BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - EMPLOYEES who are called upon to serve as jurors would soon no longer have to worry about losing a portion of their wages or salaries for the time they would be performing their civic duties.
It would soon be mandatory for employers to pay their workers when they are called for jury duty and failure to do so could result in a fine of up to EC$10 000.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Hon. Patrice Nisbett will tomorrow (Ma17) introduce and pilot through the lawmaking body The Jury (Amendment) Bill 2012 at the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly.
The proposed amendment would insert a new section, 39A, which states: “Where a person is selected as a juror, the employer of that person shall be required, whilst the person is acting as a juror, to pay that person the wages or salary that would normally due to that person, as if the person were carrying out his or her regular duties, in relation to that employment.”
Another proposed amendment states: “An employer who acts in contravention of subsection (1) by refusing to pay the employee or by deducting from the wages or salary of that person for the time that he or she is selected for jury duty, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding EC$10 000.”
A third amendment states that an employer who is convicted of not paying an employee or deducting from the wage or salary of an employee who served as a juror, shall be required to remunerate the employee in question in respect of any prior non-payment or deduction from the employee’s salary or wages.
The Federation’s Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, in his opening statement on his weekly radio programme ‘Ask the PM, stated that up until now when someone decides to assume his or her civic duties by serving on a jury, they could end up losing their pay if their employers decide not to pay them for that period.
“The government, however, does not think that serving on a jury should any longer lead to a loss of income. In addition, we certainly do not want only the well-off to be able to serve…free of financial anxiety because the role of a juror is a very important one,” he explained.
The Prime Minister said that jurors are the cornerstone of the criminal justice system be it in small or large countries, and it is for this reason his government is seeking to ensure employees do not suffer financial hardship after serving in that capacity.
"It is not enough for the police to apprehend those whom the evidence implicates, and it is certainly not enough for defence attorneys and prosecutors to prepare their cases and defend the interest of their clients and the state respectively.
"There are times when the evidence needs to be assessed. The evidence needs to be weighed by members of the society and in order for this to take place there has be individuals who are ready and willing to serve as our jurors," he elucidated.
He said that his government wants the Federation to understand the enormous importance of their service to the nation in this regard.
"This, we think, you will agree is an important step forward in terms of our entire society; the society being more involved in the pursuit and preservation of justice. And I very much look forward to the day when this will indeed be the law of our land," PM Douglas said.
