Nanny on Jury Service

[fionatate]

Hi everyone,

My nanny has been called on Jury Service. She's already deferred it once previously because of a holiday, so it's going to be really difficult for her to defer again.

I know she can claim back loss of earnings, but that only covers half of her salary (she works three long days for us). We'll need to pay for a temp to cover the time she's away and we are going to really feel the pinch if we have to cover both (even just the top up). I'm just wondering what options we have that I may have not thought of, or if anyone's been in the same situation and what did you do.

Thanks!

She can say that she cant as it's detrimental to her boss and you can write a letter saying that she really can't do it.

I don't think you are obligated to pay the difference between her normal salary and what she can claim back from the courts.

She could try asking for a further deferment. The combination of her losing money due to the courts paying only a small amount for loss of earnings and you having to pay for another nanny could be seen as an appropriate reason, especially if either party can demonstrate it would cause hardship.

Or could you and your DH take 3 days leave each as an alternative to a temporary nanny? It would then be up to you whether you covered the difference in her normal earnings and what the court reimburses. You don't have to, but some employers do, but many don't.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. She really wants to do the jury service and I'm trying to work out how we can facilitate it. We've already had to take some leave for holiday that she'd booked before she started with us, and with our oldest daughter in school we'd rather reserve the remainder of our holiday for the school holidays if we can.

I think we'll have to offer her the choice of either us trying to get her excused, or her taking the half pay for the first ten days and see what she wants to do.

Thanks again

You are under no obligation to make up the difference between her lost wage and what the court will pay her.

PS is she also aware that court cases can go on for months?! (Unlikely but always a possibility)

I definitely wouldn't offer to make up the pay - she might be there for months and if there is no financial disadvantage to her she might find it easier than nannying and not protest too much about being allocated to a long trial.....

I was on a murder trial for 8 weeks. She might not be done quickly!

Wow - thanks all for the words of warning. I'll see if I can persuade her it's not a great idea!

You can't persuade her not to. As her employer you're legally obligated to let her attend and she can't opt out. As others have said, you do not have to pay her the difference though.

m.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1898

She may not get chosen

Our p/t nanny did jury service for 2 weeks and we topped her up but only because we wanted to make sure she could pay her bills. It's a civic duty to do jury service and you should try to facilitate that as an employer if you can. I think the court payment is £60 plus lunch and travel? But it was a few years ago now.

We took annual leave to cover her days off, but I agree that we wouldn't have been able to do that if she had been put on a long case.

When you are on a long case I think your daily court payments increase to cover the additional inconvenience too. 2 weeks is the norm I think.

www.gov.uk/jury-service/what-you-can-claim

I work for one of the largest employers in europe 500000 employees and they don’t even make up the shortfall in wages.

There is always the chance she may not even sit on a case then you have a problem that you have arranged cover that’s not needed.

She could take it as paid holiday for you as I’m sure you give her holiday pay as it’s the law!

And I don’t think you can get out of it unless she gets herself arrested beforehand

Hi All,

Thanks again. We do, of course, give her holiday pay, but she is pretty much out of holiday for this year (and she's not even halfway through), and I'm also not sure it's totally legal for us to make her take her Jury Service as holiday.

I will make sure she understands the financial implications for her if she does it (because we can't pay another nanny, and half of her wages), and if that makes it unfeasible for her she will need to make that case to try and get herself excused. In the meantime I am trying to arrange a temporary nanny to cover the time she needs - it just all has costs associated with it, and it's frustrating that those costs aren't considered. But as a member of a society that benefits from trial by jury I guess I have to accept it.

Thanks again everyone

Can you spread her hours over the five days rather than the three? That might cover all the loss of earnings hours then? Tick the box saying she can’t return for half days/full days as you need to cover other childcare. It might help make up her loss of earnings to a level you can both manage. You aren’t obligated to pay her the extra, although it’s nice if you can.