hospital pays your wage for the day . If the employee missed all their scheduled shifts during the week our employeer can not make the employee pick up other days during the week such as the week-end they can only make them work if they were scheduled the week-end.
By the way we are Unionized.
So snuggles...is it your contention that someone who has a desk job and gets to sit for most of their day is never really doing any work??? Do you know anything about mental fatigue?
For as much as I'm finding that my tour of jury duty is interesting, I've been feeling somewhat fatigued and stressed at the end of each day. There's a tremendous amount of testimony to listen to, and some of it is rather complex. The decision that myself and my fellow jurors will ultimately have to make is going to have a lasting impact of the lives of not one, but several other citizens. Please believe me when I say that although I'm sitting for a good part of the day....this is work!
Specializes in med-surg, home health, dialysis, NICU-MB.
Update: One of our HR specialists left me a message today and said that I am responsible for working on weekends, but she didn't get into any specifics. Fortunately, I'm not scheduled to work at all on this weekend, and I'm going to have to speak with my manager to work out the particulars of my hours for upcoming weekends.
I work 7p - 7a.....so I'd be able to handle working Saturday night,,,but I don't think it would be fair nor safe to ask me to work 7p - 7a on a Friday, nor Sunday since I'm at the courthouse all day Friday, and then again bright and early on Monday.
The good news is that I'm going to be paid from the hospital during the time I'm on jury duty which I'm grateful for. Whether or not I'm going to get any OT for when I work Saturdays remains to be seen.
When I had federal duty the court clerk was up in arms over my not getting accommodated as needed. I didn't realize you were talking about night shift! In all seriousness, tell the court clerk (not the judge, its the clerk's job to take anything to the judge that might need a signature); being asked to work a 12 hour night on the same day as duty, or the night leading into a day of duty will definitely have an impact on your abilities. The clerk will definitely be on your side.
Been there,done that, ASN, RN
7,241 Posts
You're missing the point .
OP does now want an exemption.
She wants her employer to treat her like a human being instead of a work mule.