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Jury Duty Is an Employer’s Responsibility Too

Jury Duty Is an Employer’s Responsibility Too

Small Business Help Line

Q: What can my company do if an employee is summoned for jury duty?

A: When an individual is summoned to jury duty, he or she must appear.

While there are several court-approved reasons for postponements and exemptions from jury service, hardship for the employer is not among them. Also, an employer may not require an employee to miss jury service.

Nor can an employer discharge or discriminate against an employee for serving jury duty, if the employee gives reasonable notice to the employer, under California Labor Code 230.

The big question is whether an employer must pay an employee for time served on a jury. California employers are not required to pay non-exempt employees for jury duty, although many employers choose to do so.

As for exempt employees, both federal and state law require an exempt employee to be paid his or her regular weekly salary for any work week in which he or she is on the job.

Some employers with a paid jury duty policy will often pay only the difference between what the employee would ordinarily receive and the amount he or she receives for jury duty. Still others require employees to have met service requirements, such as one year, to be eligible for paid jury duty.

Pay for jury duty usually lasts no longer than 10 days. Usually, 10 days is sufficient time for an employee to fulfill his or her obligations.

More information can be found on the following Web sites: Society for Human Resource Management, at (www.shrm.org); the Department of Labor, at (www.dol.gov); the California Department of Industrial Relations, at (www.dir.ca.gov); and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at (www.bls.gov).

Answered by Chana Anderson of the San Diego chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.

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