Irish Jury Service for Northern Ireland workers!

marathonic

Hi,

I've been summoned for Jury Duty in the Republic. I work for a Northern Ireland company and their Jury Duty policy only covers Northern Ireland - where they reduce your pay if the duty is more than 8 hours and you apply to the court for reimbursement for loss of earnings.

Do I have an opt-out option working in Northern Ireland or should my company have a different policy for the South?

Reloc8

Very good question.

You are in a bit of a lacunae in the law I think. Presumably you're registered to vote and what not down here but your company is definitely a Northern Ireland registered company ?

You being registered to vote makes you liable to perform jury duty - under S. 6 of the Juries Act 1976.

S. 29 of that Act says that any provision of a contract which prevents you being paid whilst on a jury is void. The High Court also has powers of summary trial and unlimited jurisdiction in respect of any person who puts an impediment in the way of a juror serving on a jury.

However if you're employer is Northern Ireland incorporated those provisions can't be enforced.

S. 9(2) of the Juries Act permits the County Registrar to excuse a person if he or she shows a good reason that he or she be excused and in your case I would put in a telephone call and explain your situation, that you won't be paid etc. and you will quite likely be excused - you may be asked to send a letter. The thing is you should do this now well advance of your service commencing.

I think your company might very well have an issue in not providing for jury service down south, on grounds that this might be discriminatory on nationality grounds.