jury duty and shift working
Discussion
I'm looking for some advice on behalf of my daughter who's just been called up for jury duty at our local sheriff court (Scotland).
She works as the sole stockperson on a local estate and as such her hours can be very varied. Some weeks she'll only work 20 hours and others she'll work 80 plus.She's salaried so the variation doesn't affect her income.
Unfortunately on the date she has been called for jury service, some of her sheep will be lambing. For those of you who don't understand farming life, this means that for 4 to 6 weeks everything else is put on hold and the stockperson is basically on 24 /7 standby with food and sleep grabbed whenever possible.
She could find someone else to cover the time she'll be in court (probably me) but would never be able to find someone to take over her 24/7 duties. If I covered while she was in court, she could make it, but would stand a good chance of falling asleep during the proceedings. She can't put the lambing on hold by telling the sheep to cross their legs for a week or two.
Would the above be enough to excuse her from jury service at this time? I've read the advice leaflets and can't see that it would. Any advice?
She works as the sole stockperson on a local estate and as such her hours can be very varied. Some weeks she'll only work 20 hours and others she'll work 80 plus.She's salaried so the variation doesn't affect her income.
Unfortunately on the date she has been called for jury service, some of her sheep will be lambing. For those of you who don't understand farming life, this means that for 4 to 6 weeks everything else is put on hold and the stockperson is basically on 24 /7 standby with food and sleep grabbed whenever possible.
She could find someone else to cover the time she'll be in court (probably me) but would never be able to find someone to take over her 24/7 duties. If I covered while she was in court, she could make it, but would stand a good chance of falling asleep during the proceedings. She can't put the lambing on hold by telling the sheep to cross their legs for a week or two.
Would the above be enough to excuse her from jury service at this time? I've read the advice leaflets and can't see that it would. Any advice?
Edited by brrapp on Wednesday 25th January 11:50
I have been excused twice, even though I was told after the first time that I wouldn't get another exemption.
I was working overseas on rotation and if I couldn't travel on time my back to back would not be allowed to leave, this was accepted.
I am fairly sure your daughter will be able to get out of it at least this once.
I was working overseas on rotation and if I couldn't travel on time my back to back would not be allowed to leave, this was accepted.
I am fairly sure your daughter will be able to get out of it at least this once.
I did Jury duty recently at Dundee Sheriff Court - I'd already been excused once for work reasons , but I had to go the second time. My company wrote a covering letter that I sent in to the court , then they will let you know whether you are excused shortly before the trial date.
Once there the clerk of the court took everyone into the courtroom and told us roughly what the case was and gave us some idea of how long it was likely to last , then personally spoke to any people who had a good reason to be excused, for example work commitments , university work etc... Quite a few people were free to go at that point I think , from what I could tell from body language etc... she was more open to releasing people who were self-employed etc..
If she ends up going to the court, and assuming they follow the same procedure, try to sit near the front and be first in the queue to speak to the Clerk as there were a lot of people asking for excusal and she can only let so many go.
Once there the clerk of the court took everyone into the courtroom and told us roughly what the case was and gave us some idea of how long it was likely to last , then personally spoke to any people who had a good reason to be excused, for example work commitments , university work etc... Quite a few people were free to go at that point I think , from what I could tell from body language etc... she was more open to releasing people who were self-employed etc..
If she ends up going to the court, and assuming they follow the same procedure, try to sit near the front and be first in the queue to speak to the Clerk as there were a lot of people asking for excusal and she can only let so many go.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 25th January 12:26
brrapp said:
I'm looking for some advice on behalf of my daughter who's just been called up for jury duty at our local sheriff court (Scotland).
She works as the sole stockperson on a local estate and as such her hours can be very varied. Some weeks she'll only work 20 hours and others she'll work 80 plus.She's salaried so the variation doesn't affect her income.
Unfortunately on the date she has been called for jury service, some of her sheep will be lambing. For those of you who don't understand farming life, this means that for 4 to 6 weeks everything else is put on hold and the stockperson is basically on 24 /7 standby with food and sleep grabbed whenever possible.
She could find someone else to cover the time she'll be in court (probably me) but would never be able to find someone to take over her 24/7 duties. If I covered while she was in court, she could make it, but would stand a good chance of falling asleep during the proceedings. She can't put the lambing on hold by telling the sheep to cross their legs for a week or two.
Would the above be enough to excuse her from jury service at this time? I've read the advice leaflets and can't see that it would. Any advice?
If she explains the above there will be no problem getting excused boots on this. She works as the sole stockperson on a local estate and as such her hours can be very varied. Some weeks she'll only work 20 hours and others she'll work 80 plus.She's salaried so the variation doesn't affect her income.
Unfortunately on the date she has been called for jury service, some of her sheep will be lambing. For those of you who don't understand farming life, this means that for 4 to 6 weeks everything else is put on hold and the stockperson is basically on 24 /7 standby with food and sleep grabbed whenever possible.
She could find someone else to cover the time she'll be in court (probably me) but would never be able to find someone to take over her 24/7 duties. If I covered while she was in court, she could make it, but would stand a good chance of falling asleep during the proceedings. She can't put the lambing on hold by telling the sheep to cross their legs for a week or two.
Would the above be enough to excuse her from jury service at this time? I've read the advice leaflets and can't see that it would. Any advice?
Edited by brrapp on Wednesday 25th January 11:50
Jury duty is one of the rarest, most fascinating activities you will ever get to do in a lifetime. A massive eye-opener as to how the legal system and "justice" actually work behind the scenes. You will watch in amazement as obviously-guilty scrotes get off on a technicality, fellow jurors sit through a complex 5-day trial with zero note-taking (and forget 90% of what they heard), while final jury deliberations hinge on whether 1 or 2 people think the defendant "looks guilty" (i.e. does he have any facial hair). Don't pass up that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is brilliant. Someone will work out how to lamb the lambs. The world will keep spinning.
Yipper said:
Jury duty is one of the rarest, most fascinating activities you will ever get to do in a lifetime. A massive eye-opener as to how the legal system and "justice" actually work behind the scenes. You will watch in amazement as obviously-guilty scrotes get off on a technicality, fellow jurors sit through a complex 5-day trial with zero note-taking (and forget 90% of what they heard), while final jury deliberations hinge on whether 1 or 2 people think the defendant "looks guilty" (i.e. does he have any facial hair). Don't pass up that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is brilliant. Someone will work out how to lamb the lambs. The world will keep spinning.
Indeed. In my case I was left wondering why the defendant was in court at all when it should have been the prosecution witnesses...brrapp said:
Would the above be enough to excuse her from jury service at this time? I've read the advice leaflets and can't see that it would. Any advice?
Write to them and ask to be excused.I've had to do this with work commitments. However they usually hit with another citation fairly quickly after. IME they get pickier with a second or third request for excusal looking for evidence.
If you attend then IME they are reasonable as they can be about excusing people but it depends on circumstances. If they have plenty of spare jurors then they are more flexible - if they are tight on numbers for a ballot then they will be less flexible.
brrapp said:
I'm looking for some advice on behalf of my daughter who's just been called up for jury duty at our local sheriff court (Scotland).
She works as the sole stockperson on a local estate and as such her hours can be very varied. Some weeks she'll only work 20 hours and others she'll work 80 plus.She's salaried so the variation doesn't affect her income.
Unfortunately on the date she has been called for jury service, some of her sheep will be lambing. For those of you who don't understand farming life, this means that for 4 to 6 weeks everything else is put on hold and the stockperson is basically on 24 /7 standby with food and sleep grabbed whenever possible.
She could find someone else to cover the time she'll be in court (probably me) but would never be able to find someone to take over her 24/7 duties. If I covered while she was in court, she could make it, but would stand a good chance of falling asleep during the proceedings. She can't put the lambing on hold by telling the sheep to cross their legs for a week or two.
Would the above be enough to excuse her from jury service at this time? I've read the advice leaflets and can't see that it would. Any advice?
The courts are fairly flexible and will consider all reasons for not being able to attend. Her reasons seem the type that will generate a sympathetic response. Mention too that there will be no idle stockpersons available to cover for her as they will be required elsewhere. She works as the sole stockperson on a local estate and as such her hours can be very varied. Some weeks she'll only work 20 hours and others she'll work 80 plus.She's salaried so the variation doesn't affect her income.
Unfortunately on the date she has been called for jury service, some of her sheep will be lambing. For those of you who don't understand farming life, this means that for 4 to 6 weeks everything else is put on hold and the stockperson is basically on 24 /7 standby with food and sleep grabbed whenever possible.
She could find someone else to cover the time she'll be in court (probably me) but would never be able to find someone to take over her 24/7 duties. If I covered while she was in court, she could make it, but would stand a good chance of falling asleep during the proceedings. She can't put the lambing on hold by telling the sheep to cross their legs for a week or two.
Would the above be enough to excuse her from jury service at this time? I've read the advice leaflets and can't see that it would. Any advice?
Edited by brrapp on Wednesday 25th January 11:50
One trick is to offer alternative dates, saying something along the lines of 'September, and October and the first half of November are generally quiet in my business and, with sufficient notification period, there should be no difficulty.' This will tend to indicate that the person is willing to do their duty, and are putting themselves forward at a time when nature dictates a slowing down of business.
I got called up at 18, unfortunately the date I was given was smack in the middle of the college year, time off work (apprentice) was no problem at all, paid too, but I didn't want to miss my studies. I wrote to them explaining this (along with the date of a holiday I had booked) and I received a new date in the 8 weeks as we had it summer break from college.
It was an interesting experience I actually quite enjoyed it. I was sent home after a week and half (one full week case and a half week one) so sometimes it doesn't last the full two weeks, obviously it can go on longer.
It was an interesting experience I actually quite enjoyed it. I was sent home after a week and half (one full week case and a half week one) so sometimes it doesn't last the full two weeks, obviously it can go on longer.
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