xpost from the lounge for more eyes re:Jury Duty vs. Work obligations

a friend has received a summons for Jury Duty. Unfortunately, the company we work for has scheduled him to be in Panama (the country) on the date he is to report. He has had the summons for over a month and the company knows about it and scheduled him to go anyway. The company has requested that the court reschedule his Jury Duty but no response has been received. As he has not received a pass he plans on going to serve the Jury Duty rather than skip it and face a bench warrant and fines for contempt.

He feels that he is being pressured to go to Panama and ignore the summons. I understand the fines. But, if he were to go to Jury Duty, could he be fired from work for that? If so, what would his recourse be?

OK...just a curious and not so fun situation to be in.

What say ye?

subjectProdigal

Last week I had a scheduling conflict with jury duty so called the number on the summons. It was answered by one of those machines which told me to press two if I was calling to reschedule. When a person picked up, the guy said okay we will send you another notice in 12 weeks.

fulfilling an obligation to do jury duty may, under certain circumstances, sue for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. It depends on the specific facts.

Your friend should talk to an attorney about the details of his situation. I don't know what the law is in your friend's state. I also don't know all the details of the situation. I'm just stating a general principle that applies in California and advising your friend to get more information.

he is going to have to show up for work and worry abt handling the jury duty/judge not the other way around

litigation against an employer usually pays poorly and it could be years while the litigation is underway before he is hired elsewhere and able to earn money again

jury duty can wait, he needs to show up for the job

the judge will understand unless they're really a lot crazier out there than i ever imagined

and a fax has been sent into the court requesting a reschedule...but due to the lateness of the request there is apparently no time for a proper written response. He is scheduled for Duty on WED and the trip to Panama was added to his schedule today...and thus the problem...

sP

really just call and give the summons number and ask to be rescheduled. Don't mention the previous request done in writing, just ask to be rescheduled. It really is automatic.

his company needs to contact the judge again, my judge actually wanted me to write a letter rather than a phone call so i could be excused, fine, so i wrote a letter

he should go to panama and do his job, no reasonable judge is going to fine him for not wanting to lose his job

just call them and work it out; I have found them to be quite reasonable