# Jury Duty and Self Employed



## Annie51 (15 Feb 2011)

I have been called for jury duty, but I am self employed and cannot afford to take time off work to attend.  Can I use being 'self employed' as an excuse.


----------



## Time (16 Feb 2011)

You can ask the registrar to excuse you on that basis. I wouldn't hold out much hope.


----------



## Sunny (16 Feb 2011)

They are usually pretty understanding about not being able to do Jury duty. Just contact them and explain the situation.


----------



## shesells (16 Feb 2011)

Annie51 said:


> I have been called for jury duty, but I am self employed and cannot afford to take time off work to attend.  Can I use being 'self employed' as an excuse.



Nope - there was a high profile case in Limerick a few years ago where a guy was going to go out of business if he had to serve, a friend of mine is a journalist and said this guy's story was heartbreaking but no exception was made for him.


----------



## Berni (16 Feb 2011)

I think as long as you can show good reason why you should be excused, it is possible.

From the Juries Act (section 9.2) 





> (2) A county registrar may excuse any person whom he  has summoned as a juror from attendance during the whole or any part of  the sittings in question if that person shows to the registrar's  satisfaction that there is good reason why he should be so excused.



From Citizens info: 





> If you are self-employed and work alone and where your attendance at  jury service may mean you cannot earn a living, you may qualify for  excusal from jury service. Contact the jury office of the Court for more  information.


http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/courtroom/jury_service.html


----------



## TwoWheels (16 Feb 2011)

Could you not just make it clear that you have racist/sexist/other beliefs that would exclude you from serving on a jury at selection ?


----------



## Sunny (16 Feb 2011)

shesells said:


> Nope - there was a high profile case in Limerick a few years ago where a guy was going to go out of business if he had to serve, a friend of mine is a journalist and said this guy's story was heartbreaking but no exception was made for him.


 
Don't know that case but it must have been unique. I have seen self employed people get off, people with holidays get off, people with young kids get off. They are not there to ruin your life. It's your civic duty to serve but if you can't, you can't. It really isn't a big deal. It's one of the reasons why jury pools are so large compared to the amount of jurors they need at a given time.


----------



## Annie51 (16 Feb 2011)

Thanks for all the advise.


----------



## huskerdu (17 Feb 2011)

TwoWheels said:


> Could you not just make it clear that you have racist/sexist/other beliefs that would exclude you from serving on a jury at selection ?



If they started excluding people with racist/sexist or other unacceptable views, the number of people available would be even less than now !!!!

Anyway, there is no jury selection  in Ireland, like there is on the telly. 

All the potential jurists sit in a waiting room next to the court room.  The judge pulls names from a tombola. When your name is called, you enter the court room. Either barrister can object to you, but they do not get to ask you anything, they just get to look at you. You could try to look like someone they would object to, but that is a bit of a lottery. If you are rejected, you go back to the waiting room and wait for the next trial to start.  Once the juries for the day are called, everyone else goes home and comes back the next day, to start all over again.


----------



## liaconn (17 Feb 2011)

I got off on the grounds that my sister was getting married that week. I don't think they're as strict as people make out. My friend got off because she had baby twins. They _are _reasonable.


----------



## Time (17 Feb 2011)

They are very reasonable in excusing people for genuine reasons.


----------



## thesimpsons (19 Feb 2011)

TwoWheels said:


> Could you not just make it clear that you have racist/sexist/other beliefs that would exclude you from serving on a jury at selection ?


 

I'm none of the above but I do have a fear that I would either not be able to concentrate enough on the finer details to make a proper judgement decision which will affect someone's life or that I or my family could be intimidated if I was involved in a high profile case.  

I don't have a problem with concentration or anything like that but I have sat in on trials previously and found some of the details mind-mumbingly boring.  As a jurior you just can't afford to loose concentration like that.


----------



## Complainer (19 Feb 2011)

Given your name, you might think about following Homer's example and getting a pair of stay-awake glasses.

[broken link removed]


----------



## ajapale (19 Feb 2011)

Thread split and moved from Employee Rights to Miscellaneous Non-financial Questions

which is where jury duty has been discussed in the past in AAM.


----------



## tomfox3 (27 Mar 2012)

Hi all, I appreciate the advise in here. For the self employed people who got off, did you just return the form with a 2 or 3 line explanation or did you actually call the Jury office? 
I am self employed IT contractor and work by myself for myself. Missing even 2 or 3 days would cause me undue financial strain and affect my ability to meet my financial commitments. Ironically I always wanted to serve on a Jury, but was made redundant in Oct 2010 and have worked as a contractor day to day since as I could not find perm work as easily as I had hoped. Any advice appreciated.


----------



## Time (27 Mar 2012)

You send back the form. Don't bother phoning.


----------



## tomfox3 (27 Mar 2012)

ok. The space on the enclosed form is barely enough for 2 sentences. Is there anything particular to emphasize in that space I wonder?

Also, it says to enclose the form in the enclosed pre-paid envelope. There is no envelope in the letter I received.
I guess I just write FREEPOST at the top of my own envelope? hmmm :/


----------



## Time (27 Mar 2012)

Surely you can pay 55 cent? 

Tell them you are self employed and attending will put your livelihood at risk.


----------



## tomfox3 (27 Mar 2012)

Time said:


> Surely you can pay 55 cent?
> 
> Tell them you are self employed and attending will put your livelihood at risk.




hehe. Of course I can pay 55cent. I was more concerned about getting the  correct address. i.e. address it to the courts registrar I presume. 

Thanks for your reply. I'll do that.


----------



## Smashbox (30 Mar 2012)

I was once going to be on holiday when called so I told them this. Never got called again and that was about 5 years ago.


----------

