Riordan Endorses 30-Day Term for Jury Duty

The morning after Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan declared that all private employers should pay their workers for unlimited jury duty, he backed off, saying Tuesday that 30 days should be sufficient and should apply only to firms with 100 or more employees.

Riordan, who began a stint of jury duty Monday and said he hopes to use the experience to formulate ideas for judicial system reform, said the 30-day maximum should suffice for the majority of jury trials in the county.

His office also released copies of a letter and interoffice memo from his old law firm, Riordan & McKinzie, notifying the court and the firm’s staff that it was adopting the 30-day policy. Until Monday, when the mayor said he would ask his former partners to join in his crusade to attract bigger numbers and a greater variety of jurors, the firm paid for up to 10 days of service.

Ray Remy, head of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the mayor’s rethinking but said any such policy should be considered as part of a package of jury system reforms. Otherwise, “it would still be viewed (in the business community) as just doing one thing that represents an added expense” for employers.