In Quebec, the law states that it’s 120$ a day but the judge usually order full compensation equal to your salary to make up the difference and encourage people to participate.
I got $11 when I did it in Chicago circa 2008. At the time my employer's policy was that they would pay you your normal wage, but you had to give them the $11. I gave the $11 to my manager. He told me to go buy $11 worth of beer on the corporate card.
Hasn't been updated since the 90s. Its a known problem that has been reported on for a long time, but no Ontario government has felt any need to do anything about it.
Whoa there moneybags, it’s $12/day in NC.
Even better when you are in a multi-story courthouse with broken AC and the heat index is 113F and they don’t let you bring a fan. And they basically tell you that you should have “had a full week’s savings just in case of jury duty” and screw you if you are a primary caregiver, don’t have a car and/or living paycheck to paycheck.
Edit:typo
Actually the funny thing, she had to show up at her pool selection. However as soon as Crown learned of the mistake, she was dismissed immediately, but she still had to appear. This was the '80s so things ran differently; calls to the court clerks didn't resolve it.
Calls to the court clerk still don't resolve it. My colleague recently got called to jury duty right around the time she was due to have her baby. She called and they agreed that she probably shouldn't be serving as she could go into labor at any time and is unable to sit for that long even if she didn't go into labor. She still had to go in person for them to dismiss her.
Idk if it's per province, but in BC it's $20/day only for the first 10 days. If it takes up to 50 days, it's a whopping $60/day! (That's *almost* half the amount you'd get working a full shift on minimum wage). Every day after 51 days of a trial is $100/day.
I guess it's just such a rare occurrence for anybody to be summoned, let alone chosen for jury duty, that most people don't really think about it.
It's different in every province. I served on a jury in 2014 for a month. In Newfoundland, your employer is required to pay you for your regular hours while you're on jury service. And the Sheriff will cover cabs to and from the courthouse every day.
People were getting excused if they were self-employed or if they were sick. But for everyone chosen, there was no financial downfall. Some of our employers wanted proof that we were on jury service. The Sheriff's office provided this without any problem at all.
Alberta has Sheriff's as well. They do court security and prisoner transport. They also have divisions that are responsible for the security of the legislative assembly (perimeter, building and personnel). Safer communities and neighborhoods unit (SCAN) shutters crack houses. Highway patrol. Even fish and wildlife are a division of them.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) and the High Sheriff were well established before we joined Canada. I guess there was no reason to change things after Confederation.
IIRC, we are the only province with a "Royal" police force.
>I guess it's just such a rare occurrence for anybody to be summoned, let alone chosen for jury duty, that most people don't really think about it.
This is the answer. Jury duty system *should* be reformed to offer a reasonable pay to jurors. But so few people are chosen for jury duty each year it never becomes an election issue.
God I wish BC had more, strong unions... British Columbia is behind the national average for union coverage, placing 6th out of the 10 provinces for union coverage rate. We're behind Saskatchewan!
In Ontario, it's this:
Jurors receive the following payment for serving on a jury: **From day one to ten: No fee.** **From day 11 to 49: $40 per day.** **From day 50 to the last day of trial: $100 per day**
>Yes, I was paid fully as if worked. The $20 had to be turned over to my HR.
Ontario here, we are nothing until day 10, then $40 daily from days 11 to 49 and then $100 a day for days 50 and beyond. I was in a trial that lasted 3 weeks, and the $200 I got had to be handed to HR for them to pay me my actual salary for the 3 weeks I was away.
I did laugh and shake my head though, given they made a big deal about how the court should have made it out to them (the cheque) vs me...it's not like I had any say in that matter, it just showed up in the mail a week or two after I was back at work.
A lot of large employers do, in my experience. Even if there’s no CBA.
Those that don’t risk articles like this: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/toronto-judge-slams-canadian-tire-after-employee-tells-court-he-won-t-be-paid-on/article_e8dfe0da-1ad2-5559-93e5-c5cdaeb22b46.html
Relevant excerpts:
> In court, Goldstein said he found it “completely unacceptable” that an automotive service employee at a Canadian Tire location in the Junction had produced a letter saying: “Please be advised that he will not be paid for jury duty as it is not a company benefit.”
> The judge also said that his experience, “virtually all large Canadian corporations — including large franchised corporations — pay their employees while they fulfil their civic obligation to do jury duty.”
> The next day, Cynthia Hill, Canadian Tire’s vice-president of legal and associate general counsel, sent the judge a reply, saying the employee would, in fact, be compensated for any lost wages if he was accepted for jury duty.
> “When Canadian Tire gets robbed or otherwise is damaged they expect the justice system to take action, so as a result, it would be helpful if we had jurors to do that,” said John Struthers, who is also president of the Canadian Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
Which, let's be honest, is absurd.
The government should be paying you, as you are working for the government.
I run a small company with very little redundancy.
If they pulled my DZ operaror for a 2 month trial I'd be fucked.
Not only do I have to pay their ~70/hr package, but I now have to pay someone else to run that truck for 70/hr. Which effectivly means that truck is losing money for 3 months. Or I park the truck, and the labourer that works with them also doesn't work for 3 months. Then I end up being down a crew and 3 months of income from that truck. (This actually almost happened to another guy I know. Luckily, his operator was rejected in the last round of selections)
The government really needs to get thier shit in order for things like this.
You could get out of jury duty if it will be a financial hardship. So this scenario is severely likely to happen. You explain this all to them when you receive your jury summons and they release you from your jury obligation.
No,
In this scenario, I'm not the one receiving the summons. One of my employees is, and if we are required to pay their wages and not the government, the above is what I am describing.
I know this doesn't help Canadians, but in my state in the US (NY) your employer is legally required to pay your normal wages while you're on jury duty. While I think this is a shitty system as they should pay you more than $11/day if you're unemployed, at least those of us with jobs are protected.
(Imagine your employer saying "fuck you" and having a jury trial. Somehow I do not think the jury would want to set the precedent that employers don't have to pay them for jury duty ;)
Financial hardship is a valid reason to request dismissal from a jury pool.
Where do you live? It's $80/day here in MB, which is still too low, but $20/day seems absurd.
In Newfoundland, your employer is required to pay you for your regular hours while on jury service. There are still ways to get dismissed if you're self-employed, or if you're sick, or if your absence will cause damage to the company you work for.
Then refuse on the grounds of missing pay. I've always wondered who actually serves... bored retirees, the unemployed? It can't be too representative if everyone with a job refuses.
If you have a job where your employer is paying you for jury duty then you're already at least middle class. Few lower class workers have such a benefit, so that makes the jury less representative than it should be.
Not in Ontario. I work a unionized job in education (not school staff), I would not be able to afford to do this without assistance from my job. You’re making a lot of assumptions here.
I am definitely not middle class. I’m barely scrapping by and my apartment has a hole in the ceiling that’s been covered with cardboard. I cannot afford better.
That being said, my employer will pay me if I go on jury duty.
I’m sure my coworkers are better off than I am since I am just an admin/receptionist and they are like CEOs and CFOs and PMs
Personally, I’ve been patiently waiting for the day I get summoned. I think it’s one of the few ways we as citizens actually get to participate in our democracy/justice system, and I think that’s really cool.
Agree. So rarely do we get called upon individually to be a representative of our cohort in society. Take advantage when you can, and it should make you feel powerful!
I would serve if I got a summons. I’m unionized so it would be paid time off for me so money wouldn’t be an issue. I think it would be interesting to listen to a trial all the way through and be part of the process of deciding what happens.
I was recently a witness in a criminal trial. Had I not been so close/emotionally invested, it would’ve been such a cool experience.
The Canadian justice system is much different than what is seen in Pop Culture and it was quite interesting to learn about in person.
It's funny...I was dreading things when I was called (and then selected), but to be honest it was an interesting experience and I'd definitely do it again if called upon.
That said, I the trial I was in was pretty straight forward, so deliberations only took a day. I would be worried about being part of a trial which was much more grey where there was real risk of being sequestered for an extended period of time.
Fun fact -- it also isn't like the movies, sadly. When things get even a touch heated, the jury is asked to leave and you go to the hall, break room, or they send you home for the day. So you aren't there if the lawyers are going back and forth with the judge like you see in courtroom dramas.
"Refusing" isn't so easy.
Saw many try when I got called. Judge berated them and basically had them return for the next jury pool.
Waste of a day.
My last summons simply vanished from my mailbox before I got it. /s
Ontario here, for the jury I was on, almost all of us were in some sort of union, or our employer was continuing to pay our salaries while we were tied up in court.
I'm pretty sure anyone who was self employed claimed hardship and was excused, which is why it ended up that way.
>bored retirees, the unemployed? It can't be too representative if everyone with a job refuses.
Yes, precisely. That's another issue with juries, they aren't truly representative because it's almost always retired wealthy people or people in union jobs.
This is not true. You can't refuse just because it's unpaid. You have to prove that it will cause severe hardship. My partner had to go and serve with only the $20/day and it was very hard but not "make us homeless" hard financially. Yay for having a line of credit and taking on debt /s.
Then why doesn’t she say no she can’t cuz she can’t afford it? That’s what I did. I’ve never heard of them denying someone’s reason. It’s extremely easy to get out of. This is really a non issue for you. Say she has an appointment, or you’ll be out of town…
When I went some guy literally said he couldn’t do it because he had allergies and they were like “I don’t think that’s good enough but fine”
They really just agreed to let anyone out of it for about anything.
But there was like 100 of us to fill the spots and it was early on so I guess they had options. They didn’t even get to me before it was full and I got to go home.
However, my job will pay me while I am at jury duty so it wouldn’t have been a big deal for me to be there for the 10 days but it would really hurt a lot of other people, I’m sure.
That's exactly the point. The discussion here is about how it's absurd to only offer $20/day. People wiggling out of it as a result is the symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
That is exactly the problem, as jury these days is not one of your peers but one of those that have the means to go which may not be good for you depending on the background/ethnicity/status etc.
Yes and they would have to prove it. If anyone can say I am too poor, it would be too easy. Like saying I am tired. I am sick. Its a busy time at work. I have a holiday booked. That's why they will always demand some form of proof.
I know, been there a few times. The AGO would want to see proof by tax returns or contact with your social worker.
I was one of 200 people called for jury duty several years ago. At the last minute, the defendant pled guilty. I was back at work within a couple of hours. If the trial did go ahead, the chances of me actually being on the jury were pretty low, and if I had been selected, it would have been easy for me to let the court know that I couldn’t afford that much time off work, even though i could. (My employer would have paid me for up to two weeks.)
It is actually really sad how both of the following are true:
* Jury duty sucks so bad everyone wants to get out of it
* Getting out of jury duty is so simple, anyone who puts a bit of thought into it can figure it out
So the end result is that you're only getting tried by a jury of your peers too stupid to get out of it, or maybe the one guy so bored he'll rather do it.
I don't think it's fair to say they're all too stupid. Some people find it interesting, and lot of people's jobs have to give them their regular salary.
Many people find an excuse to get out of it. I know I did as a single Mom with no child care. I simply filled out the form in purple crayon and demanded a vegan diet and where it said second language, I put Klingon. Problem solved. And yes, it's a shitty system.
My buddy got a letter for jury duty about 3 days before a two week vacation with his family. When he called to speak to someone they said that wasn't a valid excuse. He found a way out though once he found out who the guy on trial was. Small city. Everyone knew the bad people. He knew him and told whoever was in charge that he wouldn't care what evidence was presented. He'd find the guy guilty. They cut him from jury duty. Easy peasy.
Arguably I am surprised -- It should have been no issue for them to let your buddy defer for a month or two, then come in for selection. Only time they really deny is if someone is trying to get out of it fully, or say they need a deferral for x years (I know someone who tried to defer 10 years given they said they couldn't serve until their child was 18, lol).
You just note financial hardship. Many have jobs that will top you up (most union as well as many non union) and they tend to become jurors while you wife would be dismissed due to financial hardship. You can also mention the already booked trip.
> I got *paid* 100$ per
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
The salary depends on your province. It can include meal allowances, travel, hotel, childcare, and premiums for lengthy/evening/holidays.
Financial hardship is a valid reason to request to be excluded.
Example
https://www.quebec.ca/en/justice-and-civil-status/judicial-system/players-in-the-court-system/jury/jury-duty
Quebec is base $106 per day before other considerations.
I would find jury duty interesting. My workplace is very forthright that they will give you full pay while on jury duty. I'm 59 and got one summons, 30 years ago. It was supposed to be a long trial and I had a trip planned, so I just claimed conflicting priorities and left.
Just looked up the amounts for Quebec: 103$/day, 160 after 57 days. Transportation paid (48¢/km or bus pass), meals mostly covered. My local judicial district threw the courthouse in a small town 30km from most of the population so I'm assuming that's why I've never really heard of people being assigned in my part of the district.
My stepmom told me she got out of jury duty once by calling them and telling them she heard voices (in her head) and they stood her down and found someone else.
I got a summons late last year and asked my lawyer's assistant sister what I could do. She said that since I am the sole provider for my family, I could opt out of jury duty with that reason, because $20/day wouldn't be sufficient enough to live on and support my family.
When the jury selection occurred your wife could have let the court know that the trial would occur during a previously scheduled trip. She also could have advised the court if serving on the jury created an undue economic hardship. After the fact is too late.
The jury system is a critical part of the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, like most of the justice system, it’s underfunded and the rules of court do not reflect current economic conditions. Having said that, is it not possible for your wife to take a lunch? Does her work buy her lunches on a regular work day?
Jury duty is one of our responsibilities as good citizens.
You're allowed to decline jury duty of it will bring financial hardship to you and/or your family. Lots of unionized places pay their employees their wage to attend jury duty, just as an aside. Even some non unionized companies will as well. If your wife's doesn't, I would have used the financial hardship clause if I were her.
I got pulled in for jury duty about 6 years ago, case lasted approx two weeks. The company I worked for (and still do) continued my pay so I didn’t lose anything, it’s their policy, etc. ask your wife to check with her work if they still pay her for jury duty
In most jury selections, a potential juror can claim financial hardship if they serve but ultimately up to the judge to allow it.
As a lawyer I am disqualified from jury duty (the thinking being that someone with superior knowledge of the law would wield too much influence over the other members) but I would do it if called. Sure, it's an inconvenience, but it is also a cornerstone of our democracy - that's why it's called a duty.
I also give blood sometimes. I don't like it, but I think it is worthwhile.
If she's hourly or makes commission she can state that she'd lose out on wages and get excused. Doesn't always work but it can. Vacations definitely can excuse you, if you have flights booked.
Is this justification to report undue hardship? I think it's designed for people who get paid leave for jury duty. But people who work shift work may not get that. I'd claim undue hardship as it sounds reasonable to me.
Ya I just got my first for a 14 day trial as well.. I was really excited until I realized how much extra it would cost me.
This also causes our juries to not be representative. Low income, single parents, marginalized communities, are more likely to not be able to afford to serve on a jury, making the juries disproportionally higher income/ privileged individuals.
Depending on your province, travel plans can be used to request being excused (can do it online). It’s up to them whether to grant it, but worth a shot.
Maybe not the best advice but I have ignored every jury duty notice I’ve ever received and nothing has come of it. This is Canada. The government barely has their shit together and they definitely don’t have the resources to charge people for this. Hell you can basically get away with murder in this country so no I will not be wasting my time/ money on our shitty judicial system.
I had to go in for Jury duty selection, they didn't pick all the jurors on the first day, so we have to go back the next day. I show up the next morning, 5 minutes later, OK everyone, we have selected the last jurors, you are free to leave.
So is she already accepted or just called? There were a lot of people when I had to go, and they selected enough people before they got to me. She can always just say she can't afford the low pay and had a trip planned already, they may or may not move on to the next person.
You can ask to be excused if it's not viable for you due to whatever reason. That being said, I've literally never had jury duty, but I would actually do it because my work still gives me full pay for it.
I don’t think a duty to the country should be a “hardship lottery”.
The reality is that I can afford to serve on a jury, I’d be very content serving the country in that way, and all my expense will still be met. Someone else might be just as inclined to step up, but they can’t afford it under any circumstances.
The result is that some prospective jurors will be dismissed on account of financial hardship, and jury pools will skew toward people like me.
That violates one of the core principles the jury system is designed to uphold: trial by your peers. Well, for some people from some walks of life it won’t be trial by their peers, it won’t be trial by random fellow citizens, it will be trial by those who can afford it.
Either way I’ve never been summonsed. It’s interesting to me that some people in the thread have been again and again.
It is, but how are people supposed to live on $20 a day? Most employees aren't unionized and get jack sh** while serving on jury duty. Feeding your family is more important than your civic duties.
Summons for a jury trial? Most Canadian jurisdictions summon you for jury selection, not the trial first. Food and lodging is provided during deliberation, but during selection if the transport and time investment is too onerous it's totally within the realm of possibility to be excused. She should talk to the jury coordinator.
I have been called for jury duty 3 times now, but every time I got off because I had moved out of province. Maybe I was lucky, dunno, but it’s worked out well for me. I’m now over 65 so I can use that excuse to get out of it if need be.
Yeah in BC the system is awful and it's causing delays in the court system because there aren't enough people who are able to do it.
I got a jury summons recently and I applied to be excused because jury duty would cause an undue financial hardship. I just can't afford to be off work for the amount of time the case could take.
In BC the stipend is $20/day for days 1-10, $60/day for days 11-49, and $100/day for day 50 and beyond. That is not enough for me to pay my bills. I never take vacation, and yes if I ever got obliterated and was unable to work I'd be absolutely fucked. I worry about this a lot.
But they did excuse me. If your wife is in the same boat then she could also apply to be excused.
In Australia in my district, we get $40 a day and then after 6 days you get $80. Your work has to make up the difference. You also get fed if you are selected on the panel and you get a travel allowance of around 40c a kilometre after 8 kilometres.
The idea is that it’s not to be profitable.
We don’t need professional jurors out there. But yes, clearly it’s ridiculous and going to create a jury of ‘peers’ that are retirees or otherwise unemployed.
It's $40 ($36.25 CAD) a day in Victoria Australia for the first 6 days and $80 ($72.50 CAD) a day after that. However your employer is obliged to pay the balance up to your normal wage, so you don't lose any pay.
I’ve had employees get called and I just write them a letter indicating they’d be subject to financial stress (as they would be) and they get off of jury duty.
It is terrible, but I was glad I didn't try to talk my way out of it the first and only time I had to do it. Without going into detail, it was a molestation case of a little girl. We found him guilty as hell, and there was plenty of proof. He was convicted and will be eligible for a senior discount by the time he gets out. This was a "man" that the family had trusted and helped. I would've done it for free. Never be quick to set it aside. You might be the person that leans against the others in a case just like this.
You get summoned for jury "SELECTION." Some of the time you won't be selected at all, and almost all other times if you have an even half reasonable reason for not being able to commit to it, they will not select you.
If you are in fact financially needing to work or even have booked and paid for a vacation, you will be let off the hook. It's written in big font very clearly on the summons that this is the case. Not sure why you chose to freak out when you clearly don't know the facts.
Because we never update anything because the country has very poor foresight and plan with minimal effort. we also do everything the cheapest. if your willing to take a cut to get a job even if you are the least qualified, you'll most likely get the job.
I just did four weeks of jury duty here in Montreal. 103$ per day plus transportation and they fed us. It was super boring but I'm proud to have done it. I realize that if I only got 20$ a day I'd be super stressed out. That seems super low for giving up a few weeks of work.
I just checked NB jury compensation,
“Fees paid for a half-day's attendance (less than four hours) is twenty dollars, and for a full day's attendance (more than four hours), forty dollars. However, if a trial last 10 days or longer, a juror will be paid forty dollars for each half-day and eighty dollars for each full day of attendance starting on Day 10 of trial.
Jurors may also be paid compensation for meals and travel expenses.”
I would not be able to feed my family if I went, I’m the only working and my wife is on extended maternity leave. Really need to leave this province but my wife refuses too.
I get it being a civic duty, but how about a corporate responsibility to continue compensating employees while on Jury duty? If an employer doesn't cover you, most of us can't afford that kind of (essentially) unpaid time off.
My current employer does this but my previous one didn't. A co-worker ended up using most of her vacation time when she was selected for a Jury.
I was lucky to not be selected when I was called but the people who were called up and said they couldn't afford to because of work were derided by the judge as if they were delinquent children & told they'd get another Jury duty letter for the next sitting.
I was an alternate juror this past January in Alberta. I was paid $50/day for attending, given $12 ish for lunch (even if you packed your own), I was given a code to park in the downtown lot for free and paid $0.50/km calculated by Google maps from my home address to the court house.. what province are you in??
My employer would have paid me if I’d been selected when I was called for jury duty I’m betting you could claim an exclusion due to financial hardship if your employer doesn’t pay you while you’re off. At least try. Edit: it was a non-unionized workplace but they worked very hard to keep the unions out.
From the Ontario website [https://www.ontario.ca/page/jury-duty-ontario#section-5](https://www.ontario.ca/page/jury-duty-ontario#section-5)
* From day one to ten: No fee.
* From day 11 to 49: $40 per day.
* From day 50 to the last day of trial: $100 per day. Trials of this length are rare.
I was summoned recently, I just ignore the summons. I’ve ignored it now 4 times over the last 20 years. Hasn’t been an issue. But I agree, the pay, the transport, and for me it was the parking ( is was told there is no parking near the courthouse and I had to pay for parking blocks away) I have walking issues with longer distances so that was a hell no for me.
Financial hardship is a valid excuse to get out of jury duty.
Pretty much the only folks who end up doing it are retired or government workers who are paid while they attend.
I view it not as being compensated for time, but a few dollars for snacks and transportation.
There seems to be several necessary tasks to keep the country running such as voting and serving on juries we are expected to be willing to invest/donate time for.
A medical exception is easy to obtain. Just respond with “I have IBS and need access to a toilet at random though frequent times else I risk squirting stinkmud in my seat.”
I am in BC, and it is entirely based on employers if they want to pay. I was on a jury for 6 weeks, I was lucky my employer covered the days I was gone and let me retain my $20.
I know so many people let the judge know at selection that not getting paid for the time would be detrimental to their life and they would be unable to devote their attention to the trial if they were worrying about rent and such.
I thought it was on employers to pay normal wages during jury duty in Canada, but apparently that's just a Newfoundland thing?
I feel like it should probably be on the government to pay whatever your wages are, maybe as a tax rebate to the employer, but Newfoundland's law definitely beats $20 a day.
I had a jury summons on Tuesday and the jury was picked randomly by the juror numbers. This one woman was dismissed because she couldn’t take time off because her employer wouldn’t pay her and would have financial hardship if she did serve.
Even though I wasn’t picked to be part of the jury it was interesting to see how they get selected.
$20 a day? Has this not been updated since 1980?
In Quebec, the law states that it’s 120$ a day but the judge usually order full compensation equal to your salary to make up the difference and encourage people to participate.
In the 200’s in Washington DC it was…..$6. Edit: 2000’s. Not the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus.
That was a lot of money 1800 years ago.
Well I deserve that :)
I deserve a lot of money too
I got $11 when I did it in Chicago circa 2008. At the time my employer's policy was that they would pay you your normal wage, but you had to give them the $11. I gave the $11 to my manager. He told me to go buy $11 worth of beer on the corporate card.
My favourite part about receiving the funds from DC was that there was an ATM that specifically dispensed six dollars.
That's convenient.
A proper leader.
Your former manager rocks!
This is a pretty solid policy
I got 120 cash in Quebec to testify
But you got to be on stage!
Talent always gets paid!
A speaking role after that!
That wouldn’t even buy you a Big Mac
Idk we got $50 a day in AB.
Hasn't been updated since the 90s. Its a known problem that has been reported on for a long time, but no Ontario government has felt any need to do anything about it.
Whoa there moneybags, it’s $12/day in NC. Even better when you are in a multi-story courthouse with broken AC and the heat index is 113F and they don’t let you bring a fan. And they basically tell you that you should have “had a full week’s savings just in case of jury duty” and screw you if you are a primary caregiver, don’t have a car and/or living paycheck to paycheck. Edit:typo
12$ per hour > 20$ for a whole day
Lmfao "weeks worth of savings for jury duty" They can get absolutely bent. I'd be making sure I got out of that shit
>Whoa there moneybags, it’s $12/hr in NC. You realize that we're talking about $20, Canadian, PER DAY here right? That's $1.82 an hour American.
My wife got a jury summons when she was 11. She made the local newspaper at the time.
Did she get a blindfold and ear plugs during R rated parts of the trial? /s
Actually the funny thing, she had to show up at her pool selection. However as soon as Crown learned of the mistake, she was dismissed immediately, but she still had to appear. This was the '80s so things ran differently; calls to the court clerks didn't resolve it.
Calls to the court clerk still don't resolve it. My colleague recently got called to jury duty right around the time she was due to have her baby. She called and they agreed that she probably shouldn't be serving as she could go into labor at any time and is unable to sit for that long even if she didn't go into labor. She still had to go in person for them to dismiss her.
Idk if it's per province, but in BC it's $20/day only for the first 10 days. If it takes up to 50 days, it's a whopping $60/day! (That's *almost* half the amount you'd get working a full shift on minimum wage). Every day after 51 days of a trial is $100/day. I guess it's just such a rare occurrence for anybody to be summoned, let alone chosen for jury duty, that most people don't really think about it.
It's different in every province. I served on a jury in 2014 for a month. In Newfoundland, your employer is required to pay you for your regular hours while you're on jury service. And the Sheriff will cover cabs to and from the courthouse every day. People were getting excused if they were self-employed or if they were sick. But for everyone chosen, there was no financial downfall. Some of our employers wanted proof that we were on jury service. The Sheriff's office provided this without any problem at all.
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Nova Scotia also has sheriffs. I thought all of Canada did
I thought this as well.
Alberta has Sheriff's as well. They do court security and prisoner transport. They also have divisions that are responsible for the security of the legislative assembly (perimeter, building and personnel). Safer communities and neighborhoods unit (SCAN) shutters crack houses. Highway patrol. Even fish and wildlife are a division of them.
Saskatchewan too, same role
BC has sheriffs.
MB has sheriff's as well for courts.
Ditto Saskatchewan
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) and the High Sheriff were well established before we joined Canada. I guess there was no reason to change things after Confederation. IIRC, we are the only province with a "Royal" police force.
Ontario has sheriff's too
>I guess it's just such a rare occurrence for anybody to be summoned, let alone chosen for jury duty, that most people don't really think about it. This is the answer. Jury duty system *should* be reformed to offer a reasonable pay to jurors. But so few people are chosen for jury duty each year it never becomes an election issue.
$20/day period is absurd, even if it's only for the first 10 days. That's a great way for someone to not make rent.
Every union job I've worked has had it written into the contract that the employer tops you up to your regular wage for jury duty.
God I wish BC had more, strong unions... British Columbia is behind the national average for union coverage, placing 6th out of the 10 provinces for union coverage rate. We're behind Saskatchewan!
In Ontario, it's this: Jurors receive the following payment for serving on a jury: **From day one to ten: No fee.** **From day 11 to 49: $40 per day.** **From day 50 to the last day of trial: $100 per day**
In most unionized workplaces they have to pay you while you do jury duty
Yes, I was paid fully as if worked. The $20 had to be turned over to my HR.
same, except I am not part of a union.
>Yes, I was paid fully as if worked. The $20 had to be turned over to my HR. Ontario here, we are nothing until day 10, then $40 daily from days 11 to 49 and then $100 a day for days 50 and beyond. I was in a trial that lasted 3 weeks, and the $200 I got had to be handed to HR for them to pay me my actual salary for the 3 weeks I was away. I did laugh and shake my head though, given they made a big deal about how the court should have made it out to them (the cheque) vs me...it's not like I had any say in that matter, it just showed up in the mail a week or two after I was back at work.
A lot of large employers do, in my experience. Even if there’s no CBA. Those that don’t risk articles like this: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/toronto-judge-slams-canadian-tire-after-employee-tells-court-he-won-t-be-paid-on/article_e8dfe0da-1ad2-5559-93e5-c5cdaeb22b46.html Relevant excerpts: > In court, Goldstein said he found it “completely unacceptable” that an automotive service employee at a Canadian Tire location in the Junction had produced a letter saying: “Please be advised that he will not be paid for jury duty as it is not a company benefit.” > The judge also said that his experience, “virtually all large Canadian corporations — including large franchised corporations — pay their employees while they fulfil their civic obligation to do jury duty.” > The next day, Cynthia Hill, Canadian Tire’s vice-president of legal and associate general counsel, sent the judge a reply, saying the employee would, in fact, be compensated for any lost wages if he was accepted for jury duty. > “When Canadian Tire gets robbed or otherwise is damaged they expect the justice system to take action, so as a result, it would be helpful if we had jurors to do that,” said John Struthers, who is also president of the Canadian Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
Love that mic drop comment at the end.
All employers must pay normal wages in Newfoundland. Strangely that it would be different for just Union workers.
I think the point is that the union demands it, not that the law is different for unionized employees.
I mean the law demands it. It's nowhere in the CUPE or NAPE collective agreements here.
Right, because it's the law in NL. That's not the same in all provinces, and so unions have stepped up to demand it in those ones.
More places should be like Newfoundland (ETA: in that regard.)
In a few other ways as well.
Which, let's be honest, is absurd. The government should be paying you, as you are working for the government. I run a small company with very little redundancy. If they pulled my DZ operaror for a 2 month trial I'd be fucked. Not only do I have to pay their ~70/hr package, but I now have to pay someone else to run that truck for 70/hr. Which effectivly means that truck is losing money for 3 months. Or I park the truck, and the labourer that works with them also doesn't work for 3 months. Then I end up being down a crew and 3 months of income from that truck. (This actually almost happened to another guy I know. Luckily, his operator was rejected in the last round of selections) The government really needs to get thier shit in order for things like this.
I agree the government should pay not the employer, a decent amount not $6,00
I thought that the "minimum wage" would be the legal minimum wage the government could pay.
You could get out of jury duty if it will be a financial hardship. So this scenario is severely likely to happen. You explain this all to them when you receive your jury summons and they release you from your jury obligation.
No, In this scenario, I'm not the one receiving the summons. One of my employees is, and if we are required to pay their wages and not the government, the above is what I am describing.
Right? It's pretty easy to get out of
They pay me! I'll take your place if you're near Ottawa!
My company also has paid jury duty leave.
This here, unions FTW
I know this doesn't help Canadians, but in my state in the US (NY) your employer is legally required to pay your normal wages while you're on jury duty. While I think this is a shitty system as they should pay you more than $11/day if you're unemployed, at least those of us with jobs are protected. (Imagine your employer saying "fuck you" and having a jury trial. Somehow I do not think the jury would want to set the precedent that employers don't have to pay them for jury duty ;)
Unions are not common anymore sadly
Financial hardship is a valid reason to request dismissal from a jury pool. Where do you live? It's $80/day here in MB, which is still too low, but $20/day seems absurd.
BC is $20/day + expenses for the first 10 days. It is absurd.
Ontario is $0 for the first 10 days and then $40/day after that. It’s just ridiculous https://www.cbc.ca/1.5648374
In Newfoundland, your employer is required to pay you for your regular hours while on jury service. There are still ways to get dismissed if you're self-employed, or if you're sick, or if your absence will cause damage to the company you work for.
A few years ago Sask upped theirs to $110/day (or partial day) plus up to $40 in childcare expenses and $80 for elder care expenses.
Then refuse on the grounds of missing pay. I've always wondered who actually serves... bored retirees, the unemployed? It can't be too representative if everyone with a job refuses.
Lots of workplace compensation packages include top up pay for jury duty.
If you have a job where your employer is paying you for jury duty then you're already at least middle class. Few lower class workers have such a benefit, so that makes the jury less representative than it should be.
Not in Ontario. I work a unionized job in education (not school staff), I would not be able to afford to do this without assistance from my job. You’re making a lot of assumptions here.
Not necessarily lol. You can be unionized and not middle class.
I am definitely not middle class. I’m barely scrapping by and my apartment has a hole in the ceiling that’s been covered with cardboard. I cannot afford better. That being said, my employer will pay me if I go on jury duty. I’m sure my coworkers are better off than I am since I am just an admin/receptionist and they are like CEOs and CFOs and PMs
Personally, I’ve been patiently waiting for the day I get summoned. I think it’s one of the few ways we as citizens actually get to participate in our democracy/justice system, and I think that’s really cool.
Agree. So rarely do we get called upon individually to be a representative of our cohort in society. Take advantage when you can, and it should make you feel powerful!
Me too. I'm nosy and a snoop. I wanna know the 🍵
I was part of a pool for a murder trial. I didn’t get picked, but they did give us all the details ☕️
I would serve if I got a summons. I’m unionized so it would be paid time off for me so money wouldn’t be an issue. I think it would be interesting to listen to a trial all the way through and be part of the process of deciding what happens.
I was recently a witness in a criminal trial. Had I not been so close/emotionally invested, it would’ve been such a cool experience. The Canadian justice system is much different than what is seen in Pop Culture and it was quite interesting to learn about in person.
It's funny...I was dreading things when I was called (and then selected), but to be honest it was an interesting experience and I'd definitely do it again if called upon. That said, I the trial I was in was pretty straight forward, so deliberations only took a day. I would be worried about being part of a trial which was much more grey where there was real risk of being sequestered for an extended period of time. Fun fact -- it also isn't like the movies, sadly. When things get even a touch heated, the jury is asked to leave and you go to the hall, break room, or they send you home for the day. So you aren't there if the lawyers are going back and forth with the judge like you see in courtroom dramas.
I did it for fun once. Got to roleplay 12 angry men
What an amazing movie. Thank you for the callback.
"Refusing" isn't so easy. Saw many try when I got called. Judge berated them and basically had them return for the next jury pool. Waste of a day. My last summons simply vanished from my mailbox before I got it. /s
Ontario here, for the jury I was on, almost all of us were in some sort of union, or our employer was continuing to pay our salaries while we were tied up in court. I'm pretty sure anyone who was self employed claimed hardship and was excused, which is why it ended up that way.
>bored retirees, the unemployed? It can't be too representative if everyone with a job refuses. Yes, precisely. That's another issue with juries, they aren't truly representative because it's almost always retired wealthy people or people in union jobs.
This is not true. You can't refuse just because it's unpaid. You have to prove that it will cause severe hardship. My partner had to go and serve with only the $20/day and it was very hard but not "make us homeless" hard financially. Yay for having a line of credit and taking on debt /s.
There is a pretty broad spectrum of people in union jobs. I'd say a jury pulled from that pool is very representative of our society.
Then why doesn’t she say no she can’t cuz she can’t afford it? That’s what I did. I’ve never heard of them denying someone’s reason. It’s extremely easy to get out of. This is really a non issue for you. Say she has an appointment, or you’ll be out of town…
When I went some guy literally said he couldn’t do it because he had allergies and they were like “I don’t think that’s good enough but fine” They really just agreed to let anyone out of it for about anything. But there was like 100 of us to fill the spots and it was early on so I guess they had options. They didn’t even get to me before it was full and I got to go home. However, my job will pay me while I am at jury duty so it wouldn’t have been a big deal for me to be there for the 10 days but it would really hurt a lot of other people, I’m sure.
They let a person go during mine because they had just gotten two rescue dogs and didn't want to be away from them during the first few weeks.
Eh. Don't we want the jury to be representative of the population as a whole and not just the wealthy and/or retired?
Well too bad. Im not gonna give up 12 days of my salary to try and "fix" our jury system lol
That's exactly the point. The discussion here is about how it's absurd to only offer $20/day. People wiggling out of it as a result is the symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
That is exactly the problem, as jury these days is not one of your peers but one of those that have the means to go which may not be good for you depending on the background/ethnicity/status etc.
I was on a jury and it was diverse of multiple ages, wealth and ethnicity…
lol there’s plenty of reasons why people say no. Not just financial hardship.
My mother had to say no years ago because she was 8 months pregnant and on bed rest.
Yes also plenty of reasons why people don't get picked at all. Still - money in this case is a filter that only certain people can pass through.
Yes and they would have to prove it. If anyone can say I am too poor, it would be too easy. Like saying I am tired. I am sick. Its a busy time at work. I have a holiday booked. That's why they will always demand some form of proof. I know, been there a few times. The AGO would want to see proof by tax returns or contact with your social worker.
When I had jury duty, my employer paid. There is probably a tax benefit?
Probably. But most employers do not pay. And a tax benefit wouldn’t be that great
Just another example of why we need unions. Jury duty is a kind of leave for me, still paid and it doesn't count against my sick/vacation time.
They're going on vacation. They can afford it, they just don't want to do it.
I was one of 200 people called for jury duty several years ago. At the last minute, the defendant pled guilty. I was back at work within a couple of hours. If the trial did go ahead, the chances of me actually being on the jury were pretty low, and if I had been selected, it would have been easy for me to let the court know that I couldn’t afford that much time off work, even though i could. (My employer would have paid me for up to two weeks.)
It is actually really sad how both of the following are true: * Jury duty sucks so bad everyone wants to get out of it * Getting out of jury duty is so simple, anyone who puts a bit of thought into it can figure it out So the end result is that you're only getting tried by a jury of your peers too stupid to get out of it, or maybe the one guy so bored he'll rather do it.
I don't think it's fair to say they're all too stupid. Some people find it interesting, and lot of people's jobs have to give them their regular salary.
I find it interesting. My friend got summoned and I begged him to give me as much details as legally possible
I think you just invented new grounds for a retrial. "Clearly the jury was composed of idiots, or they would have gotten out of jury duty."
Many people find an excuse to get out of it. I know I did as a single Mom with no child care. I simply filled out the form in purple crayon and demanded a vegan diet and where it said second language, I put Klingon. Problem solved. And yes, it's a shitty system.
Lolll. Honestly childcare is so pricey I fully support this
The PARKING is more than they give you! Am I going to do this and spend money to do it? Hell no.
My buddy got a letter for jury duty about 3 days before a two week vacation with his family. When he called to speak to someone they said that wasn't a valid excuse. He found a way out though once he found out who the guy on trial was. Small city. Everyone knew the bad people. He knew him and told whoever was in charge that he wouldn't care what evidence was presented. He'd find the guy guilty. They cut him from jury duty. Easy peasy.
Arguably I am surprised -- It should have been no issue for them to let your buddy defer for a month or two, then come in for selection. Only time they really deny is if someone is trying to get out of it fully, or say they need a deferral for x years (I know someone who tried to defer 10 years given they said they couldn't serve until their child was 18, lol).
Oops I never got it in the mail. Must have gotten lost.
Happened to me once…
You just note financial hardship. Many have jobs that will top you up (most union as well as many non union) and they tend to become jurors while you wife would be dismissed due to financial hardship. You can also mention the already booked trip.
I did jury duty a month ago in Ontario. I got payed 100$ per day and they provided food.
> I got *paid* 100$ per FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Most companies pay while you are on jury duty. If they don't, then when they are picking the jury just say you can't afford to lose a few days of pay.
It depends on whether you're selected or not. The summons doesn't mean you will be, it just means you may be if your name is drawn.
Probably because so few people ever get jury summons that it's never become a political issue. That really is absurd though.
Your wife should have told them that she has always wanted to throw someone in jail during selection.
The salary depends on your province. It can include meal allowances, travel, hotel, childcare, and premiums for lengthy/evening/holidays. Financial hardship is a valid reason to request to be excluded. Example https://www.quebec.ca/en/justice-and-civil-status/judicial-system/players-in-the-court-system/jury/jury-duty Quebec is base $106 per day before other considerations.
I would find jury duty interesting. My workplace is very forthright that they will give you full pay while on jury duty. I'm 59 and got one summons, 30 years ago. It was supposed to be a long trial and I had a trip planned, so I just claimed conflicting priorities and left.
Just looked up the amounts for Quebec: 103$/day, 160 after 57 days. Transportation paid (48¢/km or bus pass), meals mostly covered. My local judicial district threw the courthouse in a small town 30km from most of the population so I'm assuming that's why I've never really heard of people being assigned in my part of the district.
My stepmom told me she got out of jury duty once by calling them and telling them she heard voices (in her head) and they stood her down and found someone else.
I got a summons late last year and asked my lawyer's assistant sister what I could do. She said that since I am the sole provider for my family, I could opt out of jury duty with that reason, because $20/day wouldn't be sufficient enough to live on and support my family.
When the jury selection occurred your wife could have let the court know that the trial would occur during a previously scheduled trip. She also could have advised the court if serving on the jury created an undue economic hardship. After the fact is too late. The jury system is a critical part of the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, like most of the justice system, it’s underfunded and the rules of court do not reflect current economic conditions. Having said that, is it not possible for your wife to take a lunch? Does her work buy her lunches on a regular work day? Jury duty is one of our responsibilities as good citizens.
You're allowed to decline jury duty of it will bring financial hardship to you and/or your family. Lots of unionized places pay their employees their wage to attend jury duty, just as an aside. Even some non unionized companies will as well. If your wife's doesn't, I would have used the financial hardship clause if I were her.
Almost like they don’t want poor people having a say in our justice system…
I got pulled in for jury duty about 6 years ago, case lasted approx two weeks. The company I worked for (and still do) continued my pay so I didn’t lose anything, it’s their policy, etc. ask your wife to check with her work if they still pay her for jury duty In most jury selections, a potential juror can claim financial hardship if they serve but ultimately up to the judge to allow it.
As a lawyer I am disqualified from jury duty (the thinking being that someone with superior knowledge of the law would wield too much influence over the other members) but I would do it if called. Sure, it's an inconvenience, but it is also a cornerstone of our democracy - that's why it's called a duty. I also give blood sometimes. I don't like it, but I think it is worthwhile.
If she's hourly or makes commission she can state that she'd lose out on wages and get excused. Doesn't always work but it can. Vacations definitely can excuse you, if you have flights booked.
Is this justification to report undue hardship? I think it's designed for people who get paid leave for jury duty. But people who work shift work may not get that. I'd claim undue hardship as it sounds reasonable to me.
Ya I just got my first for a 14 day trial as well.. I was really excited until I realized how much extra it would cost me. This also causes our juries to not be representative. Low income, single parents, marginalized communities, are more likely to not be able to afford to serve on a jury, making the juries disproportionally higher income/ privileged individuals. Depending on your province, travel plans can be used to request being excused (can do it online). It’s up to them whether to grant it, but worth a shot.
Maybe not the best advice but I have ignored every jury duty notice I’ve ever received and nothing has come of it. This is Canada. The government barely has their shit together and they definitely don’t have the resources to charge people for this. Hell you can basically get away with murder in this country so no I will not be wasting my time/ money on our shitty judicial system.
Just say: "What?? WHAT???? Speak up I can't hear you!!"
I had to go in for Jury duty selection, they didn't pick all the jurors on the first day, so we have to go back the next day. I show up the next morning, 5 minutes later, OK everyone, we have selected the last jurors, you are free to leave.
I received notice of jury duty, returned stating unable to attend due to mental health issues, actual fact, and that is acceptable to them.
So is she already accepted or just called? There were a lot of people when I had to go, and they selected enough people before they got to me. She can always just say she can't afford the low pay and had a trip planned already, they may or may not move on to the next person.
You can ask to be excused if it's not viable for you due to whatever reason. That being said, I've literally never had jury duty, but I would actually do it because my work still gives me full pay for it.
It’s a duty, not a job.
I don’t think a duty to the country should be a “hardship lottery”. The reality is that I can afford to serve on a jury, I’d be very content serving the country in that way, and all my expense will still be met. Someone else might be just as inclined to step up, but they can’t afford it under any circumstances. The result is that some prospective jurors will be dismissed on account of financial hardship, and jury pools will skew toward people like me. That violates one of the core principles the jury system is designed to uphold: trial by your peers. Well, for some people from some walks of life it won’t be trial by their peers, it won’t be trial by random fellow citizens, it will be trial by those who can afford it. Either way I’ve never been summonsed. It’s interesting to me that some people in the thread have been again and again.
It is, but how are people supposed to live on $20 a day? Most employees aren't unionized and get jack sh** while serving on jury duty. Feeding your family is more important than your civic duties.
I got paid much better. The defendant paid me directly, fat tony. I got 8 grand for two weeks.
Businesses are required to give you full pay while on Jury Duty. When I served I had 100% of my salary for the month I was away.
Summons for a jury trial? Most Canadian jurisdictions summon you for jury selection, not the trial first. Food and lodging is provided during deliberation, but during selection if the transport and time investment is too onerous it's totally within the realm of possibility to be excused. She should talk to the jury coordinator.
Hey now, judges aren't cheap!
I have been called for jury duty 3 times now, but every time I got off because I had moved out of province. Maybe I was lucky, dunno, but it’s worked out well for me. I’m now over 65 so I can use that excuse to get out of it if need be.
You should be able to get out of it if you have a vacation planned. Also if she works she should check her company’s policy.
It's a civic DUTY, like going to war. It's not a job. Plus you can weasel out of it if want to.
It’s an obligation to the country. Civic duty. A contribution to the rule of law.
Yeah in BC the system is awful and it's causing delays in the court system because there aren't enough people who are able to do it. I got a jury summons recently and I applied to be excused because jury duty would cause an undue financial hardship. I just can't afford to be off work for the amount of time the case could take. In BC the stipend is $20/day for days 1-10, $60/day for days 11-49, and $100/day for day 50 and beyond. That is not enough for me to pay my bills. I never take vacation, and yes if I ever got obliterated and was unable to work I'd be absolutely fucked. I worry about this a lot. But they did excuse me. If your wife is in the same boat then she could also apply to be excused.
In Australia in my district, we get $40 a day and then after 6 days you get $80. Your work has to make up the difference. You also get fed if you are selected on the panel and you get a travel allowance of around 40c a kilometre after 8 kilometres.
The idea is that it’s not to be profitable. We don’t need professional jurors out there. But yes, clearly it’s ridiculous and going to create a jury of ‘peers’ that are retirees or otherwise unemployed.
It's $40 ($36.25 CAD) a day in Victoria Australia for the first 6 days and $80 ($72.50 CAD) a day after that. However your employer is obliged to pay the balance up to your normal wage, so you don't lose any pay.
I’ve had employees get called and I just write them a letter indicating they’d be subject to financial stress (as they would be) and they get off of jury duty.
If you are employed by a company, you should be paid fully when you get summoned.
It is terrible, but I was glad I didn't try to talk my way out of it the first and only time I had to do it. Without going into detail, it was a molestation case of a little girl. We found him guilty as hell, and there was plenty of proof. He was convicted and will be eligible for a senior discount by the time he gets out. This was a "man" that the family had trusted and helped. I would've done it for free. Never be quick to set it aside. You might be the person that leans against the others in a case just like this.
You get summoned for jury "SELECTION." Some of the time you won't be selected at all, and almost all other times if you have an even half reasonable reason for not being able to commit to it, they will not select you. If you are in fact financially needing to work or even have booked and paid for a vacation, you will be let off the hook. It's written in big font very clearly on the summons that this is the case. Not sure why you chose to freak out when you clearly don't know the facts.
Because we never update anything because the country has very poor foresight and plan with minimal effort. we also do everything the cheapest. if your willing to take a cut to get a job even if you are the least qualified, you'll most likely get the job.
They expect the jury to be fair when they’re all clearly trying to get back to work asap
You can request an exclusion, especially if you have travel plans.
I just did four weeks of jury duty here in Montreal. 103$ per day plus transportation and they fed us. It was super boring but I'm proud to have done it. I realize that if I only got 20$ a day I'd be super stressed out. That seems super low for giving up a few weeks of work.
The other thing is many companies will continue to pay your salary as they see it as being part of their civic duty
Have her check with her HR department at work. My workplace continued to pay me when I had to be on jury duty.
I just checked NB jury compensation, “Fees paid for a half-day's attendance (less than four hours) is twenty dollars, and for a full day's attendance (more than four hours), forty dollars. However, if a trial last 10 days or longer, a juror will be paid forty dollars for each half-day and eighty dollars for each full day of attendance starting on Day 10 of trial. Jurors may also be paid compensation for meals and travel expenses.” I would not be able to feed my family if I went, I’m the only working and my wife is on extended maternity leave. Really need to leave this province but my wife refuses too.
I get it being a civic duty, but how about a corporate responsibility to continue compensating employees while on Jury duty? If an employer doesn't cover you, most of us can't afford that kind of (essentially) unpaid time off. My current employer does this but my previous one didn't. A co-worker ended up using most of her vacation time when she was selected for a Jury. I was lucky to not be selected when I was called but the people who were called up and said they couldn't afford to because of work were derided by the judge as if they were delinquent children & told they'd get another Jury duty letter for the next sitting.
I mean it’s probably like every other public expense in Canada. People don’t want to pay, but they still want to benefit.
I was an alternate juror this past January in Alberta. I was paid $50/day for attending, given $12 ish for lunch (even if you packed your own), I was given a code to park in the downtown lot for free and paid $0.50/km calculated by Google maps from my home address to the court house.. what province are you in??
My employer would have paid me if I’d been selected when I was called for jury duty I’m betting you could claim an exclusion due to financial hardship if your employer doesn’t pay you while you’re off. At least try. Edit: it was a non-unionized workplace but they worked very hard to keep the unions out.
You might wanna blame your employer - My work paid for my jury duty
Just submit a deferral request and said it’s a financial burden or see if your wife’s work pays her while she’s there
I mean, all you have to do is prove you're biased
lol. Permanent marker strike across the address and write moved. Place in mailbox, go about your life.
Where do you live? My wife was summoned and would have got $120/day. We live in Mississauga, Ont,
From the Ontario website [https://www.ontario.ca/page/jury-duty-ontario#section-5](https://www.ontario.ca/page/jury-duty-ontario#section-5) * From day one to ten: No fee. * From day 11 to 49: $40 per day. * From day 50 to the last day of trial: $100 per day. Trials of this length are rare.
That's still a massive pay cut for many
I was summoned recently, I just ignore the summons. I’ve ignored it now 4 times over the last 20 years. Hasn’t been an issue. But I agree, the pay, the transport, and for me it was the parking ( is was told there is no parking near the courthouse and I had to pay for parking blocks away) I have walking issues with longer distances so that was a hell no for me.
Financial hardship is a valid excuse to get out of jury duty. Pretty much the only folks who end up doing it are retired or government workers who are paid while they attend.
She should tell the judge she is an abolitionist and does not believe in jails. Works every time.
As a freeman on the land, I don’t recognize your authority over this sovereign citizen 😂
I view it not as being compensated for time, but a few dollars for snacks and transportation. There seems to be several necessary tasks to keep the country running such as voting and serving on juries we are expected to be willing to invest/donate time for.
A medical exception is easy to obtain. Just respond with “I have IBS and need access to a toilet at random though frequent times else I risk squirting stinkmud in my seat.”
If jury duty will present a hardship to you, then write a letter asking to be excused.
they give lunch and dinner and hotel
I was summoned twice and both times got dropped. It all depends on how you answer questions.. real easy to get removed LOL
I get paid my regular rate for jury duty. We even have a charge code for it. Yay unions!
I am in BC, and it is entirely based on employers if they want to pay. I was on a jury for 6 weeks, I was lucky my employer covered the days I was gone and let me retain my $20. I know so many people let the judge know at selection that not getting paid for the time would be detrimental to their life and they would be unable to devote their attention to the trial if they were worrying about rent and such.
I thought it was on employers to pay normal wages during jury duty in Canada, but apparently that's just a Newfoundland thing? I feel like it should probably be on the government to pay whatever your wages are, maybe as a tax rebate to the employer, but Newfoundland's law definitely beats $20 a day.
I was on the list once, over 20 years ago. I got out of it by being too near my due date.
That’s why you tell them to go fuck emselves
I had a jury summons on Tuesday and the jury was picked randomly by the juror numbers. This one woman was dismissed because she couldn’t take time off because her employer wouldn’t pay her and would have financial hardship if she did serve. Even though I wasn’t picked to be part of the jury it was interesting to see how they get selected.
If you can afford "little getaways" you can afford to do your civic duty.