Jury Duty or Witness Duty Leave

At certain times, employees are requested to perform jury duty or appear as a witness in a trial. All employees are protected when they are engaged:

• To serve on an inquest jury or trial jury
• To appear in court in compliance with a subpoena or court order as a witness

Absences from work for these reasons are protected by law; you cannot deny the employee the time off.1 This requirement applies to all employers, regardless of size. You cannot terminate or discriminate against any employee who takes time off of work to serve on a jury or as a witness as required by law.2 Employers may not interfere with, restrain or deny an employee’s exercise of, or attempt to exercise, their right to take leave to serve on a jury or as a witness.3

For information on what to do if an employee is a victim and needs time off to attend judicial proceedings, see Victims’ Leave and Accommodation.

Employee Pay While on Jury or Witness Duty

Whether you must pay wages to an employee who takes time off for jury or witness duty depends on their status as exempt or nonexempt. You’re not legally required to pay a nonexempt employee’s wages while the employee serves on jury duty or as a witness. However, many employers voluntarily maintain a pay policy for employees on jury duty or serving as a witness, usually in the range of five to 20 days per year. For more information on employee status, see Exempt/Nonexempt.

Rather than take unpaid time, a nonexempt employee who takes time off work to serve on a jury or as a witness can use vacation, personal leave, paid sick leave, including sick leave provided under California's Healthy Workplace Healthy Families Act, or compensatory time off that is otherwise available to the employee under the applicable terms of employment, unless otherwise provided by a collective bargaining agreement.4

If the employee is exempt and performed any work during the workweek, you must pay the exempt employee for the entire week. You cannot make deductions from an exempt employee’s salary for absences caused by jury duty or attendance as a witness. But you can make deductions from an exempt employee’s pay if the employee performs no work at all in the workweek.5

• It is unlikely that an exempt employee will perform no work at all during a workweek. Exempt employees often will check messages before or after jury service, work on a weekend or any other time they are not engaged in jury duty.

Your employees cannot be exempted from jury duty merely because they don’t want to serve, it’s inconvenient or they are needed at work.

Employees may request a onetime postponement of jury service for personal or business reasons. For example, an employee might ask for a postponement because of a planned vacation, business trip or other conflict. The employee will be required to serve on jury duty at a later date, which can be up to six months from the originally scheduled date.

Documentation of Jury or Witness Duty

You can require employees to provide reasonable advance notice for jury duty, unless it isn't feasible to do so. If the employee is unable to give advance notice, you cannot take any action against the employee if they can provide certification of the need for leave within a reasonable amount of time after the absence. An employee called for jury duty will receive a summons from the court and can request proof of service from the jury clerk if they have to report for duty. The summons or proof of service from the court is sufficient certification.

• The law does not contain a notice requirement when employees take leave to serve as witnesses.

1. Gov Code sec. 12945.8(a)(1)-(2)