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fired from work because of jury duty

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justalayman

Senior Member
don't take my prior statements as condemning you in this situation. I was simply tossing out possibilities.


were you paid for the day due to jury duty?


You stated that they fired you for violating a company policy. What was that policy?
 


jkmo

Junior Member
the policy doesn't say anything but to send in your summons to Human Resources after I come back. But the day I came back I was asked for a letter of attendance. I called the courthouse for a letter of summons, THey sent a letter stating I was summons to Jury duty for two days and that I did make myself available but was excused and that my jury service was complete.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Okay, let's clear this up right now.

Is there a written company policy that says that if you are not needed for jury duty, that you are to report to work? Yes or no.

Does your employer have a policy of paying for jury duty?
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
I am at a loss to understand what swalsh is talking about.
What was not clear?

All signs point to OP being fired either because he did not report to work after he was sent home after an hour or putting in for a full day of jury duty pay that he was not entitled to. Either would be legal reasons to terminate. Nothing the OP has posted makes me think he was fired because he served on a jury. OP is either not understanding this or is purposefully being evasive.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
I'm still waiting for the employee to verify that such a policy exists, or that he applied for what you call "jury duty pay" which, btw, is not required in PA.
 
But you were needed to call in (ie you were on standby) during a time period that you would have been working, correct?

I don't think the law supports employees running off to work w/a couple of hours left on their shift between being let off duty to the end of your work day.

In your case, you called in at 9am (normal work start time, 7 am)...you were dismissed from jury duty. You did not go to work. If you had been able to get to work, when your you have gotten there? noon? - need to dress, etc.. maybe you were dressed for jury duty, who knows?.....

I think your employer is splitting hairs and may be on the wrong side on this one. NOBODY comes into work on a jury duty day...even if they are dismissed.

IMO, the employer is wrong.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Okay, regarding unemployment insurance. File a claim for benefits right away. NOW. Then they will go through this whole business, sift and sort, follow the laws of your state, look at your company policies, your individual situation, and determined whether the company had a valid misconduct reason to terminate.

It sounds as though you are dealing with an overly fire-happy H.R. at your job, because you don't have a clue, and it sounds as though some of the things you have picked up from your HR is not accurate. If they are in the business of trying to cut their higher paid staff, they are lying in wait for reasons they can fire you. And yes, they have the right to do this. It's legal to fire employees, with or without a good reason.

But they certainly don't get to say whether or not you get unemployment benefits. What you do is file the claim, telling the exact verbage you were given and what happened to you the last day you worked, or didn't work as this case may be. The unemployment system will then look at the employer's policies, what they received from the civil authorities, your past attendance, all these factors and determine if the company had a valid misconduct reason to terminate you.

You do not take this company's word for anything at this point. They are not your friends, and will not tell you anything straight concerning unemployment or your rights. This general release they are asking you to sign is another thing that sounds like an over zealous HR folks who think they're smart. You can not sign away your rights. (COBRA coverage, minimum wage, unemployment benefits, right to sue if EEOC rights are violated)

Those types of agreements may make you think you can't get this, do this, or file this, but actually, you still can, no matter what you've signed. And though they threaten, I don't think they can take COBRA away from you based on this termination, whether you sign the release or not. But I'm not seeing any downside to signing any release. I don't think you would have any grounds to sue the company anyway that I'm hearing. You'll go on and file for your unemployment benefits at once, and the wage and hour division of your state will probably be the ones to talk to about COBRA coverage. You other folks correct me if I'm wrong about that, I'm not really a COBRA expert.
 
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cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
EVEN IF all the jumping to conclusions certain other posters are doing is correct, and EVEN IF the company manages to dodge the bullet on this termination (which is akin to firing someone who just came back from a workers comp claim or FMLA on the basis that they clocked in incorrectly) they absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, withhold his COBRA. They do not have to provide paid COBRA; they must allow him access to it at his own cost. No matter what justification they use for firing him, unless he is fired for GROSS misconduct (simple misconduct alone is not enough) COBRA is mandatory. While the COBRA statute does not define gross misconduct, the rule of thumb most HR professionals are taught to use is, if no one can prosecute, it's not gross misconduct. COBRA is a very employee friendly benefit and it would be a foolish employer who did not err on the side of caution.

But until the employee comes back and answers the questions in my last post, I am not making any assumptions.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
EVEN IF all the jumping to conclusions certain other posters are doing is correct, and EVEN IF the company manages to dodge the bullet on this termination (which is akin to firing someone who just came back from a workers comp claim or FMLA on the basis that they clocked in incorrectly) they absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, withhold his COBRA. They do not have to provide paid COBRA; they must allow him access to it at his own cost. No matter what justification they use for firing him, unless he is fired for GROSS misconduct (simple misconduct alone is not enough) COBRA is mandatory. While the COBRA statute does not define gross misconduct, the rule of thumb most HR professionals are taught to use is, if no one can prosecute, it's not gross misconduct. COBRA is a very employee friendly benefit and it would be a foolish employer who did not err on the side of caution.

But until the employee comes back and answers the questions in my last post, I am not making any assumptions.
Although it is probably a non-issue here, before anyone thinks your comment goes for all terminated employees, COBRA doesn't apply to certain small businesses.

(Hopefully, this saves an unnecessary question in the future).
 

Beth3

Senior Member
Trying to sort out the actual facts from the OP in this thread is excrutiating. :(

As far as I can tell, the OP was summoned for jury duty and was dismissed after an hour. Instead of heading to work, the OP took the day off and was subsequently fired. Nothing illegal about that that I can see.

I agree that this is not grounds to withhold offering COBRA.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
I'm still waiting for the employee to confirm that there existed a policy regarding coming in to work if your jury duty did not take the full day. This is a more loaded issue than I think everyone is understanding.

YAG, your point is well taken, but I would then also remind people that many (not all, not even most, but many) states do have mini-COBRAs covering small businesses.
 

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