Jury Duty in Tennessee: Pay, Exemptions, Excuses and What to Expect (2026)

Tennessee draws its jurors at random, by computer, mostly from driver's license records. To serve, you must be at least 18, a U.S. citizen, and a resident of Tennessee and of the summoning county for the past 12 months. The circuit court clerk usually acts as the county's jury coordinator and mails the summons.

The headline numbers: every juror is paid at least $10 a day, and counties may pay more. Nashville pays $20, Chattanooga's Hamilton County $25, and Knox County $11. Tennessee also makes most employers keep paying your usual wages while you serve, if they have five or more employees; they may deduct your jury fee. Anyone 75 or older who can't serve because of a mental or physical condition is excused on a written declaration. A juror who skips without a good excuse can be held in civil contempt and assessed a penalty of up to $500.

The rules are in Title 22 of the Tennessee Code, almost all of it written by a single 2008 law. The official Code is published online by a commercial vendor under its own terms of use, so this page quotes each rule as the General Assembly enacted it, from the Legislature's own website. When the 2008 act was compiled into the Code, its editors made small style changes (such as "such person" becoming "the person"), so a word here and there may differ from the codified text; the meaning doesn't. Everything below is current as of November 2026.

Tennessee jury duty at a glance

Who can serve

Section 22-1-101 opens with a statement of policy: all qualified citizens have an obligation to serve on trial or grand juries when summoned, unless excused. It then sets the qualifications:

Every person eighteen (18) years of age, being a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the state of Tennessee, and of the county in which the person may be summoned for jury service for a period of twelve (12) months next preceding the date of such summons, is legally qualified to act as a grand or petit juror, if not otherwise incompetent under the express provisions of the code.

(§ 22-1-101)

Who can't serve. Section 22-1-102 makes two groups "incompetent to act as jurors": people convicted of a felony or any other infamous offense, and people convicted of perjury or subornation of perjury (§ 22-1-102). Tennessee treats jury service as one of the rights of citizenship a person can get back. A 2025 law that revised how those rights are restored lists "The right to serve on a jury" first among them (Pub. Ch. 298 (2025)). You also can't sit on a case in which you have an interest or are related to a party within the sixth degree, unless all parties agree (§ 22-1-104).

Where names come from. The jury coordinator picks names by random automated means from licensed driver records, tax records or other reliable lists. Voter rolls are off limits: "The jury coordinator is prohibited from using the permanent voter registration records as a source to compile the jury list." No list may be kept for more than two years (§ 22-2-301). Knox and Hamilton counties both say their lists come from driver's license records (Knox County; Hamilton County).

The summons. The sheriff or the jury coordinator mails it first class at least 10 days before your reporting date, and it must explain the qualifications, the penalty for not responding, and how to ask for an excuse or a postponement (§§ 22-2-306, 22-2-307).

Exemptions and excuses

The 2008 law replaced all of Title 22, including its old list of exemptions, and struck exemption provisions from other parts of the Code, so no occupation gets you out of jury duty today. What's left are excuses, and each one takes a showing.

A disabling mental or physical condition. You may be excused if a mental or physical condition makes you incapable of jury service. You, or your personal representative, must give the court documentation from a licensed physician saying so (§ 22-1-103(a)).

Undue or extreme hardship. You may also be excused if service would cause an undue or extreme physical or financial hardship to you or to someone in your care. The law limits that phrase to four situations. You would have to:

• abandon someone in your personal care because no substitute caregiver can be found;
• take on costs that would seriously hurt your ability to pay your necessary daily living expenses, or to support those who depend on you;
• suffer physical hardship that would make you ill; or
• go without pay because you work for an out-of-state employer that won't pay you, or for a small employer that isn't required to pay jurors and won't do so voluntarily.

Missing work isn't enough on its own. In the statute's words:

Undue or extreme physical or financial hardship does not exist solely based on the fact that a prospective juror will be required to be absent from that prospective juror's place of employment.

A judge decides hardship requests unless the court hands that job to the jury coordinator. You must get a ruling by your reporting date, and you'll need proof: income tax returns, statements from licensed physicians, proof of dependency or guardianship, an affidavit that no substitute caregiver is available, or similar papers. Without satisfactory documentation, the request may be denied. The papers you submit aren't public records. A hardship or medical excuse lasts for the period the court sets, up to 24 months; you're excused for good only if the judge finds the reason is permanent (§ 22-1-103).

Age 75 or older. Since July 1, 2021, older Tennesseans have a simpler path, though age alone isn't the test. The 2021 law added this to § 22-1-103:

A person who is seventy-five (75) years of age or older is excused from jury service upon a showing that the person is seventy-five (75) years of age or older and that the person is incapable of performing jury service because of a mental or physical condition.

The jury coordinator must excuse you on receiving a written declaration with your name, date of birth and the condition that keeps you from serving. You or your personal representative may fill it out, and each county must provide the form. Nothing stops a person 75 or older from serving if they want to (Pub. Ch. 544 (2021), House Amendment 1). Hamilton County posts its age declaration online and mails a confirmation once you're excused (Hamilton County); Knox County offers an "Age and Limitation Excusal Form" (Knox County). If you're 75 or older and able to serve, there is no excuse for age alone; one older Knox County FAQ says no age excuses anyone, which was true before 2021.

Breastfeeding mothers. A 2026 law added a breastfeeding excuse to § 22-1-103:

A mother who is breastfeeding a child is excused from jury service upon providing the court with a supporting medical statement from a licensed physician or a certified professional midwife.

Send the jury coordinator a written request with that statement, and the coordinator must excuse you (Pub. Ch. 594 (2026), Senate Amendment 1; bill history).

Other reasons. Judges may also discharge a juror who isn't qualified "or for any other reasonable or proper cause" (§ 22-1-105). Some counties list their own documentation rules. Hamilton County, for example, asks full-time college students for a student ID or class schedule, and asks for excuse requests at least 10 days before your service date (Hamilton County).

How to ask. Follow the instructions on your summons. Davidson County takes requests in writing on the summons or online, and says inconvenience or work hardships aren't enough to be excused, though you may ask to postpone (Davidson County).

Postponing jury duty

Everyone gets one postponement. Section 22-2-315(a) says:

Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions, individuals scheduled to appear for jury service may request a postponement of the date of their initial appearance for jury service.

The jury coordinator must grant it if:

1. you haven't had a postponement before;
2. you ask in person, by phone, by electronic transmission, or in writing; and
3. with the coordinator's agreement, you pick a firm new date within 12 months of your original date, on a day court will be in session.

A judge may also postpone your service for good cause. A second postponement takes a judge's approval and "an extraordinary event, such as a death in the prospective juror’s family, sudden grave illness or a natural disaster or national emergency in which the prospective juror is personally involved" that you couldn't have foreseen. You stay under summons for the new date without a new summons (§ 22-2-315).

In practice: Hamilton County asks for postponement requests at least 10 days before your date and has you choose a new term from its calendar; Davidson County asks you to list two separate weeks when you could serve (Hamilton County; Davidson County).

Juror pay

Section 22-4-101(a) sets the floor:

Every regular juror, including jurors on chancery court juries, is entitled to receive at least ten dollars ($10.00) for each day's attendance.

What that means:

• $10 a day is the minimum. A county's legislative body may vote to pay more. It may instead pay a flat $11 a day, and a metropolitan or home-rule county may set juror pay by ordinance.
• Your county's rate. Davidson County (Nashville) has paid $20 a day since July 31, 2023 (Davidson County). Hamilton County (Chattanooga) pays $25 for each day you're present, including orientation day, and mails the check at the end of your term (Hamilton County). Knox County pays $11 a day (Knox County). Shelby County's rate could not be confirmed from an official page; ask the Shelby County Jury Commission.
• Sequestered jurors. A juror kept together overnight gets at least $30 a day.
• Tolls and mileage. A county that raises the rate may also allow tolls and mileage at 10 cents a mile from your home to the courthouse. To be reimbursed for tolls, you prove them under oath to the jury coordinator during your term (§ 22-4-103).
• Giving it back. Every juror gets a form letter that directs the county to donate your jury pay to the state's criminal injuries compensation fund, if you sign it (§ 22-4-107). Davidson and Hamilton ask you to tell jury staff if you want to donate.
• A pay statement. Whoever pays you must give you a statement of your daily and total jury pay, and a statement of hours served each day if you or your employer asks before you serve (§ 22-4-106(c)).

(§§ 22-4-101 to 22-4-107)

Your job is protected

In Tennessee, most employers must not only let you serve but keep paying you while you do.

Tell your employer right away. On the next day you work after the summons arrives, show it to your immediate supervisor. Your employer must then excuse you for each day your jury service lasts more than three hours. If you work a night shift, or hours before court normally meets, you're also excused from the shift right before your first day, and after that from your next work period within 24 hours of any day your service lasts more than three hours. The trial judge settles any dispute about which shifts count.

Your employer keeps paying you. Section 22-4-106(b), as Davidson County's jury office reprints it:

(b) Notwithstanding the excused absence as provided in subsection (a), the employee shall be entitled to the employee’s usual compensation received from such employment; however, the employer has the discretion to deduct the amount of the fee or compensation the employee receives for serving as a juror. Moreover, no employer shall be required to compensate an employee for more time than was actually spent serving and traveling to and from jury duty. If an employer employs less than five (5) people on a regular basis or if the juror has been employed by an employer on a temporary basis for less than six (6) months, the employer is not required to compensate the juror during the period of jury service pursuant to this section.

So, in plain terms:

1. Usual pay, minus the jury fee if your employer chooses. Employers with five or more regular employees must pay your usual compensation for the time you actually spend serving and traveling.
2. The exceptions. Employers with fewer than five people on a regular basis, and temporary jobs you've held for less than six months, are excused from paying. So is an out-of-state employer in practice, which is why losing pay that way counts as a hardship excuse.
3. Short days. Davidson County notes that if your jury service that day lasts less than three hours, you're expected to go back to work.
4. No firing or discrimination. An employer can't fire or "in any manner discriminate against" you for jury duty, as long as you gave the notice in step one.
5. Remedies. If you're fired, demoted or suspended for taking time off for jury duty, you're entitled to reinstatement and to your lost wages and work benefits. An employer that willfully refuses to rehire or restore you, or otherwise violates the section, commits a Class A misdemeanor. The rules cover the state and local governments as employers too.

(§ 22-4-106, reprinted by Davidson County; as enacted, Pub. Ch. 1159 (2008)) The clerk can give you a certificate of attendance for your employer, and Knox and Hamilton counties will sign a time sheet if your employer needs exact hours (Knox County; Hamilton County).

What happens if you don't show up

If you were summoned and not excused, postponed or discharged, and you don't appear or respond, the court issues a show-cause order requiring you to come in and explain why you shouldn't be held in civil contempt. If the judge accepts your excuse, you're excused, though you may still have to pay the cost of the order. If not, Section 22-2-309(c) provides that the juror:

shall be adjudged in civil contempt of court and shall be assessed a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) and the costs of the show cause order. The court shall suspend payment of that portion of the civil penalty in excess of fifty dollars ($50.00) upon the condition that the person complete the jury service term for which the person was summoned.

In other words, the penalty can reach $500, but if you go on to finish your jury service, you pay no more than $50 of it, plus costs. The law calls the penalty "remedial in nature": its goal is to get you to serve (§ 22-2-309). Hamilton County says the sheriff serves the show-cause order in person (Hamilton County). If you can't make your date, use your postponement or call the jury coordinator before it.

Your first day

Each county runs its own jury, so follow your summons. The three county pages we could read describe the routine:

• Check in the night before. Knox County jurors call the jury line each evening, after the recorded message is updated at 4:00 p.m., to learn whether to report the next day, and get texts or emails if they registered online (Knox County).
• Arrive early. In Nashville, report by 8:30 a.m. to the Jury Assembly Room (Suite 1120) in the Justice A.A. Birch Building, bring the top part of your summons, and watch an orientation video. Around 9:00 a.m. a judge calls for a panel, usually 30 jurors, and the lawyers pick a jury from it. Expect to stay until at least 5:00 p.m. (Davidson County).
• Security and what to bring. Expect security screening (a metal detector in Hamilton County); leave knives, scissors and anything that could be a weapon at home. A book, paperwork or a laptop helps with the waiting, but you can't use them in the courtroom, and phones must be off there (Davidson). Hamilton County allows a book, cellphone and laptop but no outside food or drinks.
• Dress. Comfortable but appropriate. Hamilton County rules out shorts, flip-flops, hats and offensive slogans, and suggests a sweater because courtrooms run cold. No child care is available, so don't bring children.
• Parking. Davidson validates parking at the Public Square garage beside the Historic Metro Courthouse; Knox at the Dwight Kessel garage; Hamilton at the Courts Parking Garage, which fills by about 8:30 a.m.
• During trial. Don't talk about the case, research it online, or post about it, and report anyone who tries to discuss it with you (Davidson).

Grand jury service

Grand jurors meet the same qualifications as trial jurors (§ 22-1-101). In Knox County the grand jury is 13 citizens who hear evidence and decide whether there is probable cause to send a case to trial; they take an oath of secrecy, are paid $11 a day, and face the same show-cause order and $500 penalty for not appearing (Knox County District Attorney General). Hamilton County grand jurors serve a four-month term and are paid $25 a day (Hamilton County).

Jury duty scams

Scammers call claiming you missed jury duty and demand money or personal information. Knox County's jury office warns that "Courts do not call jurors for missing jury duty" and that any notice about jury duty comes by mail; the courts will never ask for your Social Security number or a credit card over the phone (Knox County). Hamilton County says the same and adds that it will never ask you to meet someone to hand over money (Hamilton County). In Tennessee, a penalty comes only from a judge after a show-cause hearing. Hang up and call your sheriff's office or jury coordinator (see also the federal courts' juror scam warning).

Recent and pending changes

We found no other change to juror pay, excuses, employer duties or penalties in the General Assembly's public chapter lists for 2021 through 2026. Juror pay is still the 2008 statutory minimum of $10 a day, so any raise comes from your county.

Frequently asked questions

How much does jury duty pay in Tennessee?

State law guarantees at least $10 a day, and each county may pay more. Davidson County (Nashville) pays $20 a day, Hamilton County $25 and Knox County $11. A sequestered juror gets at least $30 a day. Most employers must also keep paying your usual wages, though they may subtract your jury pay.

Can my employer fire me for jury duty in Tennessee?

No. If you show your supervisor the summons on your next workday, your employer can't fire you or discriminate against you for serving. An employee who is fired, demoted or suspended is entitled to reinstatement and lost wages, and a violation is a Class A misdemeanor. Employers with five or more regular employees must also pay your usual wages.

How do I get out of jury duty in Tennessee?

Tennessee has no job-based exemptions, so you need an excuse. You may be excused for a mental or physical condition documented by a doctor, for an undue or extreme hardship a judge accepts, at 75 or older with a disabling condition on a written declaration, or as a breastfeeding mother with a medical statement. Missing work isn't a hardship by itself, but everyone gets one postponement of up to 12 months.

What happens if I miss jury duty in Tennessee?

The court will order you to appear and explain. If your excuse isn't good enough, you'll be held in civil contempt and assessed a civil penalty of up to $500 plus costs. The judge must suspend all but $50 of it if you then finish your jury service.

How often can you be called for jury duty in Tennessee?

After you finish a jury service term, you can't be summoned again by any Tennessee state court for 24 months, and a county may lengthen that period. Names are drawn at random, mostly from driver's license records, so some people are called several times over the years and others never.

Is there an age limit for jury duty in Tennessee?

You must be at least 18. There's no upper age limit, but since 2021 anyone 75 or older who can't serve because of a mental or physical condition is excused on a written declaration to the jury coordinator. A healthy person over 75 may still be called, and anyone 75 or older may choose to serve.

Where these rules live

• Tenn. Code Title 22 as enacted — qualifications, excuses, selection, postponement, penalty, pay and employer duties (Pub. Ch. 1159, 2008)
• Tenn. Code § 22-2-315 — Postponement, current text (2026 Code Bill)
• Tenn. Code § 22-4-106 — Employer duties, as reprinted by Davidson County
• Age-75 excuse — HB 1303, Pub. Ch. 544 (2021)
• Breastfeeding excuse — SB 1893, Pub. Ch. 594 (2026)
• Restoration of citizenship rights — SB 407, Pub. Ch. 298 (2025)
• Davidson County (Nashville) Jury Duty
• Knox County Circuit Court Jury Coordinator
• Hamilton County Jury Duty Information
• Tenn. R. Civ. P. 47 — Jurors (on this site)
• Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure (on this site)
• Divorce in Tennessee
• Law schools in Tennessee