You don’t have more staff than you need when you own a small business. Every person helps your organization stay on its feet. So, what happens when one of your employees tells you they’ve been summoned to jury duty? You need to make sure you’re fulfilling your legal obligations.
At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve worked with small business laws for over 50 years. While jury duty is rare, we’ve talked to a handful of small business owners who wanted to know:
- Will my employee get paid by the government for jury duty?
- Do I have to pay my employee while they’re on jury duty? Can I use their PTO balance?
- What should my employee handbook say about a jury duty policy?
Jury Duty Pay From Government
When your employee gets picked for jury duty, the amount they get paid depends on which court they’re working in. Is it state or federal?
State Court
If they’re in a state court, the pay ranges from zero dollars to 50 dollars per day, depending on which state they’re in. There may also be mileage reimbursement for the distance between their home and the courthouse. Check out this interactive map that shows the pay rate by state.
Federal Court
What if they’re called to federal court? Then they will be paid a minimum of 50 dollars per day and potentially some travel reimbursements. Learn more about federal court pay here.
Jury Duty Pay From Employer
While your employee is on jury duty, they may be receiving the government pay mentioned above. However, you’re still their employer! Do you need to pay them anything on top of that amount – even when they’re missing work? As always, there are some variables to consider.
Jury Duty Pay and Time Off Laws
You can’t penalize employees for fulfilling their jury duty. After all, they didn’t volunteer – they were chosen. You can’t fire or demote employees for fulfilling their jury duty, but you may be able to deduct government pay from exempt employees if they’re putting in any work during a pay period.
There are no federal pay laws, but state laws include 10 states that require employers to pay employees for jury duty and 18 states that prohibit employers from requiring the use of exempt employees’ PTO balances for jury duty. See the list of state requirements here.
Benefits of Generous Jury Duty Policies
If the law says you don’t need to offer your employees any additional pay or time off, should you do it anyway? In our opinion, if you can offer extra pay and time off for your employees, then you should.
Why? The more you give your employees, the better their morale will be.
Since they didn’t choose to participate in jury duty, they also didn’t choose to lose their pay or time off balance. Many people live paycheck to paycheck, so not being able to support your employees when they lose a paycheck for jury duty could mean losing them as an employee.
That leaves you with the extra costs and hassles of replacing them and training someone new. Is the risk worth it?
No matter what your answer is, it’s worth putting into a policy. Let’s look at what a jury duty policy should include.
Jury Duty Policies in Employee Handbooks
Jury duty doesn’t happen often, but this doesn’t mean it will never be an issue. Some employers worry about employees taking advantage of jury duty for extra pay or extra time off – or even lying about being summoned.
What’s the easiest way to avoid turmoil when it comes to jury duty? Put policies in your employee handbook before they become an issue! Having things in writing helps prevent fraud and sets expectations ahead of time.
Jury Duty Policy Details
Your jury duty policy (factoring in federal and state laws) should include details about:
- Pay. Tell them how much pay they will receive from you, if any. You can include details about government pay, too.
- Time off. Mention whether you’ll require them to use their PTO balance, or if extra time off will be granted for this special situation.
- Their rights. Cite how the law says they will not be penalized for being called to jury duty.
- Information to provide. To help avoid fraud, we recommend saying that you require their summoning letter for their employee file – especially if you plan to grant pay or additional time off. Mention a deadline for this information, too!
Need help putting together a policy? You may want to consider whether your business needs help from an HR professional or not.
Have Confidence in Your Pay and Time Off Policies!
Now that you know about government jury duty pay, employer jury duty pay and time off, and what your employee handbook should say about jury duty policies, are you ready to check out payroll and HR services?
If so, please consider CSI Accounting & Payroll! To see if we can be a good fit for your business, click the button below for a free consultation:
Not ready to talk? That’s okay! First, learn more about what our HR services include.
