Human Resource Blog

Jury Duty Compensation - Nebraska

	Attendance Management
Vacation Request / Response Form Weekly Time Sheets Attendance Calendar for 2008, 2009, or 2010 Annual Attendance Tracker Vacation Request Form for 2008, 2009, 2010 (Calendar) Detailed Absence Report

	Compensation
Employee Payroll Action Form W-4 Employee Withholding Allowance Cert. Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Direct Deposit Form Total Compensation Summary

I have an employee that served jury duty for two weeks in Lincoln, NE. The state compensation for serving was $35.00 per day plus mileage. As an employer, we do not additionally compensate our employees for serving jury duty. However, the employee has indicated that Nebraska has laws requiring employers to pay employees their full wages less the $35.00 per day. I cannot find that statute, and calls to the Court Administrator have gone unanswered.
The closest I can find is NE 25-1640 which states “Any person who is summoned to serve on jury duty shall not be subject to discharge from employment, loss of pay, loss of sick leave, loss of vacation time,or any other form of penalty, as a result of his or her absence from employment due to such jury duty….”
My question is this, does the $35.00 per day paid by the court fulfill the wage requirement, or is my company required to pay this employee his full wages less the $35.00? This employee would normally make far above the $35.00 during his regularly scheduled hours.

Federal law doesn’t require employers to pay jurors. However, apparently under state law, employers in

Nebraska must give workers time off for jury duty, and must pay the worker their usual wage for that time.

This is a confusing issue, and the quote of Nebraska Statute 25-1640 above is correct.  However, it appears that “shall not be subject…to loss of pay” means that the worker must be paid by the employer while on jury duty.

One of our experts also tried to contact the Nebraska Department of Labor, and was unable to receive a response before deadline.

A  booklet distributed by the state to employees about serving on the jury says, “State law prohibits your employer from penalizing you. You cannot be fired, lose pay (except that your employer may reduce your pay by the $35 per day you receive for jury duty), lose sick leave, or lose vacation time.” This is from “Serving on a Jury” on the Nebraska Supreme Court website.

We tracked down a booklet entitled “For Employers of Jury Members” distributed by the Nebraska court system.

The booklet says that, “Any person who is summoned to serve on jury duty shall not be subject to discharge from employment, loss of pay, loss of sick leave, loss of vacation time, or any other form of penalty, as a result of his or her absence from employment due to such jury duty, upon giving reasonable notice to his or her employer of such summons. Any person who is summoned to serve on jury duty shall be excused upon request from any shift work for those days required to serve as a juror without loss of pay. No employer shall subject an employee to discharge, loss of pay, loss of sick leave, loss of vacation time, or any other form of penalty on account of his or her absence from employment by reason of jury duty, except that an employer may reduce the pay of an employee by an amount equal to any compensation, other than expenses, paid by the court for jury duty. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class IV misdemeanor.”

The same source contains the question, “How do I pay my employee?”

The answer is that the employee will be paid a juror fee of $35 per day for each required day of service. The options presented are:

A)    The employer can pay the workers regular wage, ignoring the juror fee

B)    The employer can pay the worker their usual wage, minus $35 per day

C)    The employed can sign over his or her jury service check to the employer

For employers who choose option C, the booklet points out that it may take several weeks for the juror to receive his or her check.