Jury Service - Self Employed 15 February at 3:11PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 32 replies 1.5K views

SueC_2

A friend's husband has been called for jury service.  He is self-employed and earns considerably more than the £64.95 per day that he can claim for loss of earnings, which will leave him and his family in a difficult situation - particularly as the work he does is project-based and an absence of a week or two (or more) will not only affect the job that he is working on, but also his attractiveness for future contracts.  

It doesn't appear that there is anything he can do about this, but I just thought I'd post it here in case anyone has any advice on how he can handle this to either avoid jury service altogether or minimise his losses.  Thanks in advance.

DullGreyGuy

Check any Legal Expenses insurance he or his business have (eg on their Home insurance), better quality ones will pay the gap between what the jury service pays and his loss of income. 

If he doesnt have any LE cover then just has to suck it up and perform their civic duty. Most called for jury service end up with very little time off work as cases are abandoned etc. 

If you believe the movies and there is a process of eliminating inappropriate juriers they could always express strong racist/homophobic etc views to be eleminated... just make sure he isnt spotted with his husband after else it could be contempt.  

pramsay13

As much as I think people in society have a duty to perform jury duty when requested I also think that the remuneration offered for self-employed people is woeful so I won't be taking part until my circumstances change.
Your friend needs to respond asking that it is deferred and that him taking time off from his self-employment will have an adverse effect on his personal finances and indeed on his business. 

SueC_2

DullGreyGuy said:

If you believe the movies and there is a process of eliminating inappropriate juriers they could always express strong racist/homophobic etc views to be eleminated... just make sure he isnt spotted with his husband after else it could be contempt.  

That's hilarious! 
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

MalMonroe

SueC_2 said:

A friend's husband has been called for jury service.  He is self-employed and earns considerably more than the £64.95 per day that he can claim for loss of earnings, which will leave him and his family in a difficult situation - particularly as the work he does is project-based and an absence of a week or two (or more) will not only affect the job that he is working on, but also his attractiveness for future contracts.  

It doesn't appear that there is anything he can do about this, but I just thought I'd post it here in case anyone has any advice on how he can handle this to either avoid jury service altogether or minimise his losses.  Thanks in advance.

Ask your friend's husband to read the info in this link -

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/delaying-or-being-excused-from-jury-service#:~:text=If it's not possible for,you from doing jury service

There should be contact details on the letter he's been sent. All he has to do is say what you have said above.

MalMonroe

DullGreyGuy said:

Check any Legal Expenses insurance he or his business have (eg on their Home insurance), better quality ones will pay the gap between what the jury service pays and his loss of income. 

If he doesnt have any LE cover then just has to suck it up and perform their civic duty. Most called for jury service end up with very little time off work as cases are abandoned etc. 

If you believe the movies and there is a process of eliminating inappropriate juriers they could always express strong racist/homophobic etc views to be eleminated... just make sure he isnt spotted with his husband after else it could be contempt.  

All he has to do is phone the Clerk of the Court. No need for any jiggery pokery!

Also, thank you so much for the laugh. 

I've recently watched The Runaway Jury - now that IS a load of nonsense. But I enjoyed it all the same, old as it is. 

Mands

MalMonroe said:

SueC_2 said:

A friend's husband has been called for jury service.  He is self-employed and earns considerably more than the £64.95 per day that he can claim for loss of earnings, which will leave him and his family in a difficult situation - particularly as the work he does is project-based and an absence of a week or two (or more) will not only affect the job that he is working on, but also his attractiveness for future contracts.  

It doesn't appear that there is anything he can do about this, but I just thought I'd post it here in case anyone has any advice on how he can handle this to either avoid jury service altogether or minimise his losses.  Thanks in advance.

Ask your friend's husband to read the info in this link -

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/delaying-or-being-excused-from-jury-service#:~:text=If it's not possible for,you from doing jury service

There should be contact details on the letter he's been sent. All he has to do is say what you have said above.

The link you posted says there are very specific circumstances in which one may be excused.  They are:

If it’s not possible for you to do jury service in the next 12 months, you can ask to be excused. You’ll only be allowed to do this in exceptional circumstances, for example:

• you have a serious illness or disability that prevents you from doing jury service
• you’re a full time carer of someone with an illness or disability
• you’re a new parent and will not be able to serve at any other time in the next 12 months

None of those apply here. There is no exemption for it being financially inconvenient.

Andy_L

pramsay13 said:

As much as I think people in society have a duty to perform jury duty when requested I also think that the remuneration offered for self-employed people is woeful so I won't be taking part until my circumstances change.
Your friend needs to respond asking that it is deferred and that him taking time off from his self-employment will have an adverse effect on his personal finances and indeed on his business. 

Its not great for the employed either - there's no obligation on an employer to keep paying an employee while they're on jury service

elsien

SueC_2 said:

A friend's husband has been called for jury service.  He is self-employed and earns considerably more than the £64.95 per day that he can claim for loss of earnings, which will leave him and his family in a difficult situation - particularly as the work he does is project-based and an absence of a week or two (or more) will not only affect the job that he is working on, but also his attractiveness for future contracts.  

It doesn't appear that there is anything he can do about this, but I just thought I'd post it here in case anyone has any advice on how he can handle this to either avoid jury service altogether or minimise his losses.  Thanks in advance.

I can see perfectly well he doesn’t want to be out of pocket. But I don’t think it would affect his attractiveness for future projects because it’s a one off, any self-employed contractor could potentially be in the same situation and it is out of his control. 

He could ask for it to be deferred if there is a particularly bad time, but that is just kicking the can further down the line. There is a not currently with us poster who has said they’ve managed to get out of all their jury service requests, but you do have to take what they say with a very large pinch of salt. 

But nothing ventured nothing gained if he does want to try and argue the toss with them.

Savvy_Sue

And I'd think carefully about deferment. DS2 was summonsed here soon after he'd moved out. He contacted the court and was deferred, but had to give his new address. He was summonsed there very soon after.

So you may not be kicking the can very far down the road, and things may not be much better then, if at all.

Is the nature of his work such that he couldn't do any catching up in the late afternoon / evening? 

Marvel1

Mands said:

MalMonroe said:

SueC_2 said:

A friend's husband has been called for jury service.  He is self-employed and earns considerably more than the £64.95 per day that he can claim for loss of earnings, which will leave him and his family in a difficult situation - particularly as the work he does is project-based and an absence of a week or two (or more) will not only affect the job that he is working on, but also his attractiveness for future contracts.  

It doesn't appear that there is anything he can do about this, but I just thought I'd post it here in case anyone has any advice on how he can handle this to either avoid jury service altogether or minimise his losses.  Thanks in advance.

Ask your friend's husband to read the info in this link -

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/delaying-or-being-excused-from-jury-service#:~:text=If it's not possible for,you from doing jury service

There should be contact details on the letter he's been sent. All he has to do is say what you have said above.

The link you posted says there are very specific circumstances in which one may be excused.  They are:

If it’s not possible for you to do jury service in the next 12 months, you can ask to be excused. You’ll only be allowed to do this in exceptional circumstances, for example:

• you have a serious illness or disability that prevents you from doing jury service
• you’re a full time carer of someone with an illness or disability
• you’re a new parent and will not be able to serve at any other time in the next 12 months

None of those apply here. There is no exemption for it being financially inconvenient.

Not true, i had jury service onnyhr dates I had annual leave.  I said I was going to book a last minute holiday but happy to do another date (I wasn't planning on booking anything, but wasn't willing to waste my leave on jury duty).

Got deferred and weeks later a new date given and attended.