Provided by:  Jennifer Kirschenbaum, Esq.

February 5, 2019

 

Question: 

 
Hi Jennifer,

One of my employees was called for jury duty.  Counting me, I have 6 employees at the practice.  Do I have to pay?   Can I say she has to take a vacation day? We are located in New York.

Thanks, Dr. P
 
 

Answer:


No and No.

For the first question, in NY Employers must have over 10 employees to be legally required to pay the $40 per day jury fee  (or wages, if less than $40 per day) to employees.

For the second questions, you cannot force your employee to take a vacation day.  Jury service is a legally excused absence.  The time cannot be forced to be made up, or charged against days allocated as PTO or sick leave.  That being said, if the employee elects to use PTO for the jury service time, assuming PTO is accrued/available, that is allowed. 

NYS has an easy to use guide on jury duty available here for any more FAQs:  http://www.nyjuror.gov/pdfs/hb_ee.pdf

Hope this helps!