Employers warned about threatening jurors with salary deduction

by Linda Straker

• Employees selected as jurors must not have salary or wages deducted
• Jury Act 31 of 2015 provides penalties for employers who violate legislation
• Section 15 sub section 4 provides for fine not exceeding $1,000 on summary conviction

Howard Pinnock, Senior Crown Counsel in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions wants employers to know that it is a violation of the 2015 Jury Act to prohibit, threaten or deduct salary or wages from employees who are selected to serve as jurors at the High Court during criminal assizes.

“Some employees who have been selected to serve as jurors have been complaining to the registrar, saying that they have been having issues with their employers,” Pinnock said in an interview with the media following the opening of the September assizes. “This is a problem because if they are called to serve, they are required to be in a certain frame of mind where they must be comfortable. They must not be serving and at the back of their minds they have to wonder, are we going to lose our job? Are we going to lose pay?”

Pinnock pointed out that the Jury Act 31 of 2015 provides penalties for employers who violate that legislation. The Jury Act provides for the modernisation and enhancement of the jury system and for related matters. Section 15 sub section 4 states that an employer who contravenes that law commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.

The legislation states, “An employer of a person who is serving, has served or is qualified to serve, as a juror shall not:–

1. require the person to pay the employer, or any other person, any fees payable to him or her as a juror under this Act
2. deduct any sum from the remuneration of the person
3. require as a term or condition of employment that a sum be deducted from the remuneration of that person; or
4. directly or indirectly penalise that person in any way including — in relation to access to opportunities for promotion, transfer, training or any other benefits, facilities or services; or dismissing or threatening to dismiss the person or subjecting or threatening to subject the person to any other detriment, on account of the fact that the person is serving, has served or is qualified to serve, as a juror.

In Grenada, every person who —

1. is of an age not less than 21 years but not exceeding 65 years
2. is a citizen of and residing in Grenada; and
3. owns real property in Grenada with a minimum value of $2,000 or is in receipt of a salary or source of income of not less than $200 per annum, is qualified and liable to serve as a juror.

The only exemptions are

1. Members of the Cabinet, Members of Parliament, and all persons who have served in the Parliament for an aggregate term of 6 years
2. public officers in any office specified in the First Schedule
3. ministers of religion
4. principals of schools
5. attorneys-at-law
6. legal clerks in actual practice
7. medical practitioners registered pursuant to the Health Practitioner’s Act, Chapter 132, and
8. pilots.

The public officers exempted are:

• The Permanent Secretary to any ministry of Government
• Chief Personnel Officer of the Public Service Commission
• Director of Audit
• Director of Public Prosecutions
• Magistrate and staff of the Magistrate’s Court
• Member of the Integrity Commission
• Member of the Royal Grenada Police Force
• Personal Assistant to the Governor-General
• Registrar of the Supreme Court and staff of the Supreme Court
• Secretary to the Cabinet
• Supervisor of Elections

While the people disqualified from serving as jurors are:

1. a person who is unable to speak, read and write English
2. a person who has a physical or mental condition which impairs the person’s capacity or ability to conveniently and fully discharge the duties of a juror, including a state of being deaf, mute, blind or of unsound mind
3. a person who has been convicted of any offence with a maximum penalty of imprisonment for a term of 3 years or more and has not received a free pardon in respect of the conviction
4. a person who has been convicted of any offence which, in the opinion of the Registrar in the revision of the list, or of the Judge in Chambers on an appeal, renders the person unfit for service as a juror.