Grand Jury Service in MD

[Anonymous]

My nanny received a juror qualification form for grand jury service in Baltimore city. If selected she must serve for 4 months. Yes, 4 months! Not days, not weeks, 4 months. The service would be May-Sept. so for the entire summer when I need care the whole day. (If it were during the school year I might be able to cobble something together). I cannot afford 16 weeks of jury duty in addition to 16 weeks of camps or daycare. How do other employers handle this? I am panicking. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

You are required by law to hold her job for her. You are not required by law to pay her. She will have to tell them that it is a financial hardship and that she is the sole employee at her work.

Apparently, she will be asked to serve for some portion of the four months (1-2 days a week, or one week on, three weeks off) IF she is selected.

[Anonymous]

Here is what the website says:
Q. What is the difference between being selected for grand jury or serving as a petit juror?

A. Grand jurors meet two days a week and serve for a period of four months. They are responsible for reviewing the testimony and evidence in a case to determine if there is sufficient information to indict or charge the accused. Petit jurors, on the other hand, determine the guilt or innocence of the defendant in criminal cases as well as determine the liability and damages of the parties in civil cases.

It also says that you can't require her to use her leave. That does not mean that you have to pay her, only that she still gets to keep her time off even after taking time off for jury duty.

[Anonymous]

Thanks - I guess I can afford to pay her upfront for her two weeks of annual leave plus two more for a total of a month off work - but I guess it depends on the actual service needed as to whether I can cover the entire 4 months. If it's only 2 days a week for 4 months I can work with that. If it's 5 days a week - I won't be able to pay her and afford temporary child care also. I'll "hold the job" in theory but in reality it is she who won't be able to live for 3 months without pay - so where does that put her? I'm a regular person, not a company that can absorb the loss. Who would hire someone who has to immediately request 4 months off? No one. She's totally stuck! So if I can't afford to pay her she just has no income until next September? Is there really no hardship exemption?

Hopefully she isn't selected.

[Anonymous]

I guess I should clarify I can afford 4 weeks if she OPTS to request her two weeks leave as a way to fund the 16 weeks - not that I would take her leave away. But in reality if she found a way to survive the whole period, there's no way I'm not going to pay her at Christmas like some Grinch. Of course she'll get more paid time off in that case. Ugh. This whole thing is upsetting. I feel so terrible for her predicament but I honestly can't afford to double pay for childcare for 16 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Please sit down immediately and talk to her, and if you can call the court and find out if there is anything you can do (like write a letter explaining why you can't pay her) that would strengthen her hardship claim, then do it.

[Anonymous]

Who pays her bills when she serves? Does the government pay the jury members?

Sry off topic.

Get a temp nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who pays her bills when she serves? Does the government pay the jury members?

Sry off topic.

Get a temp nanny.

Q. What is the reimbursement for jury duty?

A. Jurors are paid $15 per day, plus validated parking for designated County garages. If you are impaneled on a petit jury for more than five days, starting on the sixth day, your juror payment will increase to $50 per day. Maryland law does not state that your employer has to pay you while you serve as a juror; however, the court will provide you with certification of attendance.

[Anonymous]

I am thinking your Nanny will fall under the "Financial Hardship" exemption.

Just tell her to check that box on her summons & she should be okay.

If the court needs add'l information, then you can tell them that you are her boss + detail the situation more to them.

It would be highly unusual for them to not understand how something like this would be a true hardship for the both of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who pays her bills when she serves? Does the government pay the jury members?

Sry off topic.

Get a temp nanny.

Q. What is the reimbursement for jury duty?

A. Jurors are paid $15 per day, plus validated parking for designated County garages. If you are impaneled on a petit jury for more than five days, starting on the sixth day, your juror payment will increase to $50 per day. Maryland law does not state that your employer has to pay you while you serve as a juror; however, the court will provide you with certification of attendance.

Wow that is nothing. Are most jurors retirees then? Sry, I am not American I do not know much about this.

I am just wondering how you can sit there make a decision about someone's crime while you worry about your job or your finances you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who pays her bills when she serves? Does the government pay the jury members?

Sry off topic.

Get a temp nanny.

Q. What is the reimbursement for jury duty?

A. Jurors are paid $15 per day, plus validated parking for designated County garages. If you are impaneled on a petit jury for more than five days, starting on the sixth day, your juror payment will increase to $50 per day. Maryland law does not state that your employer has to pay you while you serve as a juror; however, the court will provide you with certification of attendance.

Wow that is nothing. Are most jurors retirees then? Sry, I am not American I do not know much about this.

I am just wondering how you can sit there make a decision about someone's crime while you worry about your job or your finances you know.

This is the downside to our jury system. Everyone can get called, but it is a hardship for a lot of people to serve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who pays her bills when she serves? Does the government pay the jury members?

Sry off topic.

Get a temp nanny.

Q. What is the reimbursement for jury duty?

A. Jurors are paid $15 per day, plus validated parking for designated County garages. If you are impaneled on a petit jury for more than five days, starting on the sixth day, your juror payment will increase to $50 per day. Maryland law does not state that your employer has to pay you while you serve as a juror; however, the court will provide you with certification of attendance.

Wow that is nothing. Are most jurors retirees then? Sry, I am not American I do not know much about this.

I am just wondering how you can sit there make a decision about someone's crime while you worry about your job or your finances you know.

This is the downside to our jury system. Everyone can get called, but it is a hardship for a lot of people to serve.

The worst part is that although retirees are the largest group who could afford to serve on juries, there's an automatic age exemption for anyone who is 70 or older. While I understand that age brings issues which may make jury service more difficult (difficulty hearing/seeing, infirmity, etc.), senior citizens are also the people most able to miss events they had scheduled and anyone collecting Social Security and/or a pension has an income which is not affected by not working.

[Anonymous]

Where I live (Florida), I think they send out a summons to about 500 people with the objective of culling those 500 people down to about 50 for whatever court cases they have coming up. I've received a summons a few times. Once I was excused because I had dental surgery scheduled that week. Another time I was excused because my car was in the shop so I had no way to get to the courthouse.