Our team of experts fields real-life, everyday questions from HR managers and gives practical answers that can be applied by any HR pro in the same situation. Today’s question centers around handling employees who are summoned to jury duty.
Question
We need to add a jury duty provision to our policies. What should we include?
Answer
There are a couple of questions you’ll want to be sure to answer, says Jason Shinn (jshinn@ebusinesscounsel.com) on the Michigan Employment Law blog.
Your policy should address the following questions:
- What procedures should employees follow to notify you they’ve been summoned for jury service?
- If the employees are excused from jury duty, must they return to work that day?
- Will employees be paid during their leave for jury duty, and, if so, at what rate? Also, how will any pay that staffers receive from the courts for jury duty be handled?
Finally, a no-brainer: You can’t discharge or discipline employees for answering a summons for jury duty.
