Jury duty: Punitive pay rate must change

Re: “Treat jury duty with respect it deserves,” (TNT, local viewpoint, 9/15).

As Pierce County Superior Court Judge Garold E Johnson stated, jury duty is important.

But it’s hard to justify losing at the very least a week’s worth of pay for $10 a day. Most employers won’t make up the difference, and even if I collect unemployment for that week or longer, I make less then half as much as I would make at my job.

Judge Johnson and his colleagues collect their salary and pension, jury or not.

Pay people their worldly salaries and you will fill the jury seats. It’s as simple as that. Or fill juries with retired people.

I’ve had four summons over the course of my life. Two were near the Christmas holiday and I knew the docket would be slow, so I did my check-ins. The other two I had my employer write a letter asking for excusal.

I work construction, and if I had gotten my summons while unemployed, I would gladly serve.

Washington state’s minimum wage is $12 an hour, and some cities like Tacoma are even higher. It’s time to update an antiquated system.

This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 5:09 PM.