(Good morning, and welcome to Rerun Monday. It’s a close cousin of Throwback Thursday. I’m running this post again because I am due at the Nesbett Courthouse at 8 a.m. today. Jury duty yet again. Last time I was called in Anchorage I did get seated, but the case was settled just as we were about to head to the courtroom. Here’s hoping that happens again: Civic duty aside, freelancers really don’t like missing work.)
Everyone complains about the boredom and the bad coffee. But have you ever thought about the potential hit to your finances?
The folks over at NerdWallet (I do love that name) sure have. According to “The cost of jury duty,” some 32 million people are called each year. Only about one-eighth of those actually serve – and those who do may wind up in the hole.
The article notes that in five major cities – Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle – jurors earning minimum wage will lose anywhere from about $16 to $78 per day. That’s because companies generally have the option of not paying employees for days spent on jury duty.
Obviously lots of folks who get called are making more than minimum wage. If that’s the case they might have the financial resources to withstand the hit. But maybe they don’t, especially if they live in high cost-of-living areas or are the only people in their households who work.
Bonus: Imagine earning, say, $25 an hour ($200 gross) and seeing your income drop down to as little as $10 a day, which is what Seattle jurors earn. Ask me how I know.
Back in 2010 a jury summons landed in my North Seattle mailbox. (I was startled to read in the NerdWallet post that $10 a day is still the juror pay rate.) As a single, self-supporting freelance writer I naturally asked to be released.
Wound up in the pool anyway and spent parts of two days at the King County Courthouse, trying not to stress-eat and listening to other potential jurors’ sad stories. My (least) favorite was the freelance personal trainer who stood to lose not just pay but maybe even clients if she had to cancel appointments during a long trial. Yikes.
Fact is, nine out of 10 criminal cases never go to trial and those that do last an average of five days. Civil trials last about four days. But there’s always the exception.
Not willing, but ready for jury duty
Fortunately I didn’t have to serve, possibly because I’d been injured in a car accident in the past – the case in question was “lost income and enjoyment of life” after a vehicle crash. It may also have been because I was writing for MSN Money and the accident victim worked in securities.
Or maybe it was just that the other guy’s lawyer didn’t like my mom-face, the mug that seems to make strangers believe that I’m nurturing and understanding and trustworthy. “You look like you’re ready to acquit,” a friend told me at the time.
Until actually told I could go home, however, I was extremely nervous. Suppose I got chosen for an exceptionally long trial? While I could write at night, what about the interviews I’d need to conduct – especially those involving government agencies or other 9-to-5 places?
On the bright side, I knew I had enough of an emergency fund to tide myself over if the MSN gig got pulled out from under me during my brush with civic duty.
That’s why, once again, I’d like to exhort readers to build up their own financial buffers. If you were to lose a few days’ pay, would you be able to cope?
Hope for the best, prepare for the rest
Back in the late 1980s I did serve on a jury, for a purse-snatching case.* I was lucky because the newspaper at which I worked did pay during jury duty. Otherwise I would have lost two days’ pay, one during the selection process and one for the trial.
Would that have broken us financially? No, because we had two full-time incomes.
Would I have been happy to lose two days’ pay? Of course not. Who would?
So please add “jury duty” to your list of Oh-Shit Moments, along with stuff like hundred-year storms and flash floods, car trouble, lengthy illness and the ex who stops paying child support. Since the future is unpredictable, please pad that financial cushion. (If this seems hard or even impossible, see “Trick yourself into saving money.”)
If you’re lucky nothing will ever go wrong and you’ll just keep adding to your EF rather than taking money out. Yay! Unlikely.
Jury duty is a particularly frustrating use for your emergency fund, i.e., it feels like being penalized for doing what the law requires. It’ll burn like a Florida noon to see your painstakingly squirreled-away dollars disappear because your boss doesn’t want to pay you (or has to hire a temp to cover your non-jury duties). But it beats having to charge the groceries that month because your paycheck lost weight.
*Even though I had the same face back then, I didn’t vote to acquit. The snatchee was clearly guilty.
Related reading:
- Frugal-hacking my way through a month without pay
- A simple way to save $159k
- Does frugality have to hurt?
- Be yourself, and save
When I worked for the federal government, we turned the jury duty pay over to them and received our regular pay. Now I’d be SOL.
If I recall correctly, the jury money I earned was subtracted from the following pay period.
In the NerdWallet article, a woman successfully postponed jury duty because she was on unemployment, i.e., to collect it she had to be available to work. Unfortunately, the job she eventually got did not pay her when she was re-called as a juror. Jeez….
actually was scheduled for jury duty tomorrow – I just called to check in and was excused. woo hoo! in my previous life, my job paid -now as a retiree (with my own small business) I would have had to lose $$. luck was on my side today.
Since the fabulous 80’s I have been called to serve 6 times. One actually was a 4 day case, assault and battery. At the time I had a full time job and a boss who did not deduct my pay so I gave the jury duty money to my Dad who gave me rides everyday. The last time was 2 years ago and everyone who lived in suburbia were really upset about the parking costs downtown, as in 25 dollars! All these years the checks are still 17 dollars and some change. The earnings really need to be raised, civic duty or not!
I live in metro Chicago and have not been called in well over 10 years. The pay was $17.50/day.
Cook County also has a 1 day or 1 trial system. My company would ONLY pay for the 1 day. if you were put on a jury it was NO pay or use your vacation days for however long the actual trial lasted.
In 2013 I was picked to serve on 2 juries within 3 weeks of each other in the last month (of 4) that I could be in the jury pool. Both week week long trials. I think the pay was $10 per day and mileage but fortunately, my company policy was to pay me my full pay and I gave them the jury check. It would have been extremely tough if the company didn’t have this policy.
Thank you for continuing the discussion about this topic, and I echo your suggestion to be financially prepared to serve. It’s unfortunate for the people facing true financial hardship, because so many others exaggerate their situation to try and get out of service that the courts generally take a pretty stern view of that excuse. One nice thing is that most courts will allow a one-time postponement for a few months, so that someone caught unawares can sort out how to afford some time away from their regular duties.
I was suppose to serve last month and called and got excused over the phone. I work in a very small office and if I am not here my work does not get done. I have 11 guys with families counting on me everyday to make sure they get a paycheck and there is money in the account to cover it! My boss supports my dedication and will write a letter every time 🙂 Plus I have always been told I am very black and white…so right is right and wrong is wrong.
Back in the 70’s, I was an alternate on a 2 week murder trial. I drove 25 miles one way, I think I got $15 for the whole thing. At that time only my hubby was working at a min. paying job. That was the last time I was on jury duty. Got called quite a few times since then, but a couple of times I had trouble with my back and had a dr. paper. A couple of times it was for hardship, and twice I was taking care of cancer patients (grandmother and mother). I hope I never get called again, as I don’t think the doctor I have now would write out a paper to get me excused for anything. Oh, and one of the times of the hardship was because we only have one car and hubby needed it for work. There is no bus running where I needed to go.
Jurors here also have to pay for parking, and there’s no reliable public transportation from many areas. Both of my sons work part time (close to 30 hrs. per week) while going to school. Obviously, they’d be out pay for days in the jury box. Plus parking. I know it’s supposed to be our civic duty, but if you’re a young adult in college, say, and your tuition alone runs upwards of $3000 per trimester… well… yeah. You’d be screwed.
I’ve never been called for jury duty. I guess that I’m weird because I’d like to do it at least once (to view the process). But my employer lets us use vacation time to cover that, so I’d be OK with no loss of pay (I lose vacation time most years because I don’t have a chance to take it all).
Thankfully, I’m in a different county from the one where the infamous Theater Shooting trial is starting up. They called 8,000 potential jurors (something like 1 in 5 of all registered voters).
I wouldn’t have wanted to be caught up in something like that-just the news reports gave me nightmares for months.
Have been called a few times. One time I remember I was single, going to college and working part time. I told them I didn’t get paid if I didn’t work and that I could not miss my classes or I wouldn’t pass and would have to pay to re-take them. They felt sorry for me and let me postpone. But then I wasn’t called back. Felt like I dodged a bullet. Whew! If someone really wants to get out of it, when you are questioned, just sound like a bigot or someone who has already made up their mind. You have to know a little bit about the case before you can do this though. They don’t want biased people. So come up with some that apply to the case.
I have a mom-mug too but I think all they would see was pure anger. I might even bring a scoop of crazy just to get out of it. LOL
My company used to pay 10 days jury duty pay and that put us on “the list.” Thus our employees got picked as often as legally possible…and we got to pay the cost of their civic duty. Because of this abuse of private industry, we cut in half the number of days we pay and are considering cutting it to 3 days. I think the trial attorneys should be forced to pay 5 to 10% of their ridiculously large awards to a fund that pays reasonable jury fees rather than having the burden be born by private industry and the everyday worker.
Great idea!
It seems like I get called every year. I always ask for an exemption because I am self-employed. No one can do my job for me when I’m gone so I could literally lose my livelihood if I quit working for a few weeks and completed jury duty.
I have been on three trials. One weapons and assault 4 days, one drugs 4 days and one malpractice 1/2 day, they settled. It’s a ‘fun’ county with city issues. Fortunately the Navy pays for civic duty. I give them my jury duty money and they give me my pay check. The county provides free parking from a far away lot and buses you in. The last time I was called, they game me a number for their phone-in system. I was on call for a week but my number in the 800’s never got called in. So I was able to get credit for service and be at work all week.
Ha! Was appointed to serve on a Grand Jury this past spring, 12 weeks, April thru June. It was an interesting experience, but the 12 weeks missing regular work stung.
Twelve weeks?!? Holy cow. My sympathies.
12 weeks???
There was a federal jury trial here in Anchorage that lasted for seven months. I felt very sorry for the jurors, especially the woman who was undergoing fertility issues and lived a plane ride away from Anchorage (no easy conjugal visits on the weekends).
Somehow, I’ve always managed to avoid jury duty. Growing up, our mailing address was a post office and postal town that was in a different county than the town in which I actually lived. And that always invalidated the jury summons. And then I was away at college and missed other summonses. And even after college I would get called for the wrong county somehow.
Long may your streak continue! Although I admit it was interesting to see how the system works.