Called for Jury service - can't go - consequences?

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wrappo

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Hi
I have been called for Jury service at the busiest work time of year for me (not self employed) but there is no way that I can attend. From looking at the form work excuses are not entertained which I can understand and under normal circumstances I would do my duty but it's just not possible this time. I understand it is an offence not to attend and a fine applies - is that it? do I get a record??
 
I have been called for Jury service at the busiest work time of year for me
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You could look at it a different way - you are going to escape the busiest work time of year because your employer is legally obliged to release you for Jury service & still pay you :)
 
It is not true that work excuses are not acceptable. Your employer can write a letter saying that you can't be released at that time, but can be at another time.

This is not guaranteed to work, but should be your first step.
A fine will apply and you will get called back quite soon, if you ignore the letter.
 
When I attended for jury duty, names were called out from which a jury could be formed. The judge directed that anyone who did not attend for jury duty would receive a summons.

Busy or not, your boss will have to arrange work around your absence and is obliged to release you for jury duty.
 
Thanks for advise so far. Redstar, in an ideal world that would be the solution but the reality is that work can't be re-arranged and no-one else can do it either. Obviously that is ridiculous from a contingency/risk perspective for my employer but that is the way of things at the moment.
I actually received the summons by chance as it arrived at my old address that I now rent out.
 
In my experience (I was called twice) and wrote to them with my excuses and I was excused this was discussed on radio lately and nobody could identify anyone that was ever prosacuted because of not turning up for jury service. I wouldn't worry too much about it!!
 
I attended for jury service a few years ago but was not selected. There were around 250 potential jurors in attendance that day.

The judge gave a talk beforehand and said if anyone had holidays booked (as it was the summer months) they were to let him know rather than going forward as it was not possible to say how long the trial was going to last.

One juror questioned work commitments but these were not entertained by the judge who told the person that they must be released by their employers if picked to do jury service.
 
I was called up but due to having 2 kids could not attend, who would drop off and collect kids, what happened if we had to stay in hotel etc - I rang, explained, they said put it in writing and that was that.
 
Like you, I was called up at a crazy time in work, and send back a letter explaining this, and said I would be available any other time. I got back a snotty letter saying they were not interested in excuses, I rang the clerk, (in a bit of a rage) to say in the real world it not that simple. They will listen if you call them, but they get 100s of letters to say people cant make it for that reason or another. She told me to send in another letter and, she did excuse me. They can weed out the messers, but give them a call.
 
steph1 said:
I attended for jury service a few years ago but was not selected. There were around 250 potential jurors in attendance that day.

The judge gave a talk beforehand and said if anyone had holidays booked (as it was the summer months) they were to let him know rather than going forward as it was not possible to say how long the trial was going to last.

One juror questioned work commitments but these were not entertained by the judge who told the person that they must be released by their employers if picked to do jury service.
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Its way too late to be asking to be excused on the day. Your only chance is to write back, or phone as someone else says, in plenty of time with a professional attitude and proof from work that it is a time that they cannot release you.
 
Got called last year send a letter saying i was not availbale on that (which i wasn't) and they got back to may saying no problem at all, think they are used of people rejecting it to be honest.
 
A guy in work here has told me about a case where a a couple of people in a business where his mate works have been called and they simply used the "get out" where if you have a holiday abroad booked you can be excused - they went on RyanAir and booked 1 cent flights - anywhere --- hope O'leary doesnt hear of this caus he'll start a whole new advertisement campaign on it!!
 
I was called to Jury Duty and could not go due to work & upcoming holidays etc.
Work sent a letter stating so and I got a reply back saying thank you. . . you may be called at a future date - or something similar.
Also if you go dressed v smarty, more than lightly you won't be held!
 
It is highly unlikely that anything will happen if you don't turn up. If you're OCD about it your boss could probably fashion a letter to excuse you, or you could just return the form marked 'not at this address'.
 
wishbone said:
I was called up but due to having 2 kids could not attend, who would drop off and collect kids, what happened if we had to stay in hotel etc - I rang, explained, they said put it in writing and that was that.
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Hi Wishbone Thanks a million for this you have given me hope. I have just received the summons and was trying to figure out what to do for the possible 10 days that i could be called up. I have 4 kids, 2 schoolgoing and the youngest is only 3 months and as i am not working i don't have any childcare in place. If i need to go somewhere i usually rely on family and i usually only get away for a few hours. But i will definitely ring now and see if i can be excused.
 
footsteps said:
Also if you go dressed v smartly, more than likely you won't be held!
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Believe it or not, this is true. Defence counsel are permitted to object to a certain number of potential jurors. So, if you wear really conservative clothes they will think you are one of the "hang 'em and flog 'em" brigade and won't want you on the jury. It works, i did it successfully. Only thing, i had to attend for each day, was called three times and rejected each time, so went straight back to work.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by footsteps http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=588739#post588739
Also if you go dressed v smartly, more than likely you won't be held!

Believe it or not, this is true. Defence counsel are permitted to object to a certain number of potential jurors. So, if you wear really conservative clothes they will think you are one of the "hang 'em and flog 'em" brigade and won't want you on the jury. It works, i did it successfully. Only thing, i had to attend for each day, was called three times and rejected each time, so went straight back to work.
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Fully agree. Same happened when I did Jury Duty - defence objected to everyone in a suit. I purposely dressed very casually as I wanted to get picked as I thought it would be an interesting experience - it worked, I got picked.
 
I know plenty of people who habitually dress in suits or other "conservative" clothes and who were picked. Ditto for people who dressed more casually.
 
I was called a couple of years ago for June, right in the middle of my child's Junior Cert. I was pretty worried about this as my husband was going to be away at that time, also I was doing a big project for a school during the same period.

So I wrote out my sob story and the school principal also wrote a letter to say that I was doing essential work for the school that could not be done by anyone else and that the school would suffer considerable hardship by my absence.

A letter arrived soon after excusing me. I imagine if your employer wrote a note explaining the circumstances you would be excused, but personally I wouldn't just not turn up.
 
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