This is truth and reminds me of an interesting experience doing my jury duty in the city of Alexandria, Virginia. https://twitter.com/b_ehrenreich/status/1022877402022768640?s=21

I don’t know how common or not it is, but you get paid to do jury duty in Alexandria. Except you’re not “paid.”

The officer of the court in charge of dispensing the money made this painfully clear. He had a wad of $10s. Everyone got $30 in total for the day whether you served or not.

He said it was effectively a gift and that if anyone’s employer tried to demand (steal) their jury duty pay as compensation for LEGALLY being able to take off work without fear of retaliation they could truthfully say they they hadn’t been paid.

This was apparently common enough to warrant this system administered publicly by a city government official.

And it was also common enough to warrant this system, but not a law making it illegal for employers to steal from employees.

It was somehow easier to basically tell people to lie to their employers so they could keep their $30.

The whole thing sticks with me every time I think of stagnant wages and rising costs. A lot of people don’t even get what they’re owed in the first place.