HR Management & Compliance

What, Not Another Employee on Jury Duty?

No manager or supervisor wants employees out to serve as a witness or to serve jury duty-for who knows how long-but these appearances are required by law and participation is protected. Any resistance can be viewed as retaliation.

As BLR®‘s Family and Medical Leave Act Compliance Guide notes, the federal Jury System Improvement Act of 1978 (28 USC 1875) prohibits employers from discharging or taking any other adverse employment action (against permanent employees because they perform jury duty in federal court. "Adverse action" includes threatening to discharge, intimidating, etc.

Employers that violate the Act may be sued for back pay, reinstatement, and attorneys’ fees and may be fined up to $ 1,000.

Most states have laws that offer similar protection to employees who perform jury duty in state courts.

Pay for Jury Duty

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require employers to pay nonexempt salaried employees or hourly employees while on leave for jury service.

Exempt employees who are absent from work for part of a workweek to perform jury service should be paid their full salaries, otherwise their exempt status is put at risk under the FLSA. Under the FLSA, exempt employees must be paid their full salary for any workweek in which they perform any work, unless a deduction in pay is specifically provided for. There is no provision that allows for docking exempt employees’ pay when they are absent due to jury duty.

However, the employer may deduct from the salary any jury duty fees that the employee receives from the court. The FLSA does not require payment when the exempt employee is absent for one or more full weeks during which no work is performed.

A handful of state laws require employers to pay employees for at least some jury duty. (For example, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut , DC, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, and Tennessee all have laws relating to jury duty pay.)


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However, even when they are not required to pay, most employers pay all employees, regardless of FLSA status, while on jury duty. According to BLR’s Survey of Employee Benefits, more than 90 percent of employers nationwide offer paid leave for jury duty, and nearly 50 percent pay full salary.

Federal courts pay jurors a small fee, and many employers pay only the difference between the jury duty pay and the employee’s basic wage or salary. Pragmatically, when paying the difference, it may be easiest to continue employees’ regular paychecks and have them endorse their jury duty checks over to the company.

Excusing Employees from Jury Duty

An employee’s loss of earnings is not an acceptable reason for being excused from jury duty. However, most courts will consider a request from an employer to postpone jury service if the employee’s absence would seriously interrupt company operations. This is only a temporary delay; eventually the employee will have to serve.

Top management usually decides whether the company should ask the court to excuse an employee from jury duty. Address a request for postponement to the clerk of the appropriate court system as indicated on the jury summons.

What About Court Appearance as a Witness or Defendant?

Appearing as a witness or defendant in court is compulsory and can be enforced by subpoena and arrest, if necessary. Official committees and boards of federal and state agencies often have the same power as the courts to subpoena individuals.


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Several state laws prohibit employers from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee who must appear in court, but federal law does not address the issue. In addition, some states offer the same protections to any employee who is the victim of a crime, the immediate family member of a crime victim, or someone who attends juvenile court as a legal parent or guardian of a youth.

The FLSA requirements for paying an employee who must appear as a witness or a defendant are the same as for jury duty service, that is, an exempt employee who works any part of the week must be paid full salary; there are no pay requirements for nonexempt employees or hourly workers.

In tomorrow’s Advisor, the critical considerations for policies on jury duty and similar leaves, and an introduction to BLr’s recently updated FMLA guidebook.

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