| For our jury system to work, it is essential that
the Courts and employers work in partnership to ensure that all Amador
County residents are available to serve jury duty when summoned.
Without cooperation from the local business community, we risk losing
a fundamental principle upon which we, private and corporate citizens
alike, depend. Cooperation from employers is essential to maintaining
a strong jury system. The importance of your participation cannot
be emphasized enough.
We wish to extend our deepest appreciation to public and private
employers in the Amador community for supporting our jury system!
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Benefits to Business
Businesses frequently benefit directly from our legal system.
The civil litigation system in particular is filled with a variety
of business-related disputes. These may include actions concerning
contracts, product defects, wrongful termination, malpractice, and
environmental issues.
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How Employers Can Help
Employers and businesses are encouraged to help support the jury
system by paying employees while they are serving jury duty.
Many people cannot afford to serve if they will lose their salaries
or wages. Far too many potential jurors have asked to be excused
because the loss of income would create a financial hardship.
Together, we can decrease the number of people claiming financial
hardship, we create a much broader cross section of society available
to serve. This will help create juries that are truly representative
and reflective of our community. By agreeing to compensate
employees during jury service, not only will employers continue
to enjoy the benefits of the jury system, but they will contribute
towards its improvement.
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How Jurors are Summoned
The selection and management of jurors is governed by the California
Code of Civil Procedure. Juror's names are selected at random
from lists of registered voters and persons who have valid California
drivers licenses or identification cards issued by the Department
of Motor Vehicles. The two lists are combined to create one
Master Jury List. Summonses are mail approximately two weeks
prior to the service date. The summons contains information
and instructions on how to have jury service postponed; how to request
to be excused from jury service; or how to notify the court of disqualification
from jury service.
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Length of Service
While employers have valid concerns about how jury service affects
their available resources, it is important to know the steps that
have been taken to reduce the length of service for jury duty.
If a juror is selected to serve on a trial as a sworn juror, their
term of service will be the length of that trial. Trials vary
in length, but generally last one to three days.
Under the One Trial/One Day system, if a juror is not selected
to serve on a trial by the end of their first day at the courthouse,
and the judge has not ordered the juror to return for another day
of jury selection, the juror has completed jury service. Approximately
80% of our prospective jurors complete their service in one day.
The implementation of one trial/one day jury service has helped
reduce the uncertainty of when employees can return to work.
The majority of employees will return to work within one to two
days after reporting for jury service.
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Pay Policy
State Law does not currently require employers to continue paying
the salary of employees while they are serving as jurors.
However, many employers including state, federal, and local government
agencies, have a policy which compensates employees for at least
part, if not all the time spend for jury service.
If employers do pay, they have the right to require employees to
remit to them the fees received for jury service. Prospective
jurors are paid the amount mandated by the State Legislature, $15.00
per day beginning with the second and subsequent day. Mileage
is reimbursed at 34 cents per mile one way from your home to the
courthouse, beginning with the first day. Report to the jury
office immediately upon release from court to receive mileage reimbursement.
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Proof of Attendance
It is the responsibility of the juror to report to the jury office
immediately upon release from Court to receive proof of attendance.
A juror work certificate will be printed upon request. It
is the responsibility of each juror to request appropriate documentation
for his/her employer.
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Employee Protection
As the employer, you must allow an employee time off to serve on
a jury. The California
Labor Code, section 230 outlaws any employer from firing or
harassing an employee who is summoned to court for jury service.
The California Education
Code sections 44037 and 87036
protect teachers and students as well. Employers can also
be prosecuted criminally and face a misdemeanor charge if found
guilty. |
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