Can My Employer Fire Me for Jury Duty? Job Protection and Pay in Every State (2026)

In almost every state, your employer can't fire you, threaten you or punish you for answering a jury summons. The protection usually starts the day the summons arrives and lasts through your service, and breaking it can expose an employer to a lawsuit, a criminal charge or contempt of court.

Pay is another story. Only 10 of the 53 jurisdictions on this site require employers to keep paying jurors for at least some days: eight states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Everywhere else, your paycheck during jury duty depends on your employer's policy or your contract.

This page compares the rules. Each state's own page quotes the statute and links the official text. Everything here is current as of November 2026.

Your job is protected almost everywhere

Every jurisdiction on this site has a law that names jury service and forbids employers to punish it, with one exception. In Montana, the jury statutes have no section protecting a juror's job, and our page found no other statute that names jury service and forbids a private employer to fire a juror. Montana workers rely on the state's Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act instead, which doesn't mention jury duty, and a suit under it must be filed within 1 year.

Elsewhere the protection tends to be broad:

• It starts with the summons. In Alaska, Delaware, Kentucky and North Dakota, for example, the law covers getting the summons and answering it, not just sitting on a jury.
• It covers more than firing. Threats, intimidation, demotion and lost benefits are usually off limits too. Rhode Island protects raises, promotions and seniority. Maine protects your health insurance.
• Federal jurors are covered by federal law. An employer may not fire, threaten, intimidate or coerce a permanent employee because of service on a federal jury, and a reinstated employee keeps seniority (federal).

Give notice. Many of these protections depend on telling your employer. Alabama and West Virginia ask you to show the summons to your immediate supervisor on your next workday. Illinois defines reasonable notice as handing your employer a copy of the summons within 10 days of the date it was issued to you. Nevada requires you to give your employer the notice that comes with the summons at least 3 days before you report. Puerto Rico asks for at least five workdays' notice.

Which employers have to pay you

These ten jurisdictions require at least some pay, according to their pages:

• Alabama: full-time employees are entitled to their usual pay.
• Colorado: regular wages for the first 3 days, capped at $50 a day unless you agree to more. Part-time and temporary workers are covered if their hours follow a set schedule or pattern.
• Connecticut: regular wages for the first five days for full-time employees.
• District of Columbia: usual pay, less the court's fee, for full-time employees for up to 5 days. Employers with 10 or fewer employees don't have to pay.
• Louisiana: one day of paid jury leave for regular employees.
• Massachusetts: regular wages for the first three days.
• Nebraska: no loss of pay, though the employer may subtract the juror fee (not the mileage).
• New York: employers with more than ten employees must pay at least the first $72 of your daily wages for the first three days.
• Puerto Rico: private employers give paid leave for up to 15 workdays; government employers pay for the whole service.
• Tennessee: employers with five or more regular employees must pay your usual compensation, and may subtract the jury fee.

A change is coming in Illinois. On January 1, 2027, Illinois begins requiring employers with more than 25 employees to pay jurors their regular rate, with no cap on the number of days. Until then, Illinois employers don't have to pay.

Partial rules elsewhere. A few states require pay only from some employers. New Jersey requires state, county and local government employers to pay full-time employees their usual compensation. California requires school districts to pay classified employees the difference between regular earnings and juror fees. In Florida, state law requires no pay, but a Miami-Dade County ordinance does for certain workers there.

If paying would be a hardship. In the states that make employers pay, an employer can sometimes ask the court for relief. Colorado, Connecticut and Massachusetts let an employer show financial hardship to a court; if the court agrees, the state pays the juror instead, up to $50 a day. An employer that simply doesn't pay, without being excused, can be sued, and in all three states willful refusal can bring treble damages and attorney's fees.

The table below shows each jurisdiction's answer as its page states it.

No forced vacation or sick days

Many states go a step further and bar employers from making you burn your leave. Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah say your employer can't require, or even ask, you to use vacation or sick leave for jury service. Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia also bar forced leave, and Nebraska bars any loss of sick leave or vacation.

Two cautions. These laws don't create leave you don't already have; Missouri, Mississippi and Utah say so directly. And the choice may be yours: in California and Oklahoma, you may decide to use paid leave you've earned. Oregon requires employers to let you take the time unpaid.

Shift and schedule rules

Jury duty doesn't excuse your employer from respecting your time. A few states set limits on what you can be asked to work around a court day:

• Maryland, Nevada and Virginia: after four or more hours of jury service, counting travel, you can't be made to work a shift that starts at or after 5 p.m. that day or before 3 a.m. the next.
• Nevada also bars making you work within 8 hours before you're due at court.
• Connecticut: eight hours of jury duty in a day counts as a legal day's work.
• Minnesota: your employer can't require you to work an alternative shift on a day you must report.
• Michigan: your employer can't make you work hours that, added to your time in court, go beyond your normal day, unless you agree or a union contract allows it.
• Illinois: an employer can't make a night-shift worker work while serving on a daytime jury.

Small-employer exceptions

Most job-protection laws cover every employer, but a few rules carve out small businesses:

• Job protection. Pennsylvania's law doesn't cover retail or service employers with fewer than 15 people, or manufacturers with fewer than 40. Workers at those businesses can ask to be excused from jury duty, and the court must excuse them.
• Pay. The pay duty skips small employers in New York (ten or fewer employees), the District of Columbia (10 or fewer) and Tennessee (fewer than five). The coming Illinois rule skips employers with 25 or fewer employees.
• Benefits. In Oregon, an employer with 10 or more employees can't drop your insurance during jury service if you elected to keep it.
• Scheduling relief. In Missouri, the automatic postponement applies when a co-worker at an employer with five or fewer full-time employees has already been summoned.

At the other end, New Jersey protects every employee with no small-business exception, and Washington's law covers any employer with one or more employees.

What you can recover

If you're fired for serving, most states let you sue for your lost wages and to get your job back, and many award attorney's fees to an employee who wins. Beyond that, the remedies differ a great deal.

Capped damages. Several states limit lost wages: six weeks in Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah, and ten weeks in Connecticut.

Larger awards. Some states go much further:

• Texas: damages of at least one year's and up to five years' compensation, plus reinstatement and attorney's fees.
• South Carolina: up to one year's salary for a firing.
• Idaho: three times the wages you lost.
• Nevada: lost wages and benefits, an equal amount in damages, attorney's fees, and punitive damages of up to $50,000.
• Puerto Rico: twice the damages caused, or $1,000, whichever is more.
• Florida and Alabama: compensatory or actual damages plus punitive damages.

Criminal penalties. Many states also make it a crime. Massachusetts can fine an employer up to $5,000, and Oklahoma sets the same maximum. In Nevada, firing a juror is a gross misdemeanor. In federal court, an employer faces a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation, and the court must appoint a lawyer for an employee whose claim has probable merit (federal).

Where the remedy is a prosecution. In some states the statute doesn't spell out a private lawsuit for lost wages, and the main remedy is a criminal charge or contempt. That is true in Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Vermont and Virginia. If your employer retaliates there, contact the court that summoned you or a lawyer.

Deadlines to sue

Many of these deadlines are short. If you're fired or punished, don't wait.

In New Jersey, the 90 days run from the violation or the end of your jury service, whichever is later. Where the jury statute sets no deadline, another law may, so talk to a lawyer promptly.

What to do

1. Show your employer the summons as soon as it arrives. Notice is the price of protection in many states.
2. Ask about pay early. Find out whether your employer pays for jury days and how many, and what proof it wants.
3. Get proof of service. Jury offices give attendance certificates or letters on request.
4. If you're punished, act quickly. Tell the court that summoned you and talk to a lawyer before the deadline runs. Some states point you to a specific office: in Indiana, courts tell jurors to contact the Attorney General's office, and in Oregon you can file a complaint with the Bureau of Labor and Industries.

Frequently asked questions

Can my employer fire me for going to jury duty?

In nearly every state, no. The laws on these pages bar firing, threatening or punishing an employee for being summoned or for serving, and federal law protects federal jurors. The main exception is Montana, which has no jury-specific job-protection law, though its wrongful discharge law may still help. Many protections require you to tell your employer about the summons.

Does my employer have to pay me while I'm on jury duty?

Usually not. Ten of the 53 jurisdictions on this site require some pay: Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Puerto Rico and Tennessee. Illinois joins them on January 1, 2027, for employers with more than 25 employees. Elsewhere it depends on your employer's policy or your contract.

Can my employer make me use vacation days for jury duty?

In many states, no. Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Utah and several others bar employers from requiring you to use vacation or sick leave. Some states, like California and Oklahoma, let you choose to use paid leave if you'd like to be paid.

Can my employer make me work a night shift after jury duty?

Not in Maryland, Nevada or Virginia, where you can't be made to start a shift between 5 p.m. and 3 a.m. after four or more hours of jury service. Minnesota bars requiring an alternative shift on a day you report, and Connecticut counts eight hours of jury duty as a full day's work.

Do small businesses have to follow these rules?

Usually, yes. Pennsylvania's job protection doesn't cover small retail, service and manufacturing employers, but their workers can ask to be excused. The pay duty skips small employers in New York, the District of Columbia and Tennessee. New Jersey and Washington cover employers of every size.

How long do I have to sue if I'm fired for jury duty?

It ranges from 30 days in Minnesota and Utah to three years for a civil rights complaint in California, and 90 days is common. Some jury statutes set no deadline of their own. Check your state's page and talk to a lawyer quickly.

Related pages

• Jury duty in every state
• How to get out of jury duty
• Juror pay by state
• What happens if you miss jury duty
• Jury duty scams
• Federal jury duty