renesauz
IBL Representative
So I get a knock on the door on December 29th. It's the local sheriff office, delivering a summons to me for jury duty for the "period of January 2015". I'm supposed to report on January 9th, and apparently will be "on call" for the rest of the month. Note that I received nothing prior to December 29th, even though the notice has a date of December 5th, and another stamp on December 24th.
Now, I work nights as a Registered Nurse in an Intensive Care Unit. When I work, I leave home at 6 PM and get back home at 8 AM. When I call out, it must be before 5 PM. I've talked to folks nearby that have done jury duty in my town, and have been told that they had to call in at 530 to find out if they had to report the following day. In other words, I would be completely unable to work during this period. My job does pay my base wages while in jury duty (actually, they pay the difference between whatever paltry amount the city pays and my base wages), but I will lose my differentials, which is almost $5 an hour weekdays, and over $7 on the weekends. IE: I'd lose a minimum of $500 over the three weeks of jury duty.
Losing that income is bad, but worse is that my personal life is in a near crises. My (likely soon to be X) girlfriend got hooked on drugs this year, and spent the entire month of November in rehab. We've lived together for 6 years and she had been in full control of our finances for the entire time. If she can't stay clean, I'll need to move out with my 3 kids and find a new home (her dad owns this one.) Early signs indicate that despite her best efforts, she's struggling. When I took over the finances in late October, every utility had a cutoff notice and both her and my bank accounts were well into "overdraft protection". Working an extra shift 3 out of 4 pay periods, I'm almost caught back up now, but between that and Christmas, have no savings. Jury duty would preclude the opportunity for overtime. I would have worked at least one extra shft during this period, and quite likely 2. A single shift is another $375 lost.
I'm a registered voter, a 12 year Navy Vet, and I take pride in my service. Ducking jury duty is not something I really would want to do, but 11 days notice and a loss of over $800 total in income at a time when I'm already tight seems more than a little bit unreasonable. I know judges are slow to excuse nurses in hospitals for work reasons because hospitals generally can find coverage (although it's more challenging to do so in an ICU, making it a lousy deal for my co-workers too.)
Thoughts? Advice?
Now, I work nights as a Registered Nurse in an Intensive Care Unit. When I work, I leave home at 6 PM and get back home at 8 AM. When I call out, it must be before 5 PM. I've talked to folks nearby that have done jury duty in my town, and have been told that they had to call in at 530 to find out if they had to report the following day. In other words, I would be completely unable to work during this period. My job does pay my base wages while in jury duty (actually, they pay the difference between whatever paltry amount the city pays and my base wages), but I will lose my differentials, which is almost $5 an hour weekdays, and over $7 on the weekends. IE: I'd lose a minimum of $500 over the three weeks of jury duty.
Losing that income is bad, but worse is that my personal life is in a near crises. My (likely soon to be X) girlfriend got hooked on drugs this year, and spent the entire month of November in rehab. We've lived together for 6 years and she had been in full control of our finances for the entire time. If she can't stay clean, I'll need to move out with my 3 kids and find a new home (her dad owns this one.) Early signs indicate that despite her best efforts, she's struggling. When I took over the finances in late October, every utility had a cutoff notice and both her and my bank accounts were well into "overdraft protection". Working an extra shift 3 out of 4 pay periods, I'm almost caught back up now, but between that and Christmas, have no savings. Jury duty would preclude the opportunity for overtime. I would have worked at least one extra shft during this period, and quite likely 2. A single shift is another $375 lost.
I'm a registered voter, a 12 year Navy Vet, and I take pride in my service. Ducking jury duty is not something I really would want to do, but 11 days notice and a loss of over $800 total in income at a time when I'm already tight seems more than a little bit unreasonable. I know judges are slow to excuse nurses in hospitals for work reasons because hospitals generally can find coverage (although it's more challenging to do so in an ICU, making it a lousy deal for my co-workers too.)
Thoughts? Advice?
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It seriously sucks.
