Jury Duty - Employer wants my court payments

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David321

485 posts

Ultimate Geek

#304521 11-May-2023 12:40

Hi all,

I have jury service coming up and my contract with my employer states I will receive full pay while doing this up to three weeks.

This thing is, when looking at my companies policy regarding this, it states I must pay back any court payments (the appearance payments which are something like $30 per day) I receive to my employer but I am eligible to keep the payment from the court for travel and childcare.

I have been told I need to show the court voucher I receive to my employer and they will deduct that from my pay.

My question is, this sounds strange, is it even a voucher they give? I had to fill my bank account details on the jury service return form so I assume I will get one lump sum payment when its all done? should I be expected to show my bank statement with this on it when I receive that payment? on top of that I am doubting it will be seperate payments for the travel, parking, and daily appearance payments, so how will they work out what they take and what I get to keep (the parking, travel and childcare) vs what they say they can take??

Thanks!

_David_

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106 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#3074988 11-May-2023 12:47

My employers policy is similar:

If the staff member continues to be paid their normal salary by the employer while on jury service or witness leave, and is not attending to their normal duties, then any fees received from the court (not including reimbursement of expenses) must be refunded to the employer. This does not apply in the event of a civil case. A staff member called to act as a witness in a civil case may elect to take annual leave, or a form of leave without pay, instead. If a staff
member elects to take annual leave for Jury Service or Witness Leave, they may retain any fees received from the court.

As to the mechanics of it all, I'm not sure. My Jury service isn't for a few weeks.

Loismustdye

927 posts

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#3074990 11-May-2023 12:54

You should get an itemised form at the end of the payments or similar, least thats what happened to me when did jury a few years back

paulgr

883 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3074999 11-May-2023 13:27

Seems a little petty, but I guess employers require proof that employees in general are doing jury duty and not using it as an excuse to get some free time off.
An employee of my brother tried this on a couple of years ago.

frankv

5680 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3075002 11-May-2023 13:30

I did jury service in November and have a similar contract to the OP. The court paid all my jury money into my bank account, and I agreed that my employer should deduct the $30/day from my next pay. Sorry, I don't recall the mechanics of it, but it was no drama to separate the travel expenses from the rest.

Scott3

3963 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3075003 11-May-2023 13:37

I understand this is pritty common.

Given the payment table is published, I doubt that providing evidence of the amount received is a big deal. But I expect the court would issue you with a payment notice with a breakdown.

https://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/jury-service/payment-and-support/

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As a side note, the Court system really needs to lift to seriously up these numbers, if they want people to be engaged with the process.

I get the payment is just a thank you, rather than a salary/wage replacement, but $31 for half a day is pretty insulting.

Mileage rate of 38c/km is less than half of the IRD's 83c Tier 1 rate.

$80/day for professional childcare is what I was paying for my under 3, back in 2018, Imagine it is really out of touch in 2023.

MikeB4

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#3075004 11-May-2023 13:41

My last employer(not our own company,this was before then) had the same policy. I never enforced this and used my discretion to just ignore the policy for my reports. Just seemed to me a hassle I didn't need to care about and it wasn't a big deal to allow my staff to gain a few dollars.

jonathan18

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#3075014 11-May-2023 14:26

While I've never had my name picked, I've obviously had to turn up for the selection process a few times; all my employers have had the same kind of policy, and I've found it easier to just not accept any payment from the courts (in my case, I live walking distance from the courthouse so had no justification or need to claim for travel expenses). This happened most recently only a couple of months back - someone from the court did email me to get my bank a/c details, but was happy with my explanation as to why I didn't/wouldn't provide them.

I'm not sure why a similar approach wouldn't (or at least shouldn't) work for jury duty proper; ideally they could still pay the additional sums (for childcare and travel), but this way there's no need for deductions by the employer...

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Handle9

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#3075022 11-May-2023 14:39

paulgr:
Seems a little petty, but I guess employers require proof that employees in general are doing jury duty and not using it as an excuse to get some free time off.
An employee of my brother tried this on a couple of years ago.

Employers aren’t required to pay you while you are on jury duty but most do. It’s pretty reasonable that you don’t profit from jury duty.

Paul1977

5039 posts

Uber Geek

#3075034 11-May-2023 15:09

jonathan18:

While I've never had my name picked, I've obviously had to turn up for the selection process a few times; all my employers have had the same kind of policy, and I've found it easier to just not accept any payment from the courts (in my case, I live walking distance from the courthouse so had no justification or need to claim for travel expenses). This happened most recently only a couple of months back - someone from the court did email me to get my bank a/c details, but was happy with my explanation as to why I didn't/wouldn't provide them.

I'm not sure why a similar approach wouldn't (or at least shouldn't) work for jury duty proper; ideally they could still pay the additional sums (for childcare and travel), but this way there's no need for deductions by the employer...

Except that you'd in effect be making your employer foot the bill for the jury fees that you've opted out of. I.e. you're making your employer pay more than they otherwise would have had to.

panther2

374 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3075056 11-May-2023 16:05

I had jury service years ago. Got normal pay but got the payment from the courts changed from me to my employer so I wasn't double dipping

Hiamie

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3075105 11-May-2023 16:23

This begs the question... what is the penalty if i were to simply ignore the summons to jury duty, and/or just not turn up?

Anyone know??

Handle9

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#3075107 11-May-2023 16:29

Hiamie: This begs the question... what is the penalty if i were to simply ignore the summons to jury duty, and/or just not turn up?

Anyone know??

Up to a $1000 fine.

IMO if you don't turn up you are not a contributing member of society and I hope you get fined. Deferrals are easy to get.

SpartanVXL

1306 posts

Uber Geek

#3075120 11-May-2023 16:55

“Deferrals are easy to get.“

Except when they’re not. There are situations where the person is living overseas and they constantly get picked despite many times contacting and having to prove they’re not living in NZ. Extra stress even for someone in NZ with a valid reason not to go to make sure not to get hit with a unnecessary fine.

Rikkitic

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#3075124 11-May-2023 17:15

Handle9:

IMO if you don't turn up you are not a contributing member of society and I hope you get fined. Deferrals are easy to get.

My age shields me but I would turn up if required to do so. I would then make clear that I am strongly opposed to the jury system in principle, which would probably disqualify me from sitting on one. The European system of expert judges instead of random amateur nose-pickers is infinitely better in my opinion.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

MikeB4

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#3075126 11-May-2023 17:20

@Rikkitic like you I disagree with the jury system. I was given a permanent exemption due to my disabilities. If called up I would voiced my opposition as well.

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