jury service

surreysaver

If a manager is refusing to let him attend jury service, then the manager is committing contempt of court.

dshart

I do not know the full details, but there are some situations where the manager may be correct.

From what the OP has said I assume her husband probably works in the offshore oil & gas industry on a 3 weeks on 3 weeks off rota. If this is the case then depending on their job function there are some positions that always require someone in place and so the person departing cannot leave till their replacement arrives.

Other similar cases are onboard ships where the Master is breaking the law if he knowingly lets the vessel go below the safe manning certificate for the vessel.

I do not know how the jury service would view this situation.

globetraveller

I am assuming that he works offshore as my OH does. When we book any holidays ( for his planned time off in his rota) he immediately informs HR. This might be something he should consider in the future. Also, who was to know how long any jury duty would be for? It would have been courtesy anyway to inform HR.
His manager can't take decisions as he has and he potentially put your OH in a serious position. I think he should take this up with HR so that it doesn't happen in future. On saying that, your OH did have information in his jury call up which told him what to do if there were any problems.

dshart

globetraveller wrote: »

I am assuming that he works offshore as my OH does. When we book any holidays ( for his planned time off in his rota) he immediately informs HR. This might be something he should consider in the future. Also, who was to know how long any jury duty would be for? It would have been courtesy anyway to inform HR.
His manager can't take decisions as he has and he potentially put your OH in a serious position. I think he should take this up with HR so that it doesn't happen in future. On saying that, your OH did have information in his jury call up which told him what to do if there were any problems.

That is well and good but there are still unforeseen circumstances where a relief cannot make it out for various reasons and although the best efforts are made to work around it there are still some cases where there is no option but to keep the person onboard.

globetraveller

dshart wrote: »

That is well and good but there are still unforeseen circumstances where a relief cannot make it out for various reasons and although the best efforts are made to work around it there are still some cases where there is no option but to keep the person onboard.

Yes, but even if that were the case, then a company worth its salt should know that you can't expect an employee to turn up two days late with a letter. This was also a matter for HR and not his immediate manager to decide upon. And her OH should also take some blame as he has a phone number given in his jury service paperwork to phone if something arises.

his_wife

husband is now home, and after getting home albeit four days late,, due to adverse weather , yes he does work offshore. He has informed me, that his manager was informed of his jury service, and so was hr. Apparently , the manager in question was not my husbands immediate manager, he was a manager of a different dept.

Globe trotter, yes we have a telephone number for the jury service, however, it was a moment of panic, as my husband was actually getting ready to leave rig, when manager stopped him, otherwise he would of phoned jury service.

He will be informing hr, monday morning, of fridays events, as the manager, instantly dismissed my husbands reason for having to be home. where he works, there is no flying on a wk end, unless its a family emergency!!

As it transpires my husbands back to back, was there before my husband had even left the platform.

I think it was a manager thinking he is a bigger fish than the law.

Thank you everyone for your input and help

globetraveller

I can understand the panic of the moment.
At least he is home now:)