Jury service

Q. Our member has been summoned to do jury service. The employer is pressurising them into trying to get out of it. Where do they stand?

A. Although there is no statutory right to take time off to do jury service, your member must attend court — that is, unless they fall into one of the very few exempted categories, or are expressly excused from serving by the court.

If the employer refuses to allow the individual to take time off, it will be acting in contempt of court. Also, if the employer dismisses someone for having taken time off for jury service, the employee will be able to bring a claim for automatically unfair dismissal.

However, if the employee is involved in important work and is not easily replaced, then they should apply for their jury service to be deferred. An unreasonable refusal by them to apply for jury service to be deferred, may entitle the employer to take disciplinary action.

In terms of pay, if the employer does not pay your member while they are on jury service, they will be able to claim a daily rate from the court. For short hearings (10 days or less), this is up to around £60 for a full day (half that maximum if they spend four hours or less at the courthouse), but up to around £120 for longer hearings (even more if the jury service lasts beyond a mammoth 200 days).