Fired for doing jury duty

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Seminole County woman says she had to spend six months on a jury. But she says the hospital she worked for refused to wait, and fired her.

Susie Brown is now suing Central Florida Regional Hospital. She was picked a juror in an insurance fraud case. It was supposed to last four months. But Brown says when she told her employer it was extended to six months, the hospital terminated her employment.

"I never dreamed they would let me go," said Brown. "I was on jury duty."

Brown had worked at Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford for 12 years. She started as an X-ray tech and was promoted to supervisor, and then became an administrator. She says her boss wasn't happy she was picked as a juror on a trial expected to last four months.

"He said I should have come to him sooner and he would have written a letter to get me out," said Brown. But Brown felt obligated to fulfill her civic duty.

"I would not lie to a federal judge," she said.

When the judge extended the trial two more months, Brown says she was terrified to tell her boss. A week after she broke the news, she says she was fired.

Federal law protects a juror's job. The statute says "no employer shall discharge... an employee who has jury duty."

Central Florida Regional Hospital told Channel Nine Brown's position was eliminated and her firing had nothing to do with jury duty. The judge in the case on which Brown served, told her to get an attorney. She did, and says she wants to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.