Human Resource Blog

Jury duty leave pay days and the company

Hello,

I’m wondering if you can help me to verify how many days exactly should a company pay for employees’ jury duty leave on working days, say 10 days within 3 year period. Is there a restrictions on the number of paid days for jury duty leave for companies? Please help because we need to update our employee handbook in California. Thank you.

California has no law that employers must pay workers for jury service, according to the California Court’s website. Since your company chooses to do so, you may establish any policy that you like regarding that payment.  

The majority of California jurors serve just one day. They are then exempt from jury duty for at least 12 months.  However, setting a limit on jury duty limits the employer’s liability if an employee is involved in a trial that lasts for months, like the OJ Simpson trial did.    Setting a limit of 10 paid jury service days in 3 years sounds more than fair.  

The state says, “Length of Service: California has one-day or one-trial jury service (PDF, 68 KB). This means that people are not required to come to court for more than one day or serve on a trial more than once every 12 months. Typically if you are not chosen for jury selection after one day at the courthouse then your service is done for at least one year. If you are selected to serve on a jury, after the trial is over your service is also completed for at least a year and often longer. In fact, the majority of people who report for jury service serve for just one day.”The booklet adds, perhaps optimistically, “The vast majority of people who actually serve on a jury find it a fascinating and rewarding experience that they would do again.”

There are a few states, such as Colorado, that require employers to pay jurors — but California is not one of them.