During the negotiations for the 2023-2024 Court Office Technical contract, several members brought it to UPE’s attention that Court supervisors and managers often interfere with UPE members’ jury duty in order to further Court operations. Employees will report to the Courthouse for jury duty only to be intercepted by management and told that they need to work and that their jury duty ‘has been taken care of.’
UPE brought this up at the contract negotiations and proposed language forbidding management from interfering with an employee’s civic duty. In addition, California Labor Code Section 230 forbids employers from discriminating against an employee for taking time off for jury duty. California Civil Code Section 204 limits the reasons one can be excused for jury duty, and ‘my employer wants me to keep working’ is not one of the reasons. Employers can face legal action for interfering with jury duty.
Despite this, Court management continues to interfere in employees’ jury duty. Members continue to report their supervisors and managers are stopping them from reporting for jury duty and then speaking to Jury Services to ‘take care of it.’
In order to help further address this issue, UPE needs its members’ help. If you have experienced employer interference with your jury duty, please contact your UPE Business Agent, Seth Alexander, at alexander@upe1.org or 916-736-9503. UPE wants to compile a list of examples and the names of supervisors and managers who have violated both our contract and the law.