A few week ago, I got a blue postcard in the mail. It has instructions to go to a website and answer some questions. I am a US Citizen. I live in Pierce County, WA. I am not convicted of a felony. So I was eligible. They made it formal a week and a half later with the proper jury summons. I was due in the courthouse at 7:30 am, when I’m normally off work at 7:00. Boss told me to call out for jury duty the night before, and I would be paid for it (per company policy)….
So, the day comes and I show up. There were 3 trials scheduled: 2 district court and 1 superior court. I was selected for the pool for the superior court trial. Then we went to the court room for voir dire. I actually made it to the jury box, but ultimately I wasn’t selected for the jury. I’m not commenting on the case as I wasn’t on the jury, and I didn’t hear the evidence…. Anway, I was sent home for the day after that. I was ‘on call’ for the rest of the week. But I wasn’t needed.
Now this is where it went south: I printed out an attendance report on the day when I had to report, and I gave to my (new) boss (pervious boss had retired between me receiving my summons and me reporting to court).During last week, I noticed that the jury duty pay hadn’t showed up when I thought it should, so I reminded my boss again. And then finally, I put a request in for 8 hours of my vacation time to cover the shift I missed. And then Sunday night I checked my attendance and my absence was unexcused. And I was about to be fired for it. Another conversation with a different manager cleared things up.
Now suppose I got fired over this. The company’s own policy for jury duty said my absence would be paid and excused. And I did everything on my end by the book. Maybe I should’ve let them fire me. Something the courts take a very dim view of. Like managers get arrested over. Especially when the company’s written policies explicitly say otherwise. I’ll be wondering which manager would’ve been arrested over this forever….
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