Jury Duty and regular days off

Factual Questions
1

To put it quickly:

I have to report for Jury Duty tomorrow. I’ve never really done Jury Duty before. I don’t know how long I’ll have to be there - maybe just the one day, maybe weeks and weeks. You know how it goes.

The thing is, Monday is my day off. I work Tues - Sat. Sun/Mon off. Well, I have to show up for Jury Duty on my DAY OFF (grrr) but I can do it this one time. No biggie. I’ll hopefully be out of Jury Duty before the week is up. And, unfortunately, I’ll work Saturday, as scheduled. Well, grrrr…but it is just this one time. I hope.

But if I get on a jury, and the trial lasts a few weeks. Will my employers expect me to show up for Jury Duty Mon-Fri, and still work on Saturday? Can they legally expect that of me? I work for the State, by the way.

I hasten to add that where I work they are always woefully understaffed. They are always desperate for help, always asking everyone to work on their days off, and double shifts. (I rarely do. I want to still retain a life.) I’m sure if I let them, my bosses would be more than happy to have me work Sat., even after putting in all the weekdays already with Jury Duty. I have already asked my supervisor what would happen to my “weekend” if this Jury Duty thing lags on for a while, and she says she doesn’t know. But it doesn’t seem kosher to expect someone to “work” 6 days a week, and only get paid for 5. And have to show up all 6 days. I don’t think that sounds right at all. But I never know what sort of shit my supervisors might try. They have tried to schedule me for double-shifts before, without asking me first.

So, any advice, input? Surely this cannot be a unique situation.

2

I work for the state , too (probably a different one) and this situation is covered in my union contract. It says if I have to go to jury duty on a regular day off, I don’t get a different day off, so in your situation, I would have to work Sat, and it doesn’t mention any limit as to how long this can go on.If the jury was sequestered, I suppose it wouldn’t matter because you’d still officially be on jury duty on the weekends.

3

My employer, a municipality, automatically schedules you to work M-F for any time you have jury duty. However, I imagine this varies from department to department, depending upon staffing needs. Most likely it is written down in a contract somewhere.

I do know that if you serve four days of jury duty and then are asked to work two more days in the same week, I DON’T get paid overtime.

4

Thanks for the input!

I do have a union, and I am a member. If I get on a trial that lasts long than a few days (doubtful) I guess I will ask them about it.

I have also thought about using holiday time on next Saturday, if Jury Duty still continues. I have accumulated several holidays, that I never seem to be able to use. It really pisses me off that I would have to give up a weekend. What would happen if I had two weekdays as my days off? I’d be working or in Jury Duty every damned day of the week, for however long the trial lasted. That sucks!