OP,

I think we all hear your frustration, but it really doesn't sound like you're disproportionately burdened. Is it a pain? Yes, but once every 2 years is pretty standard. Is it frustrating to have to pay for childcare? Yes, but everyone with kids does. Those of us who work full time might want to spend more time with our kids too, but we can't afford the luxury of working part time that you had. Having to lose that luxury for 2 weeks is hard, I get it, but it sounds like you figured it out.

Did the founding fathers envision you paying out of emergency funds? Well, honestly, I don't know that the founding fathers envisioned emergency funds. Even today many people don't have emergency funds at all, and those that don't still go to jury duty.

You need to call and talk to someone. No one here has found themselves in the situation you're fearing. Every poster who has responded has said that they were able to pick a new date. So call, explain that you're pregnant and have a non refundable trip, and see if you can pick a date.

I can't speak for DC, but I was able to defer in Montgomery County to a specific date. I remember calling, rescheduling on the phone to a different date, and having no issues. I can't remember what I had going on but I remember the initial date being the worst date possible.

The one thing I do remember when I showed up for jury duty is there are no excuses ...people had sick relatives, childcare, job, etc. and really nothing was a valid excuse not to serve. You could defer, figure out whatever arrangement you needed to, and show up on the deferral date end of story.

If DC isn't willing to let you defer and you get called 2 years on the nose to serve, I would seriously consider moving. Whatever the benefits you are getting living in DC, you need to weigh this cost and decide if it's worth it.

Agree with 23:50. Don't throw in the towel without at least trying them first. Give them a chance to be reasonable.

Don't cancel until you call the jury office. They will work with you. Especially if you tell them you've served six times in the last 14 years. Let us know what happens!

Thanks PP and everyone. DH and I talked it over. We will lose the entire vacation if we wait until 5 days before we have to go to cancel, so I am going to pull the plug. We are fairly heartbroken, but I don't want to risk not being able to do it later. Additionally, I'm hoping to call the number and talk to a live person who can talk me through the deferral process. If I can defer for an actual date, then I'd try to defer for sometime when baby is 6 months old or so and I'm back at work and have had some time to build savings back up. But that would make for like a 10 month gap between being called and serving, so we can't be sure that will work. So....the vacation gets canceled and we just see what we can do to try to avoid eating up my maternity leave.

This sucks.

I can't imagine they'd make a mother with a newborn serve. Technically, you're disabled (short-term disability.. or at least that's what DW gets for our newborn for 6 weeks).

The big problem here is DC's tiny pool of eligible jurors. I live in MoCo and haven't been called to serve in many years, but in DC I was basically called every 2 years (I think that's the limit to how often they can call you). The jury system works well in other places in the area, but not in DC.

I'm sure DC realizes this (tiny juror pool) is bordering on being a big burden to many people, so I"m guessing if you give them a call to resched, they'll be flexible. Let us know how it goes, and good luck.

Anonymous wrote:If you are that poor, move out of DC!

Just kind of wondering: what's wrong with you? Well, I'd rather be me, with my finances and crappy jury duty situation, than someone like you.

- OP

If you are that poor, move out of DC!

P6, I appreciate that. But the problem is, I wouldn't know for sure until 10 days before my service was supposed to start. And I'd be needing to leave for the vacation 6 days after that. So I'd basically have very little time to cancel it if I don't cancel now. I don't have a flight, but I do have non refundable deposits in place. The trip was a gift, so we picked dates and it has already all been paid for. I will take a huge hit if we reschedule it. Basically, we'll just forfeit the trip. On the bright side I guess at least it was a gift and not my own money, but it was a special thing for our 10 year wedding anniversary and my 40th so I'm pretty damn bitter.

I've also found that they were NOT reasonable with me with my last session. I had no childcare and we were on a fixed income, with little wiggle room financially with my reduced income, and I ended up having to hire a baby sitter for almost a week.

If I were sure I could defer, what I would do is try to defer until my child was a few months old. I'd have run out of leave, and would have to take unpaid leave, but at least it would be after all of the other financial hits, and we could maybe try to build our savings back up.

the irony is that the last time we had to do jury duty, I had to dip into our emergency savings fund in order to pay finance it. is this really what our founding fathers envisioned?

This is OP. I simply would pitch a holy fit if I was required to go with a newborn. My first DC did not take a bottle so young - I cannot fathom that a nursing mom of a newborn would not be given a deferral. I wouldn't intentionally defer to a time when I expected to be a parent of a newborn, but my fear is that if I don't get to pick the date I deferred to, that I might get automatically rescheduled to an even worse time. But, if they will allow me to defer and pick a much better date, then I would try to pick times when I am not working (I don't work a set schedule). Because the bigger hardship, which probably seemed second fiddle to my title line RE vacation, is that this will require me to take leave. I don't get paid for jury duty over 1 day. So I'll have to take leave, which I don't have that much of, and that's all I have to use to get any type of maternity leave.

I think trial lawyer is wrong about jury reform. I know there are people aiming for that. I'm sorry you would not be comfortable with an all volunteer jury, but I'm fucking uncomfortable with stressing over making a choice to eat leave and get an even SHITTIER amount of time with my newborn because there is ZERO flexibility in the system. So maybe there is an alternative. I've been upset about this all day. Sick, really. It is a real burden on some jurors and people face real financial hardships doing it and the lawyers are like hey, F.U., "it's your civic duty." I'm sorry but if I'm ever on trial, I don't want a mom with leaking breasts and her mind far away with a newborn she misses to be in charge of my fate, you know? I'd much rather have the people who can do it, do it, or tighten up the way we elect and oversee judges and have a panel of judges.

Six times in about twice as many years is more than too much. I have only tried to defer once in all of those times and they were like "no." And so although I had made a very difficult decision to scale back hours to have time with my child, they took that time away from me and forced me to be a juror. I had to use personal leave, and I had to pay for a babysitter on top of it - and it's thankful that I was able to find a babysitter. And the slip I got today says no childcare is available but there used to be childcare, (no way in hell I'd leave my kid with a place I hadn't researched though) but baby had to be potty trained and he wasn't potty trained yet at that point. So I took a financial loss and the lawyers were like oh well, I guess we want her anyway, who cares about her problems. And the frivolous crap I was sitting in on added insult to injury.

If you can't tell, I've gotten angrier and more upset in the few hours I've been stewing over this. I really do hate this about DC. It's a huge, huge burden. I get called every 2 years on the nose. It's abusive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would defer for a time toward the end of you maternity leave. I have pumped during jury duty before - you'll survive.

Who do you find to watch your newborn infant for 14 days?? Wouldn't that be really expensive, a short term sitter for 14 days for a newborn? Or is her spouse supposed to take 14 days off to watch the baby?

Shit I would show up for duty eith my newborn and then explain that have no one to watch mybaby and I cant leave it home alone

DC has a childcare center for jurors, so they'd expect you to use that. Especially if you changed your jury duty to that date.

As a single self employed parent, I pay for childcare when I'm on jury duty, even though I'm not earning income during that time.

Fyi


There are not many providers willing to take a 14day old baby.

Another single mom here who couldnt find any one to wstch my newborn so I coulf go back to work right away.

This isn't about asking someone to take a 14 day old baby to childcare. It's about someone switching their jury duty to the time when they have a newborn, so that they can use the newborn as an excuse to not serve on the jury. Which is dishonest.

If someone is initially called for a jury at a time when they have a 14 day old, or if someone has a "surprise" 14 day old (e.g. you get called for when you are 7 months pregnant and have a preemie, or you get the call for an adoption a few days before you're served) then that's a different situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would defer for a time toward the end of you maternity leave. I have pumped during jury duty before - you'll survive.

Who do you find to watch your newborn infant for 14 days?? Wouldn't that be really expensive, a short term sitter for 14 days for a newborn? Or is her spouse supposed to take 14 days off to watch the baby?

Shit I would show up for duty eith my newborn and then explain that have no one to watch mybaby and I cant leave it home alone

DC has a childcare center for jurors, so they'd expect you to use that. Especially if you changed your jury duty to that date.

As a single self employed parent, I pay for childcare when I'm on jury duty, even though I'm not earning income during that time.

Fyi


There are not many providers willing to take a 14day old baby.

Another single mom here who couldnt find any one to wstch my newborn so I coulf go back to work right away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would defer for a time toward the end of you maternity leave. I have pumped during jury duty before - you'll survive.

Who do you find to watch your newborn infant for 14 days?? Wouldn't that be really expensive, a short term sitter for 14 days for a newborn? Or is her spouse supposed to take 14 days off to watch the baby?

Shit I would show up for duty eith my newborn and then explain that have no one to watch mybaby and I cant leave it home alone

DC has a childcare center for jurors, so they'd expect you to use that. Especially if you changed your jury duty to that date.

As a single self employed parent, I pay for childcare when I'm on jury duty, even though I'm not earning income during that time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would defer for a time toward the end of you maternity leave. I have pumped during jury duty before - you'll survive.

Who do you find to watch your newborn infant for 14 days?? Wouldn't that be really expensive, a short term sitter for 14 days for a newborn? Or is her spouse supposed to take 14 days off to watch the baby?

Shit I would show up for duty eith my newborn and then explain that have no one to watch mybaby and I cant leave it home alone

Defer to a time that you are super pregnant. My coworker did this and the showed up super pregnant and they let her out of it.