Human Resource Blog

JSIA in Massachusetts

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Are employers in Massachusetts subject to the same JSIA rules as employers in other states?

Employers in Massachusetts are expected to obey the Jury Systems Improvement Act. The JSIA is a federal Act that applies to states across the U.S. in much the same way. However, the major difference between the JSIA in some states is whether or not employers need to pay their workers for the time that they spend on a jury. In Massachusetts, employers are not required to pay workers for the time that they spend working on a jury, however, many employers choose to do so.

JSIA is in place mainly to ensure that when an employee has been summoned for jury duty, the employee can serve jury duty without worrying that the employer will discriminate against him or her for reasons that are based on the jury duty. Employers are not only prohibited from discriminating against workers based on that jury duty, but employers also must not fire employees for taking time off to serve on a jury. The employer is also prohibited from coercing or attempting to coerce employees to postpone jury duty service.

When an employee serves on a jury, the employee should be able to return to work at the end of the period of jury duty service to have the same job or an equivalent job. The employee should also have the same salary and benefits that he or she had prior to serving on the jury.

Employees that serve on the jury should not be penalized by the employer. If the employer does terminate or discriminate against an employee for serving on a jury, the employer could be fined up to $1,000 per employee per incident. Also, the employer may have to pay for lost wages and benefits.

Employees should be expected to report to work whenever they are not serving on a jury. Also, employers can require that employees provide proof of the jury service by showing a copy of the original jury summons or by obtaining a written notification from the clerk of the court for each day that the individual serves. CB