Jury Service during pregnancy?

[Penstraze]

I should imagine you can have it defered I had mine defered as I couldn't be freed from work at the time they wanted me to do it so had to do it at a later date, I was compensated for my earning loss and you get a lunch allowence for dinner at their canteen, parking money and fuel paid back. There was loads of sitting around, I did two short cases it was quite cool had one day off paid cause they didn't need us in and had a half day unpaid at the end of it if your job has got in cover and you can't return to work even if they decided they didn't need you for whole two weeks if your boss says you can't return to work you would still get loss of earnings.
I narrowly missed a bad child abuse case, there was a woman on the jury who was pregnant but if your pregnant you are given the chance to turn down any disturbing cases, for some reason she chose to sit on the jury for it and I think it was very upsetting for her they were all offered counciling afterwards if they wanted it.

I'd have thought best thing to do is call the number on your letter and explain your circumstances that you don't want the stress of traveling whilst your pregnant and will not be happy to do jury duty until after your maternity leave is over after pregnancy I am sure that wont be a problem

 

[weenik]

I was supposed to be a witness at a case and called them & told them I had SPD and was 8 months pregnant and didn't feel up to it and I was pardoned. I know it's different that jury duty but it's worth calling them up. It was a sheriff court though so may be different rules for different tpes of court

 

[Tillytots]

Ooo bugger!

Id go to your Doc hunni and explain the situation and get them to write you a letter stating that it would be innapropriate for you to do service at this time as you are pregnant and the stress of either the case or travel could possibly have adverse effects on you and bubs.

xx

 

[Redshoes]

My friend was called up for it a few years ago and it was quite an upsetting case and she found it very emotionally draining, and lots of just sitting around doing nothing. I would have thought it possible to be defered to a later calling whilst you're pregnant, if you choose to, I do hope you can, very best wishes

 

[daftscotslass]

Tilly's idea sounds like a good one.

Personally it's something I would hate to do. One of my friends was recently called up for service for a murder trial and was utterly terrified because even during jury selection, family members of the accused (which was a done deal evidence wise) were sitting glaring at them all from the gallery. The case was expected to go on for a MINIMUM of 6 weeks. Thankfully he managed to get out of it.

Can't imagine going through the stress of that while pregnant or otherwise!

 

[Bubalu]

Hello,
I was called for jury duty when I was about 7 weeks pregnant. For me it was perfect as I was feeling quite sick at the time and had not told work that I was pregnant yet. Fortunately, work were prepared to continue paying me during the 2 weeks I was called for. As it happened, the criminals kept pleading guilty so I just spent a couple of hours each day in a room with an adjoining toilet (phew) and then go home again....I really could not have worked during those weeks. By the time jury duty was over, I was starting to feel much better. The clerks were also very nice so I'm sure that if I had asked to be excused because it was too much for me they'd have let me go.

I think that if you are worried about serving, you can delay it but you may want to get it out of the way when you don't have to arrange child care.

As far as payment is concerned...they do pay for loss of earnings but you have to have a form signed by your work. There is an upper limit so some people may be out of pocket. Some companies (like mine) just conitinue with the salary and so I didn't claim. They also pay for travel costs, meals and I think they help with child care costs where necessary too.

Hope that helps!
Lucy