Jury Service

Jury service is an important way to contribute to the justice system and your local community. If your employee has been summonsed for jury duty it is important you talk with them about how long they might be off work due to a trial, some trials can last a day or two however other trials may last the whole week or longer which could affect your business.

You are legally obliged to release your staff member if they have been summonsed for jury duty. If work is busy during the time they have been summonsed and it would have a detrimental effect on the business, you can ask that their service is deferred for another time within the next year. The next time your employee is summoned they must go, jury service cannot be deferred again.

If you are asking your employee to defer their service you must provide them with a letter that they give to the Court to support their request for deferral. The Court then decides if a deferral is granted.

On any day that your staff member has been summonsed for jury duty but they are not selected for a trial then they should go straight back to work where possible. This will mean minimal impact on your business.

A juror is paid an attendance fee by the Court for their service, some employers choose to make up the difference of this and the employee’s normal rate of pay so that an employee is not losing any money. This is not a requirement unless it has been written into the employment agreement.