Is going on vacation a valid excuse to miss jury duty?

Question

In May I was called for jury duty (PA). I sent the form back in and was willing to go but when the day came I forgot to go. Recently I got a second notice to attend in August, except this time it will be right in the middle of my vacation (driving to Canada). Is this a valid excuse. Should I send a letter explaining my situation and request a third date?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Normally, the courts will be willing to re-schedule your jury duty if you say that you are going on vacation.

However the fact that you already failed to appear once is not going to get you a lot of sympathy from them.

Answer 2

You should call the courthouse and ask who is in charge of jury duty. You will probably end up talking to a court secretary who will forward your information to a judge. It will help if you have any supporting documents to show that you will be away. After that it will up to a the judge to decide. It depends on how reasonable he or she wants to be.

I actually did this once and had to go to the courthouse and show my airplane tickets. I got rescheduled but then never got called for duty.

Answer 3

Here's the thing -- you need to know for absolute sure BEFORE you leave that it is ok with the jury authority and has been rescheduled. Don't just go and then claim that you sent them a letter and assumed they would reschedule you. A person who fails to attend jury service may be arrested, so this is an important matter to handle correctly.

Answer 4

Go to the courthouse and ask if you can be rescheduled, if not, then you might consider rescheduling your vacation for a week before or after your jury duty. (It might be a way to get more time off from work without repercussions, if that is your kind of thing. :-))

Or:

Another option is to get a letter from your employer stating they do not pay for jury duty. This is also an acceptable excuse as it might be too much of a financial hardship. In most jurisdictions, this is a valid excuse for a waiver.

Answer 5

No but it is a valid reason to ask to be rescheduled.

Answer 6

yes but you need to notify the elections board in your county and tell them that you have planned this vacation before you got your summons and they will reschedule you.   i did this last dec here in california and that is what they did for me.  not showing up or calling is the worsed thing to do.  they can't eat you yet.