| Topic Name: |
Jury Duty - PTO |
| Message Name: |
Jury Duty |
| Date Posted: |
05/07/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
I work for a small company and have been selected for Jury Duty. This is a first for me in my career but I was informed that the employees are to use the persona/sick time. I would like to hear from as many of you possible as to what your company policy if for Jury Duty. Thank you. |
| Message: |
1. Typical practice is that employers with employees on jury duty (in states where the government pays jurors something) either pay the difference between the jury pay and the employees regular pay or require the employee to give the employer the jury pay from the court (and then pay the employee the regular amount of pay). If you use vacation or personal time, you probably get your regular pay from your employer plus whatever the court pays you. So your may actually receive more total money because of this unusual policy.
2. If your concern is that you do not have enough personal/sick/vacation time, your employer may be required to let you have UNPAID time off for jury duty, in which case you get only what the court shells out to jurors, not your regular pay. Before you agree to this, calculate the difference in daily pay rates, multiply by the amount of time you expect to be on jury duty, and subtract the amount of additional overtime you expect to receive for catching up on the work you missed, to determine if you can afford it.
3. Check with the labor dept in your state to see what the law is. Except for FMLA (family and medical leave act), national guard duty, and military reserve duty, the laws on time off vary somewhat from state to state.
4. Mention your situation to the judge and both lawyers on the first day of jury duty, before you are seated on a jury. Someone may either let you out of serving or tell you what the law in your state is.
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