Jury Duty - Schaumburg,IL

Updated on August 22, 2011
P.L. asks from Schaumburg, IL
24 answers

My husband was summoned for the second time, but he can't go, for the reason that he is the sole bread winner and an apprentice right now, supporting a family of 5.If he doesn't go to work, he doesn't get paid. He took off one day in August already, another day would be really bad.
He wrote them a letter about our situation, but we didn't hear back from them, his date would be tomorrow.
What should he do???

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So What Happened?

yes he would get paid, what 17 Dollars ?? That would not really help our bills : (
He wrote a letter explaining our situation, he called earlier, punched in his jury number and the system couldn't find it, so maybe they excepted the letter and took him out of the system ???
he called right away, but they said he has to write a letter, so I hope, we did everything right ??

Featured Answers

S.A.

answers from Chicago on

nothing will happen. They can't prove you received the summons unless they send it by registered mail.

I receive a summons every now and again. I always write them a letter explaining that I am the sole caretaker for my children and will not be available for quite some time. I never hear back from them, and I never show up. It's no problem.

If he's nervous about it, have him call and ask if they received his letter explaining he's not able to serve.

2 moms found this helpful

V.C.

answers from Dallas on

Be careful about asking to be let go. Once a lady asked to be dismissed because she was moving out of the county the next day. They picked her to be on the panel!
Chances are he won't be picked and can still make it to work.

1 mom found this helpful

M.L.

answers from Houston on

By law, he has to get compensated for going. It's usually a smaller percentage of his typical pay. Better to go than not and he can talk to whoever is in charge . If they got the letter, he can be dismissed and go straight to work.

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A.S.

answers from Boca Raton on

I would show up and ask to speak to the duty judge, and then plead extreme hardship. If that doesn't work, and he gets on a panel - I would mention it again during voir dire. I.e., - "my family will not eat if I'm not working - literally." I would be very vocal about it.

I would not *not* show up.

5 moms found this helpful

C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

he needs to go...if he doesn't show - he may be in trouble. In VA, you call the night prior to find out if your number is in the "section" of numbers. In VA if you are a no-show - a bench warrant is issued for your arrest. It's your civic duty.

In the State of Illinois it appears a bench warrant can be issued. Call the number at the top of the notice and tell them what is going on. Write the name and date of the person you spoke with - but really - DO NOT ignore it and DO NOT do a NO SHOW....

EDIT: Just do you know - the courts WILL state the address they have on record is true and correct - so IF you say you didn't get it - they won't care.

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G.S.

answers from New York on

I made the mistake of listening to my mom about not worrying about those notices and throwing them out like she did, well I ended up receiving a notice that I was in contempt of court and thankfully we had moved to a different county so I was cleared of anything. My husband has had to go a number of times and they do understand that you are losing quite a bit of money with your job, it's best to go and explain that then to disregard it and have something happen.

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R.C.

answers from Phoenix on

Please check the website on his summons. I was summoned last month and didn't find out I had been dismissed until the day of selection. I was really sweating it because they never notified me in writing about acceptance of my letter requesting to be excused. I'm a SAHM of 3 with husband that works full-time, sometimes OOT overnight. The website had a jury profile section that told me that I had been excused. Best wishes.

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C.W.

answers from Phoenix on

his work has to let him go.....and most places will pay you for the day also. plus if he is picked he does get paid after the 1st day i think

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T.F.

answers from Dallas on

He should go. Most likely he won't be there all day.

Around here you check your jury number on the website and it tells you if you are dismissed (due to a settlement or something else).

I've been summoned several times and I make the time to go do my duty as a citizen. I was picked once and I was there for a week but I learned so much about the system, met some wonderful people and had a good experience. It is not all bad...

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T.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

He would get paid about 5 dollars for the day in our area! Not acceptable! Did you get a little post card in the mail that you may have missed. It says something about being excused. My husband did jury duty once, spent all day there and was really paid about 5.00. I always told them that i was the SAHM and had an autoimmune disease. I know people may look down on this... but... it is really not worth your time. We need to work/take care of our families and do not have time for the criminals that decided not to do the right thing. (that is most of the cases around here, petty criminal things....ugh!) Maybe they should offer more compensation. I get offered 100.00 or more to do focus groups. That i can see spending my time on :)

1 mom found this helpful

J.S.

answers from Hartford on

If they haven't responded or he hasn't received the response then he needs to go. It's a jury summons. His job has to accept that he's going at least for the time it takes to get the exception to be excused (if it's granted).

1 mom found this helpful

L.B.

answers from Biloxi on

Have him call in the morning and double check - if he name is still not in the system tell him to go to work and not worry about it.

That's how it works in my state - in fact, we have to call in every night for the week we a pulled for duty to see if we have to report the next morning. They usually pull a much larger number of people than they actual need so excusing some is not a problem.

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A.G.

answers from Albuquerque on

He should go and ask to be excused due to the financial harship it could cause. My husband was summoned last year, and went told the judge that he works on commission and if he doesnt work there is no check and since I was on maternity leave it was our only income. He was dismissed. And yes they do pay..but its not much at all. I think its something like $25 a day.

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D.K.

answers from Chicago on

You don't have to do jury duty more than once a year. If he too, a day off for jury duty in August he doesn't have to go again. When I had jury duty earlier this year that was explained to us. You were supposed to keep your check stub and if you got summoned agian I believe you just call and give them the information from the check stub and you will be excused.

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C.W.

answers from Santa Barbara on

You're all for it as long as it's someone else?? Are you sure he won't be paid? Even my daughter's boyfriend was and he's a machinist for a small company.

Where I live you get one postponement and have to go the next time, this includes SAHMs. I always go, it's pretty interesting and I feel it is my responsibility. The last time I was on a jury though so many of the jurors lied that they could be impartial and completely had it out for the police. It was awful and a mistrial was declared. About half of the time my group is dismissed before we go to the courtroom, they settled before we had to go and we are done by 9AM. I have been paid by my employers (I'm totally corporate) and get work done during breaks, lunch and after hours.

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D.B.

answers from Charlotte on

.

1 mom found this helpful

G.T.

answers from Redding on

I always just throw my jury summons in the trash. They arent sent registered so they cant prove you ever received one. It's not the patriotic thing to do but at this juncture I cant afford to be on a jury either. It sounds like they took him out of the system since the phone call showed nothing. In the future, just dont respond. The juror pool is very full, there area always plenty of willing participants.

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J.K.

answers from Phoenix on

If you didn't hear back, then you must go. I would think that your husband would be excused considering your circumstance. Good luck!

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D.P.

answers from Seattle on

I wrote a letter asking to be excused (SAHM, no babysitter or family to leave young kiddo) and was told if I DIDN'T hear back, I was excused. I didn't hear back, I didn't go, and there were no repercussions. Do you still have the summons? Check the fine print about the procedures for being excused and see if this is the same for your husband.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

I forgot jury duty one time and only received a letter stating that I'd missed and please don't miss next time or something like that. I'd just not go. It does sound like they've taken his name off the list.

I postponed jury duty just last month because I'm taking care of my grandchildren for the summer. No problem. At my request they rescheduled me for next month. I've begged off jury duty more than once. The jury coordinator will accept any reasonable excuse.

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S.O.

answers from San Antonio on

I was summoned 3 times when I had kids at home under the age of 10. On the back of the jury summons was the Bailiff's number to call if you could not make it. One should call that number immediately when the summons is received. A letter does NOT help. He has to call in person.

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L.M.

answers from New York on

He needs to report for jury duty if not he will be in violation and subject to penalties.

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E.S.

answers from Jacksonville on

When I needed to be excused once, it was explained to me that you can be excused 3 times without penalty. That was awhile ago so it may have changed, but he's probably ok. I would have him call to check.

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B.A.

answers from Chicago on

Legally he can be issued a warrant for his arrest if he is a no show. This is not a legal cost you can afford either. He needs to show and plead his case to the judge and attorneys.

If he is an apprentice for a union they usally have some sort of set up for jury duty and monitery reimbursement.

If he shows his jury summons to his boss, his boss should understand that legally he has to go.

Most companies have a compensation system in place unless they are really small. Ours you turn over your "jury paycheck" signed and they in turn pay you your normal days wages minus shift differentials. If he works for a small company that does not do this then he does need to plead his case with the judge and possibly get his boss to write a letter stating the only compensation he will receive is the jury pay while he is away from the job.
I would not ignore this unless you are planning a move out of the area soon. Not a situation you need if money is tight.

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