Alan is on Jury Duty
- Thread starter CobraSusie
- Start date
:crying: :rantoff: 
Cut & paste:
Although most employers pay employees on leave for jury service, employers are not legally obligated to do so in every case. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must pay full salaries to exempt employees who are absent from work for less than 1 week to perform jury service. However, the employer may deduct any jury duty fees that the employee receives from the court. The FLSA does not require payment when an exempt employee is absent for 1 or more weeks during which no work is performed. Employers are not required to pay nonexempt employees while on leave for jury service. The same requirements apply to employees who must appear as a witness or a defendant in a court case.
Jury Duty
Pay for time off/FLSA requirements. The FLSA does not require employers to pay nonexempt salaried employees or hourly employees while on leave for jury service. Exempt employees who are absent from work for part of a workweek to perform jury service should be paid their full salaries, otherwise their exempt status is put at risk under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the FLSA, exempt employees must be paid their full salary for any workweek in which they perform any work, unless a deduction in pay is specifically provided for. There is no provision that allows for docking exempt employees' pay when they are absent due to jury duty.However, the employer may deduct from the salary any jury duty fees that the employee receives from the court. The FLSA does not require payment when the exempt employee is absent for one or more full weeks during which no work is performed.
A handful of state laws require employers to pay employees while on jury duty.
Please see the state Jury Duty/Court Appearance section.
General pay practices. Although not required to do so, most employers pay all employees, regardless of FLSA status, while on jury duty. According to BLR's Survey of Employee Benefits, more than 90 percent of employers nationwide offer paid leave for jury duty. The federal courts pay jurors a small fee, and many employers pay only the difference between the jury duty pay and the employee's basic wage or salary. When paying the difference, it may be easiest to continue employees' regular paychecks and have them endorse their jury duty checks over to the company.
Excuse from jury duty. An employee's loss of earnings is an unacceptable reason for being excused from jury duty. However, most courts will consider a request from an employer to postpone jury service if the employee's absence would seriously interrupt company operations. This is only a temporary delay; eventually the employee will have to serve.
Top management usually decides whether the company should ask the court to excuse an employee from jury duty. Address a request for postponement to the clerk of the appropriate court system as indicated on the jury summons.
Job protection. The federal Jury System Improvement Act of 1978 (28 USC 1875) prohibits employers from discharging or taking any other adverse employment action (threatening to discharge, intimidating, etc.) against permanent employees because they perform jury duty in federal court. Employers that violate the Act may be sued for back pay, reinstatement, and attorneys' fees and may be fined up to $1,000.
Most states have laws that offer similar protection to employees that perform jury duty in state courts.
Please see the state Jury Duty/Court Appearance section.
Court Appearance
Appearing as a witness, defendant, in court is compulsory and can be enforced by subpoena and arrest, if necessary. Official committees and boards of federal and state agencies often have the same power as the courts to subpoena individuals. Several state laws prohibit employers from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee who must appear in court, but federal law does not address the issue. In addition, some states offer the same protections to any employee who is the victim of a crime, the immediate family member of a crime victim, or someone who attends juvenile court as a legal parent or guardian of a youth.
Please see the state Jury Duty/Court Appearance section.
Pay for time off. The FLSA requirements for paying an employee who must appear as a witness or a defendant are the same as for jury duty service (i.e., an exempt employee who works any part of the week must be paid full salary; there are no pay requirements for nonexempt employees or hourly workers).
Policy Planner
Most employers believe that an employee has a civic responsibility to serve when called as a juror or witness. However, it can be difficult to develop a policy that strikes a balance between supporting that obligation and at the same time protecting the organization from the loss of a valuable person at a crucial time . Your policy on leave of absence for jury or witness duty should be in writing and be communicated to employees by way of a company policy booklet or a workplace posting. When developing your policy, consider the following points.
Legal compliance. You'll want to ensure that your policy meets the minimum requirements of federal and any applicable state laws. If you do business in several states with differing rights for leave for jury or witness duty, you may want to maintain a consistent policy in all of your facilities by following the law with the most generous provisions for the employees.
Notification. When an employee receives instructions to report for jury or witness duty, whom should the employee notify and when? Is verbal notification sufficient?
Documentation. Must the employee present a copy of the subpoena or other document instructing him or her to report? Must the employee afterward present documentation of the dates of service?
Compensation. The most common practice is to pay employees the difference between their regular pay and any compensation they receive from the court system. Also, decide whether you want to place a limit on how long the employee will be paid--for example, two weeks per calendar year--and whether different groups of employees--hourly, salaried, probationary--will be compensated in the same manner.
Early release. If you voluntarily continue to pay an employee on jury or witness duty, it is reasonable to require the employee to report back to work if released before 12 noon by the court; early releases occur frequently. What about second- and third-shift employees--will they be excused from work for the whole day?
Postponements. Under what circumstances will your organization ask that a particular employee be excused from witness or jury duty or that jury duty be postponed? Who must approve these requests? You don't want employees to be excused from duty under any but the most pressing circumstances, so try to pinpoint the areas in which an employee's unexpected absence for a prolonged period of time is most likely to disrupt operations.
Service of Subpoenas
Occasionally, a sheriff, constable, or police officer will appear at your premises to serve a subpoena or other court paper to an employee. These types of officials have no more right to come onto your property than any other citizen, which means you can tell the official to leave and refuse access to the employee. However, this is not necessarily good practice and is not what most employers do.
The best practice is to let the official meet with the employee in a private room--letting the official deliver court papers in full view of co-workers would embarrass the employee and be disruptive. If the employee refuses to meet with the official, there is not much you can do other than explain that the employee is refusing to cooperate (although you might wish to inform the employee that the official will serve him or her sooner or later). You don't have to give the official access to the work area.
Although most employers pay employees on leave for jury service, employers are not legally obligated to do so in every case. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must pay full salaries to exempt employees who are absent from work for less than 1 week to perform jury service. However, the employer may deduct any jury duty fees that the employee receives from the court. The FLSA does not require payment when an exempt employee is absent for 1 or more weeks during which no work is performed. Employers are not required to pay nonexempt employees while on leave for jury service. The same requirements apply to employees who must appear as a witness or a defendant in a court case.
Jury Duty
Pay for time off/FLSA requirements. The FLSA does not require employers to pay nonexempt salaried employees or hourly employees while on leave for jury service. Exempt employees who are absent from work for part of a workweek to perform jury service should be paid their full salaries, otherwise their exempt status is put at risk under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the FLSA, exempt employees must be paid their full salary for any workweek in which they perform any work, unless a deduction in pay is specifically provided for. There is no provision that allows for docking exempt employees' pay when they are absent due to jury duty.However, the employer may deduct from the salary any jury duty fees that the employee receives from the court. The FLSA does not require payment when the exempt employee is absent for one or more full weeks during which no work is performed.
A handful of state laws require employers to pay employees while on jury duty.
Please see the state Jury Duty/Court Appearance section.
General pay practices. Although not required to do so, most employers pay all employees, regardless of FLSA status, while on jury duty. According to BLR's Survey of Employee Benefits, more than 90 percent of employers nationwide offer paid leave for jury duty. The federal courts pay jurors a small fee, and many employers pay only the difference between the jury duty pay and the employee's basic wage or salary. When paying the difference, it may be easiest to continue employees' regular paychecks and have them endorse their jury duty checks over to the company.
Excuse from jury duty. An employee's loss of earnings is an unacceptable reason for being excused from jury duty. However, most courts will consider a request from an employer to postpone jury service if the employee's absence would seriously interrupt company operations. This is only a temporary delay; eventually the employee will have to serve.
Top management usually decides whether the company should ask the court to excuse an employee from jury duty. Address a request for postponement to the clerk of the appropriate court system as indicated on the jury summons.
Job protection. The federal Jury System Improvement Act of 1978 (28 USC 1875) prohibits employers from discharging or taking any other adverse employment action (threatening to discharge, intimidating, etc.) against permanent employees because they perform jury duty in federal court. Employers that violate the Act may be sued for back pay, reinstatement, and attorneys' fees and may be fined up to $1,000.
Most states have laws that offer similar protection to employees that perform jury duty in state courts.
Please see the state Jury Duty/Court Appearance section.
Court Appearance
Appearing as a witness, defendant, in court is compulsory and can be enforced by subpoena and arrest, if necessary. Official committees and boards of federal and state agencies often have the same power as the courts to subpoena individuals. Several state laws prohibit employers from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee who must appear in court, but federal law does not address the issue. In addition, some states offer the same protections to any employee who is the victim of a crime, the immediate family member of a crime victim, or someone who attends juvenile court as a legal parent or guardian of a youth.
Please see the state Jury Duty/Court Appearance section.
Pay for time off. The FLSA requirements for paying an employee who must appear as a witness or a defendant are the same as for jury duty service (i.e., an exempt employee who works any part of the week must be paid full salary; there are no pay requirements for nonexempt employees or hourly workers).
Policy Planner
Most employers believe that an employee has a civic responsibility to serve when called as a juror or witness. However, it can be difficult to develop a policy that strikes a balance between supporting that obligation and at the same time protecting the organization from the loss of a valuable person at a crucial time . Your policy on leave of absence for jury or witness duty should be in writing and be communicated to employees by way of a company policy booklet or a workplace posting. When developing your policy, consider the following points.
Legal compliance. You'll want to ensure that your policy meets the minimum requirements of federal and any applicable state laws. If you do business in several states with differing rights for leave for jury or witness duty, you may want to maintain a consistent policy in all of your facilities by following the law with the most generous provisions for the employees.
Notification. When an employee receives instructions to report for jury or witness duty, whom should the employee notify and when? Is verbal notification sufficient?
Documentation. Must the employee present a copy of the subpoena or other document instructing him or her to report? Must the employee afterward present documentation of the dates of service?
Compensation. The most common practice is to pay employees the difference between their regular pay and any compensation they receive from the court system. Also, decide whether you want to place a limit on how long the employee will be paid--for example, two weeks per calendar year--and whether different groups of employees--hourly, salaried, probationary--will be compensated in the same manner.
Early release. If you voluntarily continue to pay an employee on jury or witness duty, it is reasonable to require the employee to report back to work if released before 12 noon by the court; early releases occur frequently. What about second- and third-shift employees--will they be excused from work for the whole day?
Postponements. Under what circumstances will your organization ask that a particular employee be excused from witness or jury duty or that jury duty be postponed? Who must approve these requests? You don't want employees to be excused from duty under any but the most pressing circumstances, so try to pinpoint the areas in which an employee's unexpected absence for a prolonged period of time is most likely to disrupt operations.
Service of Subpoenas
Occasionally, a sheriff, constable, or police officer will appear at your premises to serve a subpoena or other court paper to an employee. These types of officials have no more right to come onto your property than any other citizen, which means you can tell the official to leave and refuse access to the employee. However, this is not necessarily good practice and is not what most employers do.
The best practice is to let the official meet with the employee in a private room--letting the official deliver court papers in full view of co-workers would embarrass the employee and be disruptive. If the employee refuses to meet with the official, there is not much you can do other than explain that the employee is refusing to cooperate (although you might wish to inform the employee that the official will serve him or her sooner or later). You don't have to give the official access to the work area.
Thread Info
-
Created -
28Replies
-
504Views
-
Participants list
