[Kristine]

I am a salaried employee and have recently been summoned for jury duty.

I understand that jury duty is a civic obligation, but I’m unclear on how my time off is handled by my employer in this situation.

Specifically, am I required to use my accrued paid time off (PTO), such as vacation or personal days, in order to attend jury duty?

Or is there a legal or company policy that allows me to attend without using my PTO balance?

I would appreciate insights on how different companies or jurisdictions handle this situation, especially any experiences or knowledge of policies that provide employees with time off for jury duty without impacting their PTO.

Are there any legal protections for employees regarding this matter?

[Peter]

Bring a book to the jury waiting room; they take your phone and you might be there a long time

[Ashley]

In my experience, no, but I’d look in your employer hand book. Some will make you give them any pay you get, some say to keep it.

My boss was on grand jury last year, Zero PTO, all covered.

[Ashley]

I think this may depend on the employer. I’m in professional services, and we have a separate time code for jury duty.

[Joe]

It’s spelled out in company policy for me. No, it’s billable time.

[Sarah]

It depends on the State you live in and your employer’s policy as well.

[Dawn]

Depends on employer. Some will cover it, some will only cover a certain number of days, some don’t cover it at all.

[Wendy]

Ask your work. Many employers will cover the difference in price, or even just pay you.

But I think it’s up to them. They are required to let you go.

[Shannon]

Check your state county and municipality. There is no federal law that your employer has to pay you but the rest differ.

I live in NJ with no requirement to pay you for while you’re at jury duty

[Bill]

Welcome to the US. We have no laws requiring paid vacation nor getting paid for jury duty.

It’s completely up to your employer.

[Kenny]

Ask your HR department. Some companies do pay for jury duty, but none are required to by federal law.

[Troy]

Every job I have had you get time off for jury duty without using PTO. Some however will require you give them your jury duty pay if you want to be paid by the employer.

Which is silly. But happens.

[Ann]

I hope your company pays you as usual and does not require that you use your PTO, however, they are not legally obligated to handle it this way.

I believe that they are not allowed to fire you for having jury duty but that’s the only thing you’re due from them.

In any event, being on a jury is vital to our country and so very important whether your company bears the burden or you do.

Thanks so much for serving, you are fulfilling a constitutional right to the defendant and making all of our freedoms possible.

I salute you.

[Isaac]

That would most likely be a company policy. My company chooses to pay my full salary if I go to jury duty and not make me use pto

[Jenny]

My company pays for jury duty out of a separate category.

[Greg]

In New York you can call and tell them you can’t go cuz you need to work to make money.

I think it’s classified as a financial hardship.

I had just started a new job when I was called and this is what they told me to do.

[Tosca]

Ask your employer. Mine offers time off specifically for jury duty.

[Marissa]

You should still be paid for your time in jury duty. You definitely should not need to use vacation time

[Sam]

It depends on your employers policies and / or if there are any contractual agreements between you as an individual or your “group” and the employer

[Lindsay]

Yes, they can deduct from your leave banks to cover your time off. Depending on the state they can deduct full days or full weeks of pay if you don’t work.

They may have policies that are more generous but it’s not required by law

[Theresa]

Most companies have a set number of paid days for jury duty after that its PTO or no pay.

[Annie]

I believe there is some federal laws around this situation. Where they cannot fire you, they may or may not pay for jury duty but they aren’t allowed to doc PTO.

It would be your request to do so.

[Kelly]

My husband was on a long trial, several months, work covered, but he had to turn in the checks the court gave.him.

Didn’t have to use pto, but his boss was super annoyed he was stuck on it

I think it was 3 months.

[Tricia]

Check with hr, but no you shouldn’t have to use pto. I opted to turn over my jury duty pay (like $10 a day), and my company paid me full wages for days missed.

I served as federal juror for like 4 days.

[Connor]

Your employer doesn’t have to pay you for jury duty, however lots of employers do pay the time just out of courtesy.

If they don’t have a policy where they pay it, you’ll either have to go unpaid or use pto.

[Sean]

Fed employee: We would get paid our salaries, but any jury duty fees received would have to be turned in to the treasury.

[Meghan]

Legally if you work, even answer emails while you are on jury duty you should be paid your salary.

My company pays up to 5 days, anything after that would need to be covered with pto or be unpaid.

Don’t have flexibility to work from home?

[Author]

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