Employers Can't Dock Pay for Employees Serving as Lay Judges 國民法官制度將上路 資方應依法給予公假

The Judicial Yuan held a press conference on July 12 to discuss the citizen judge system, which goes into effect next year. 

The citizen judges system goes into effect next year, which means citizen jurors and judges will make a joint ruling in major cases. Anyone called to jury duty has to fulfill their duty.

Lin Hui-huang, Secretary-General, Judicial Yuan: “Employers should give citizen judges and alternate citizen judges paid time off.”

Peng Hsin-ming, Criminal Department Chief, Judicial Yuan: “If there is some major obstacle that can't be overcome, (the citizen judge) should come to the court to explain the situation and let the court decide what to do.”

The government will not allow people to get out of jury duty simply for "work reasons." Labor Minister Hsu Ming-chun and General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China Chair Paul Hsu presented employers with an open letter at the press conference, saying employers can't dock the pay of or penalize employees for having to serve jury duty.

Hsu Ming-chun, Labor Minister: “I hope capital and labor can both have a positive attitude about this.”

Paul Hsu, Chair, General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China: “Seeing as how this is a national system, employers should support it. Everyone should hold open discussions. Of course, not everyone will be able to serve every time.”

Hsu Ming-chun said she hopes labor and capital can both accommodate the system, while Paul Hsu said employers should fully support the new system. Once called to jury duty, workers may have to miss work for an entire week or even longer. Supplementary measures have not been announced.

各地法院如火如荼，進行法庭模擬，因為國民法官制度明年就要上路，只要涉及重大案件，未來都將由民眾與法官共同審判，被隨機抽選中的人，一旦接獲通知，基本上必須遵守到庭。

司法院秘書長林輝煌表示：「國民到法院來當國民法官，備位國民法官以及候選國民法官，雇主應該給予公假。」

司法院刑事廳長彭幸鳴表示：「如果真的有，實在有重大的困難事由，要如何來向法院說明，讓法院可以及時處理。」

拍攝宣導片，除非有重大事由，原則上不能單純只以工作為由，拒絕成為國民法官，司法院還特別找來勞動部長許銘春，和全國商業總會理事長許舒博出席記者會，更祭出「給雇主的一封信」，強調資方應依法給予公假，也不能秋後算帳，事後做出職務處分。

勞動部長許銘春說：「那這件事情，我是期待勞資雙方，都能夠正向地去看待它。」

全國商業總會理事長許舒博則認為：「我想企業界對這國民法官，既然是國家的制度，企業界應該理應要支持，大家可以互相協商一下，當然是沒有辦法說，每一次都到庭。」

許銘春呼籲，勞資雙方互相配合；商總理事長許舒博也說，站在資方立場，全力支持，但國民法官新制，將採集中審理，甚至一連5天上班日，都可能要開庭，這是否影響資方給假意願；或者衝擊勞方配合到庭，政策上路前，相關配套，可能都得考量。