The Imperfect Community

[Princesso]

grrr on jury duty in California. I got called when Avery was a month old and I asked them if they had pumping facilities and when they said no I told them the better let me off then as squirting milk all over the jury box was bound to be distracting. I got called again when I was on bedrest with Jaime and they didn't want to let me off since I had been postponed once. My dr even faxed them papers saying that doing jury duty could cause my daughter to be born at 28 weeks. They still wouldn't let me off. They finally let me off when I said I was going to get a lawyer and sue them if something happened to Jaime. They should be more understanding about things.

[Petulant Pixie]

I don't actually know the laws in my state. Or the state I was living in at the time (TX, I believe). I guess I should know my stuff before I go spouting off

[Scout]

I got called to jury duty when Joshua was a newborn. I got hi ped to write a note saying he was exc. breasfed and that it would be necessary for me to be able to pump or have him brought to me to be fed at intervals. But then when I got to the thing where they give you your dates, they gave us this long spiel about how they do not let anyone off, even if you are a surgeon or you own and operate a biz and serving means having to be closed those days. Then they said they allow teachers, doctors, and Real Estate agents ( ) to pick a date up to 12 months out, so I was able to pick dates when Joshua was closer to a year and I could go several hours without discomfort.

I think it's shitty about small business owners, too. That is someone's livelihood, you know?

[Petulant Pixie]

Well, I've done some investigating into the laws regarding jury duty, and as I thought...most of the web sites that give such information give it in the context of breastfeeding and jury duty--not just having small children.

Also, I found a web site that lists "family friendly" jury duty. And, as an example, they gave the exemption for this state:

[Sewingsiren]

[Petulant Pixie]

I don't think that the 1865 was the year. I'm not sure what that number was, but I don't think it was a date.

Interestingly enough, though, when I searched the state's jury service website, it said nothing about any exemptions for child care. So, I don't even know how reliable that website is.

Apparently MY state has no standard exemptions for child care. You can send in a request for a delay, and they decide if it's worthy. My county, however, gives you $50 a day for day care expenses if you're the primary caregiver for a child under 10 (I guess that means that 10 year-olds are able to be left home alone all day???), which wouldn't really help either, since we don't have anyone that could care for the kids during the day.

I know, this has gotten waaaay off topic, but my original point was, if I were breastfeeding and called, then I'd have all sorts of organizations to back me up.