Table of Contents
Jury duty is a common occurrence for many Americans. However, if you are not able to serve as a juror due to your employer’s policy or other reasons, what can you do? This article provides insight into the laws in place and sample policies for employers with jury leave policies on the books.
The “jury duty policy sample” is a document that provides information about the federal and state jury duty leave laws. The document also includes a sample policy for employers.
It’s quite probable that one of your employees may be summoned to jury service. They will be required to serve a court-ordered document. Businesses must allow workers to take time off during jury service to fulfill their civic obligations. While federal law does not compel companies to compensate workers who serve on juries, several state statutes do. It will be simpler to complete the procedure if you have a clear policy in place and are familiar with your local legislation.
Jury Duty Policy Sample (PDF)
State Jury Duty Leave Laws
Employers are not liable for providing workers any compensation for absence due to jury service unless there is a corporate policy, contract, or collective bargaining agreement in place, or unless state law applies.
The following states have their own rules for jury duty leave and whether or not you have to pay your workers for it, apart from the federal requirements.
Choose a state Alabama Arizona Arkansas Colorado Connecticut Georgia Indiana Kansas Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Nevada New Jersey is a state in the United States. New York is a city in the United States. Pennsylvania Tennessee UtahVirginia Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States. is the capital of the United States.
Alabama
Employers in Alabama are obligated to provide their workers paid time off to serve on juries. For any jury duty hours that occur inside a typical workday, employees must be paid at their usual hourly rate.
Arizona
Employers in Arizona are only obligated to give their workers with unpaid jury duty leave. An company may not require an employee to perform jury duty during paid time off, such as vacation, sick leave, or personal leave.
Arkansas
In Arkansas, private-sector businesses are only obligated to give unpaid jury duty leave to their employees, while state employers are required to provide paid jury duty leave. Furthermore, an employer may not require an employee to spend PTO to attend jury service.
Colorado
Employers in Colorado are obligated to provide their workers paid time off to serve on juries. Usual workers (full-time, part-time, temporary, and casual employees with a defined schedule) must be paid at their regular hourly rate for up to three days of jury duty service (not to exceed $50 per day unless mutually agreed).
Connecticut
Employers in Connecticut are obligated to provide their workers paid time off to serve on juries. For the first five days of jury duty service, full-time workers (who worked a minimum of 30 hours per week within the 90 days prior to jury duty) must be paid at their usual hourly rate.
Georgia
Employers in Georgia are obligated to give unpaid jury duty leave to their workers. The Attorney General recommended in 1989 that businesses compensate workers for jury duty service; however, this is not a necessity.
Indiana
Employers in Indiana are only required to give unpaid jury duty leave to their workers. While workers are allowed to utilize PTO during jury service, no business has the authority to force them to take time off.
Kansas
Employers in Kansas are obligated to provide their workers unpaid time off to serve on juries. While private firms are not required to give paid time off, state employers are required to pay their workers their usual salary while on jury duty.
Louisiana
Employers in Louisiana are obligated to give paid jury duty leave to their workers. Employees are entitled to one day’s pay in full. Employers are not allowed to have workers utilize paid time off or sick leave while on jury service.
Maryland
Employers in Maryland are not required to compensate workers for time lost due to jury duty. Employees who have a jury duty pay provision in their contract must be compensated for the amount the court grants for jury duty service. Employers may not compel workers to utilize paid time off during jury duty, and they may not require employees to work between the hours of 5 p.m. and 3 a.m. if they serve for four or more hours that day on jury duty.
Massachusetts
Employers in Massachusetts must give paid jury duty leave to all regular workers. Employees might be compensated for up to three days of jury duty.
Mississippi
Employers in Mississippi are only obligated to provide their workers unpaid jury duty leave. State personnel, on the other hand, may be granted paid administrative leave while serving on a jury.
Missouri
Employers in Missouri are only obligated to grant unpaid leave to workers who are sitting on a jury. Employers are also prohibited from requiring workers to take paid time off while serving on a jury.
Nebraska
Employers in Nebraska are obligated to give paid jury duty leave to their workers. Employees must be paid for the complete number of days they are obliged to serve on jury service by their employer. Employers may pay their workers full salaries, pay the difference between full wages and court compensation, or pay full wages and ask the employee to contribute their court compensation.
Nevada
Employers in Nevada are only obligated to provide their workers unpaid leave if they are called to jury service. An employee cannot be forced to take paid time off while serving on jury duty. Additionally, if workers serve at least four hours of jury duty, they may not be compelled to work within eight hours of their service and/or between the hours of 5 p.m. and 3 a.m.
New Jersey
Employers in New Jersey are compelled to provide their workers unpaid time off to serve on juries. While on jury service, every full-time state employee is eligible to earn their full pay in lieu of court compensation.
New York
Employers in New York are obligated to give their workers with unpaid jury service leave. Businesses with less than ten workers may withhold payments from employees who are called to jury service, but employers with ten or more employees must pay the first $40 per diem for the first three days of jury duty.
Pennsylvania
Employers in Pennsylvania are only obligated to give unpaid leave to workers who are called to jury service. Additionally, firms with 15 or more workers in the retail and service industries, as well as manufacturers with 40 or more employees, are required to give this unpaid leave.
Tennessee
Employers in Tennessee are obligated to give paid leave to workers who serve on juries. Employees are entitled to their full salary plus travel expenses to and from the courtroom, less any court compensation. Employers with five or less workers are not required to compensate employees who serve on juries.
Utah
Employers in Utah are only obligated to give unpaid leave to workers who are sitting on juries. Employers are also prohibited from requiring workers to take paid time off while serving on a jury.
Virginia
Employers in Virginia are obligated to give unpaid jury duty leave to their workers. Additionally, if workers serve at least four hours of jury duty, they may not be compelled to work within eight hours of their service and/or between the hours of 5 p.m. and 3 a.m.
Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States.
Employers in the District of Columbia must compensate full-time workers who serve on juries. For the first five days of service, employees are entitled to their full salary, less jury duty fees.
Developing a Policy on Jury Duty
Including a jury duty policy in your company handbook can assist your workers understand their obligations and ensure that your firm complies with federal and state regulations. Follow these easy guidelines while drafting your policy:
All Federal and State Laws Must Be Obeyed
When an employee is called for jury service in the United States, the law is clear on what you must do as an employer. As an employer, you should:
- You must excuse the employee from work so that he or she may serve on a jury.
- While on jury duty, you may be obligated to pay an exempt employee their usual compensation.
- It’s possible that you won’t have to pay a nonexempt employee for time off.
- You may request that the employee tell you ahead of time.
- Due to a business requirement, you may urge the employee to postpone jury service.
- If an employee is dismissed/excused before the end of the working day and is not picked for jury service, you might ask them to “return to work.”
Describe your payment policy in detail.
Make it clear in your jury duty policy whether or not you will pay your workers while they serve on the jury. Be aware of any state laws that oblige you to do so; if none exist in your location, you should think about the following:
- Who is eligible to participate? Full-time paid staff are usually included in this category. You may choose whether to pay part-time or hourly workers while they are serving on a jury.
- What will their remuneration be? You must determine whether you will pay your employees their whole compensation or a part of it. Some businesses cover the gap between an employee’s wage and the court stipend.
- Is the employee going to be paid for a long time? Some companies set a limit on how many days an employee may be paid for jury service. If the employee’s service is necessary beyond certain days, they may take paid or unpaid time off. Again, there may be state restrictions prohibiting you from asking your employee to utilize PTO, so verify your state’s regulations.
- Will workers have to pay back jury duty payments? Anyone serving on jury duty will be compensated with a modest daily stipend. Some firms allow workers to retain this sum in addition to their usual pay, while others may force employees to refund the corporation for the whole amount awarded by the courts.
Unless your company is located in one of the states that compels you to pay your employees while they are on jury duty, you may not be obligated to pay your employees while they are on jury duty. 68 percent of employers, on the other hand, augment the salaries paid by the court up to the full compensation of their workers.
Requirements for State Employees
You’ll need to figure out what an employee must do if called to jury service and include it in your policy, such as, but not limited to, the following:
- When you get a jury duty summons, notify your supervisor right away.
- HR should get a copy of the summons.
- Jury duty necessitates the use of PTO (i.e., after a certain number of days). Please see the list of state criteria below.
- The corporation must refund the courts for the amount of jury duty money they received.
- After a half court day, you must return to work.
You may download and adapt our example jury duty policy to fit your company’s requirements, including how workers should seek time off for jury duty, what documents you’ll need from them, and whether or not they’ll be paid while on duty.
Jury Duty Policy Sample (PDF)
To monitor time off requests for jury duty, maintain regulations, and correctly handle onboarding for workers, we suggest adopting an all-in-one HR management software like Bambee.
Exemption Letter for Employees from Jury Duty (Sample Business Letter)
If jury service might put your company in jeopardy, you may file a letter to the courts requesting that your employee be excused. If you want to do so, you must explain how the employee sitting on a jury will affect your firm in the letter. The ultimate decision will be made by the courts, and your letter does not ensure that your employee will be excused from jury service.
The following are some reasons of why your employee could be excused from jury duty:
- The employee is your sole “licensed agent” on staff, which is a valid business purpose.
- Valid business scheduling conflict: The employee has a business event or travel booked that cannot be rescheduled.
- Financial hardship: If an employee is absent, your firm may suffer a loss of revenue.
- Seasonal business: You have a seasonal business and/or you don’t have enough staff.
Two example letters are supplied to assist you in requesting that a judge postpone or reschedule jury service for your employee based on business considerations.
Sample Business Excuse Letters are available for download.
Caution! Do not put your employee or your company at danger of fines or prison time by lying about your requirements in order to assist an employee avoid jury duty.
Conclusion
It’s a good idea to have a jury duty policy in your employee handbook. This informs your staff about what is expected of them and whether or not they will be compensated by the company. Include any state-specific rules in your policy, and be sure you pay workers where they are required.
Bambee’s certified HR experts can draft a jury policy that complies with all federal, state, and municipal requirements. You will be assigned a trained HR manager who will assist you in developing, implementing, and securely storing the HR policies that your company requires.
Now is the time to try Bambee.
Jury duty laws are a set of rules that govern how much time an employee is allowed to take off from work for jury duty. These laws vary by state, and can change over time. This article provides sample policies for employers in each state. Reference: jury duty laws by state.
Related Tags
- jury duty leave laws by state
- ibm jury duty policy
- can an employer refuse to let someone report for jury duty because that person is needed on the job
- leave of absence for jury duty
- amazon jury duty policy
