Can a company fire you for falling behind due to jury duty?

Question

I am at a sensitive time at work where I can't fall behind. I got called in for jury duty today and it looks like I will be on a case until Wed or Thur of next week. This will cause me to miss a month-end deadline. I am worried a company can fire me for this. They obviously won't do it during jury duty since that is against the law for them. But if jury duty caused me to miss a deadline and they fire me later, would that be wrongful termination?

Answer 1

no they can't fire you, but you need to have let them know before hand.  also the ballifs office or the person in charge of juriors can give you a statement that you were actually at jury duty. this helps.  if the company does fire you for this you can go to the labor board and show these items it can force the company to defend itself in court.  if it is possible it would be better to have someone else at your job assume some or all of your duties for the duration of your jury duty.

Answer 2

it probably is wrongful termination, then again, they could argue that you had a month to finish the work and that you shouldn't have left it to the last minute.

Answer 3

Maybe. Can you go in over the long weekend to catch up? Even if you can't meet the deadline it will show great dedication that you were willing to put in extra time and effort.

Answer 4

I'm almost 100% positive they can't first off why would they want to it's just a few days. If they did, and you can prove they did it because of jury duty, then you could probably sue. If they wanted to, they might be able to blame it on something else. If you can not prove that the motive was jury duty then they would probably get away with it. In this scenario however I'm sure that i they did fire you, you could easily sue. I highly recommend that you let your boss know what will happen however.

Answer 5

They can't fire you for jury duty, but if they have other reasons for wanting to get rid of you, they might use those to get rid of you. Just go to your boss and explain. Ask for something in writing, to protect yourself.

Answer 6

You MAY be able to avoid jury duty, if your employer provides a letter claiming a sever impact on the business because of your abscense.  Its worth a try if your case hasnt already started.

Answer 7

If they do, you can "fire right back" by hiring the best Employment Law attorney you can find and suing them for everything they are worth.  And don't take my word for it.  Tell the Judge you are being harassed by your employer because you served jury duty.

Answer 8

tell your employer ASAP that you believe the jury duty will impact your ability to meet your deadline.  If your employer needs you bad enough, they will take action to get you out of jury duty.