District Of Columbia - Jury Duty Employer Obligations

in District Of Columbia, your employer is not only required to give you leave for jury duty, but they are required to pay you your normal wages for all working hours spent at jury selection or jury duty. This is a rare guarantee, as most states only require that employees be provided with unpaid leave for serving on a jury.

Your employer can never punish you for missing work to attend jury duty. However, if missing work would cause your employer undue hardship, it may be considered as an acceptable jury duty excuse.

In the District of Columbia, an employer is obligated to pay, to full time employees, regular wages, less the jury fees received for service by the employee, for the first 5 days or less of jury service.

If the employee would not have worked on the day that they were serving; or if they would not have worked more than half of a shift extending into another day, if they were not serving that day; are not considered full time employees and are thus not eligible for regular wage compensation as above for those days.

Employers with 10 or less employees are not required to compensate regular wages to their employees.

You will receive a nominal jury duty payment from the State of District Of Columbia for each day you serve on a jury, as well as potential reimbursements for travel expenses. However, jury duty pay tends to be a token amount rather than actual compensation.

In the District of Columbia, no employee shall be deprived of employment; threatened or otherwise coerced because the employee receives a summons, responds thereto, serves as a juror or attends Court for prospective jury service.

You should be sure to show your employer your District Of Columbia jury duty summons letter when you receive it, and update them with your jury duty dates if you are assigned to a trial, to ensure that you receive your mandatory time off.

If an employer fails to pay an employee the wages of the first 5 days or less of jury service, the employee may bring a civil action for recovery of wages or salary lost. If action successful, employee is entitled to reasonable attorney fees fixed by the court.

Employer found in criminal contempt for discharge of employee may be fined of up to $300 or up to 30 days’ imprisonment, or both, for a first offense; up to $5,000 or up to 180 days’ imprisonment, or both, for any offense thereafter.

Discharged employee may commence action within 9 months of discharge and be eligible for lost wages, attorneys’ fees, and may be reinstated.

If you have been punished for missing work due to jury duty, contact the joror office of the court that summoned you, and they will assist in ensuring that your rights are protected.