/>iIn this series, we will explore some of the ways states vary from one another in their employment laws.
When multi-state employers draft employee handbooks, they typically want policies to apply everywhere because it is simplest to enforce a single policy. However, this streamlined approach becomes difficult when it comes to widely-varying state-specific leave laws. Jury duty leave is a good example.
Most states do not require employers to pay employees for jury duty leave (although exempt employees still receive full pay for a week in which they perform work). Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming allow jury duty to be unpaid. Some of these states allow an employer to require that the absent employee use paid time off during jury duty leave.
Conversely, there are a few states that require employers to pay employees their usual compensation the entire time they serve on a jury, regardless of the length of service. Alabama requires full pay for full-time employees on jury duty and Georgia, Nebraska, and Tennessee require full pay for all employees on jury duty. While months-long trials may be relatively uncommon, they could be expensive undertakings for Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska, and Tennessee employers that have to pay employees for extended jury-related absences.
Other states fall in the middle, offering some pay, but not full pay for the entire length of jury duty. New York and Colorado require payment of up to $40 and $50 per day, respectively, for the first three days of jury duty. Louisiana requires full pay for one day of jury duty. Massachusetts requires full pay for full-time employees for the first three days of jury duty. Connecticut and the District of Columbia require full pay for full-time employees for the first five days of jury duty.
Do these widely-varying state laws mean a multi-state employer cannot have a single jury duty leave policy? I wouldn’t say so – a single policy can still work as long as it is general and flexible enough to cover all relevant states. An employer could state that jury duty will be paid to the maximum extent required by applicable law, but otherwise be unpaid, and such a statement would be consistent with any state’s law. Such a statement could be followed by an instruction to report a jury summons to Human Resources as soon as it is received and to ask an HR representative for additional details. Depending on the state where the employee works, that HR representative could provide more detailed instructions about whether jury duty time would be paid and whether the employer would require the employee to take paid time off.
