Ah, you seemed to have missed that I have given my employees the OPTION of going to jury duty (and using their PTO time) or asking for a letter to dismiss them from jury duty, which gives far more latitude than El Kabong’s boss does.
You also missed that I can’t/won’t contest a subpeona with my letter, so I let the employee go to court, as long as there is documentation supplied by the employee before or just after the court date. I have even discussed with our county and municipal court clerks years ago if this is acceptable. It was back then, and still continues to this day. Hundreds, if not a thousand+ letters that I have written on my employees’ behalf have not been rejected…not one.
Scout remembers that I have a company with about 60 employees, some who are developmentally disabled and I am indirectly state funded which has only seen only one adjustment to inflation since I started in 1992 (and even that COLA has been eroded in cutbacks). So, this IS the economic climate that the company operates in…excuse me for not being in the Fortune 500.
Another thing…suing should always be a last resort and should not get to that point in most cases. I have yet to see a lawsuit against my company, let alone me initiating a lawsuit…wanna know why? I work things out before it gets to that point. Lawsuits involve two disagreeable parties, not one or none.
Again, I am doing it legally and with greater latitude than most employers with the economic factors that are not totally in my favor. YMMV
Now, for the flip side of the jury duty coin…what if my company did pay for jury duty service? Then I would be paying for employees who are not here. Mind you, for the state funding I am to be paid with, I am contracted to provide a certain ratio of clients:employees. If I don’t make these ratios, I end up giving money back to the state. So, as an employer…is it a wise decision to pay for someones jury duty AND return money to the state for that employee being absent that day?..(the wrong side of double-dipping, my friend)…and with frozen rates that we find more and more difficult to operate in? (hence the adverse economic climate that our company operates in)
Another anecdote of the flip side…
My son’s spanish teacher last year was on jury duty for THREE AND A HALF MONTHS…because the jury system recognizes teachers as paid employees regardless if they are in the classroom or in court. Wanna take a guess on how my son’s spanish class fared for those 3.5 months? Lost tests, homework assignments, revolving door subs, gradebook omissions and errors…if any one was planning on being valedictorian and had that class, then they got screwed…BIGTIME.
Yeah, my companies depend on my employees being at work or we cease being a company…period. I would be glad that a judge would remember my company’s name because that means it has been operating for a long period of time rather than shutting down because of costly errors. YMMV