Should I cash this check?
October 2, 2009 11:56 AM Subscribe
I served on grand jury duty and received a check today for the standard $40 a day. However, I had told the court previously that my job did not dock my pay, so I should not receive a check for my service. Should I cash it?
I called today and asked what I should do with this check since I was not supposed to receive it, and the court official told me to go ahead & cash it. Is this legal? She said I do not have to report it and that it is already mine. I do not want this to come back to hurt me, and I feel uneasy about cashing it.
I called today and asked what I should do with this check since I was not supposed to receive it, and the court official told me to go ahead & cash it. Is this legal? She said I do not have to report it and that it is already mine. I do not want this to come back to hurt me, and I feel uneasy about cashing it.
You don't state where you are, but I strongly doubt that any jurisdiction of any size is going to be so financially bereft that an errant forty-dollar check is going to make the difference between a balanced budget and financial ruin for them, and thus I'm pretty sure that they would consider such a mistake not worth the bother of correcting.
Besides, if you do cash it and they change their minds, what's the worst that would happen? they ask to to return the money, you write them a check for $40, everyone's happy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:02 PM on October 2, 2009
Besides, if you do cash it and they change their minds, what's the worst that would happen? they ask to to return the money, you write them a check for $40, everyone's happy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:02 PM on October 2, 2009
You returning the check will probably cost them more than $40 in time and paperwork.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:05 PM on October 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by blue_beetle at 12:05 PM on October 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Cash it and donate it to the public defender's office.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009 [9 favorites]
posted by JohnnyGunn at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009 [9 favorites]
AIUI you're being compensated for the expenses you'd incur being on the jury (gas or bus fare, buying lunch, etc.). Taking time off work and spending it on the jury is something you're doing gratis, your duty as a citizen.
Last time I was on jury duty they gave me the option of donating the money to help run the daycare they provide for jurors, which seemed like a fine idea.
posted by hattifattener at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009
Last time I was on jury duty they gave me the option of donating the money to help run the daycare they provide for jurors, which seemed like a fine idea.
posted by hattifattener at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009
Don't know where you are, but in California, jurors get checks whether their jobs dock their pay or not. It's not replacement money because your work won't pay for jury duty (my jury money was something like $17/day). It's travel + thanks-for-your-service money.
posted by rtha at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by rtha at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009
Whenever I have been called for jury duty they have never asked me if I get docked (I don't) and so I got both the jury duty money and my regular pay. Never caused a problem with either work or the court.
posted by TedW at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
(er, for the jurors' children, that is…)
posted by hattifattener at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by hattifattener at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
I have no idea about the legalities, but if you're just worried about whether taking $40 is fair, well, of course it is. Even if your employer gave you the same amount of dollars as if you had showed up, you still lost a day of work. Now you need to go back to work and work harder in a shorter period of time for the same money you would have gotten. That merits more compensation than usual. This is why they say, "Time is money."
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2009
Some employers will pay you for time spent on a jury in return for that check. I forget their reasoning- it's not actually financial, because in the company I'm thinking about, it cost more to process than the $15 check was worth.
posted by small_ruminant at 12:12 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by small_ruminant at 12:12 PM on October 2, 2009
I think you are supposed to sign it over to your employer. Go talk to them about it.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:14 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:14 PM on October 2, 2009
The worst that might happen is you'd have to pay it back.
posted by Obscure Reference at 12:15 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by Obscure Reference at 12:15 PM on October 2, 2009
I would check on your company policy. Every company I worked for required me to turn the check over to them.
posted by thewalrusispaul at 12:16 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by thewalrusispaul at 12:16 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Going further with that train of thought; irregardless of your company policy, it would probably be appreciated if you did broach the subject and offer to turn the money in to your company. Either it's expected or they'd appreciate the gesture. Sounds like a cheap price for some good will to me. Might get you nothing, might get you noticed, depends on the people in the company. Either way, good karma.
posted by empyrean at 12:37 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by empyrean at 12:37 PM on October 2, 2009
To folks who think this is a $40 check, the poster served on a grand jury and received $40 a day. Most grand juries are empaneled for a few weeks or longer - when I was summoned it was to last just over a month.
posted by exogenous at 12:44 PM on October 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
posted by exogenous at 12:44 PM on October 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
I have to give mine to my employer.
posted by purenitrous at 12:47 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by purenitrous at 12:47 PM on October 2, 2009
When I went to serve for jury duty, I received two checks. One was for daily parking/travel/etc, and that was for me to keep. The other was for my time (I think $15/day), and that I was required to sign over to my employer in exchange for them paying my wage.
posted by bookdragoness at 1:09 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by bookdragoness at 1:09 PM on October 2, 2009
The last time I served jury duty were were given the choice between cashing the check and donating it to one of several local causes. Everybody wins.
posted by Alison at 2:12 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by Alison at 2:12 PM on October 2, 2009
It has nothing to do with the court, it has everything to do with your employer. Check with your payroll people at work, the policy is either you compensate your employer the amount the court paid (which I doubt), or they don't care.
posted by HuronBob at 2:44 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by HuronBob at 2:44 PM on October 2, 2009
"regardless of your company policy, it would probably be appreciated if you did broach the subject and offer to turn the money in to your company. Either it's expected or they'd appreciate the gesture. Sounds like a cheap price for some good will to me. Might get you nothing, might get you noticed, depends on the people in the company. Either way, good karma."
Wow! You all must work for really nice people. Or some right bastards. Until I saw these remarks, it was inconceivable to me that a company, even if they paid for this duty, would accept, much less demand, pay for jury duty. Bad karma for them as accept it, I says.
Taking it to a further level- would they demand (or even dream of accepting) payback from a National Guarder going off to Afghanistan? Try that and they would be boycotted out of existance. Or at least I hope they would be.
If anyone here sees a difference in kind rather than in degree here, please notify.
posted by IndigoJones at 2:48 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Wow! You all must work for really nice people. Or some right bastards. Until I saw these remarks, it was inconceivable to me that a company, even if they paid for this duty, would accept, much less demand, pay for jury duty. Bad karma for them as accept it, I says.
Taking it to a further level- would they demand (or even dream of accepting) payback from a National Guarder going off to Afghanistan? Try that and they would be boycotted out of existance. Or at least I hope they would be.
If anyone here sees a difference in kind rather than in degree here, please notify.
posted by IndigoJones at 2:48 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Agree- if your company paid you while you were serving, then you should sign the check over to them.
posted by gjc at 2:51 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by gjc at 2:51 PM on October 2, 2009
if your company paid you while you were serving, then you should sign the check over to them.
You only "should" if it's company policy. I've never worked for a place that made me sign a jury check over to them.
posted by rtha at 3:23 PM on October 2, 2009
You only "should" if it's company policy. I've never worked for a place that made me sign a jury check over to them.
posted by rtha at 3:23 PM on October 2, 2009
No, you "should" if you have any ethics. They didn't have to pay you, you don't have to sign the check over. Since they did pay you, you should at least offer...
posted by gjc at 3:30 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by gjc at 3:30 PM on October 2, 2009
Don't know where you are, but in California, jurors get checks whether their jobs dock their pay or not. It's not replacement money because your work won't pay for jury duty (my jury money was something like $17/day). It's travel + thanks-for-your-service money.
Not if you work for the state, you don't get the money. At all. Just figured I'd let the other Californians know this.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:19 PM on October 2, 2009
Not if you work for the state, you don't get the money. At all. Just figured I'd let the other Californians know this.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:19 PM on October 2, 2009
Wait, what? I've never worked anywhere that would want the money that the state gives you for jury duty. That's insane.
posted by klangklangston at 4:36 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by klangklangston at 4:36 PM on October 2, 2009
There may be differences between whether you're salaried or hourly.
When I processed payroll and had hourly employees on Jury Duty, we always asked for a copy of the receipt for their jury pay. If an eight hour day usually paid $100 and jury duty was $40, we would give them $60 in Jury Duty pay for the missed day. If their pay for jury duty was only a few dollars and labeled as transportation cost, then we'd pay them the entire $100 in Jury Duty pay.
Things may be different for a non-exempt worker though, but if you work for a largish corporation, it should be spelled out in the Time-off section of the employee manual.
posted by saffry at 4:43 PM on October 2, 2009
When I processed payroll and had hourly employees on Jury Duty, we always asked for a copy of the receipt for their jury pay. If an eight hour day usually paid $100 and jury duty was $40, we would give them $60 in Jury Duty pay for the missed day. If their pay for jury duty was only a few dollars and labeled as transportation cost, then we'd pay them the entire $100 in Jury Duty pay.
Things may be different for a non-exempt worker though, but if you work for a largish corporation, it should be spelled out in the Time-off section of the employee manual.
posted by saffry at 4:43 PM on October 2, 2009
Nowhere I've ever worked has asked for a court cheque (jury duty or witness payment). It's never been been equivalent to a day's pay, and it's always been mine. Read your employment policies, but signing it over to them would be unusual every place I've worked (always been salaried, perhaps it's different if you're paid hourly - but read your workplace's jury duty policy to find out for sure).
posted by goo at 5:49 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by goo at 5:49 PM on October 2, 2009
The fact that you still haven't cashed it after being told explicitly you should by someone in semi-authority means, to me, that you have some ethical compunction against it that you shouldn't override.
posted by salvia at 6:59 PM on October 2, 2009
posted by salvia at 6:59 PM on October 2, 2009
If your employer is still paying for your time while you're on jury duty, you're effectively giving your employer's time to the court, not your own. So any compensation the court pays for the time should rightfully go your employer.
If you're using your own time i.e. self-employed, or your jury time is unpaid, then of course you can keep the money.
posted by dave99 at 8:14 AM on October 3, 2009
If you're using your own time i.e. self-employed, or your jury time is unpaid, then of course you can keep the money.
posted by dave99 at 8:14 AM on October 3, 2009
Don't be silly; only give the money to your employer if it's policy. And even if it is policy, wait for them to ask for it.
posted by spaltavian at 8:44 AM on October 3, 2009
posted by spaltavian at 8:44 AM on October 3, 2009
If your employer is still paying for your time while you're on jury duty, you're effectively giving your employer's time to the court, not your own.
Even if the fact that he missed work causes him to have a more daunting workload when he returns to his job?
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:42 PM on October 3, 2009
Even if the fact that he missed work causes him to have a more daunting workload when he returns to his job?
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:42 PM on October 3, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 12:01 PM on October 2, 2009