Do You Get Paid for Jury Duty?

Getting a notice in the mail that you've been selected for jury duty can be irritating or outright stressful. If you are working on a tight budget, missing a day or more of work can be intimidating. Because of this, the biggest question on many people's minds when they have jury duty is whether they'll be paid for jury duty.

For a general answer, jurors do receive a small amount of compensation for jury duty, but the pay is not much. Because of this, those selected for jury duty may wonder if they can somehow get out of jury duty. You can request to be excused from jury duty, but this can be a difficult process.

Thankfully, there is an easier way to do this. DoNotPay can help with the Jury Duty Excuse product.

What is jury duty?

Jury duty is an obligation for all citizens in the United States. The Constitution gives every person accused of a crime the right to a trial by jury, and this jury is selected from citizens. Not everyone summoned for jury duty is selected to actually serve on a jury, but everyone who is summoned must go to the courthouse on the date they are assigned.

Do you get paid for jury duty?

The question that many wonder about the first time they learn they have jury duty is if they will be paid. Jurors do receive payment for serving on a jury, but the amount received is not significant. For a juror on a federal trial, according to United States Courts, pay is $50 per day.

Meanwhile, jurors in state trials are paid less, and these amounts depend on the state in question. California state law indicates that jurors receive $15 per day. Missouri state law shows that jurors are paid $6 per day.

Even the highest amount a juror can receive for a federal trial is less than what someone would make doing a day of minimum wage work. Even more troublesome is that in most states, jobs are not required to pay employees for the days they are on jury duty. Jobs cannot punish you for going to jury duty, but in most states, it counts as unpaid time off.

Some examples of states that count jury duty as unpaid time off:

• Alabama
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Ohio

Can you skip jury duty without an excuse?

If you are summoned for jury duty, you are legally required to report to the courthouse when designated. Failing to do so without having an excused absence can be considered a contempt of court offense. This could result in fines or even jail time.

Jury duty laws by state

Every state has different laws for jury duty. The following table includes jury laws for each state.

How to request an excuse from jury duty on your own

If you are concerned about how little jury duty pays and do not believe you can go to jury duty, you can submit a request to be excused. Consider the following steps:

1. Research the jury duty laws of your state to see what is and is not excused.
2. Compile evidence to prove that you cannot attend jury duty.
3. Once you have this, you are ready to write a letter requesting that you be excused.
4. Find the address of the department to mail your request to.
5. Write your request, giving a detailed account of why you cannot go to jury duty.
6. Be sure to submit your request early. It takes time for states to see requests and determine if a juror is excused.

Next steps if you can't request an excuse from jury duty yourself

While anyone can theoretically request an excuse from jury duty, the process is difficult. Most people do not try to get out of it because they believe their request will not be accepted.

DoNotPay offers an alternative to requesting an excuse on your own, though. The Jury Duty Excuse product simplifies the process of requesting to get out of jury duty.

File a jury duty excuse request with DoNotPay

Using DoNotPay to request a jury duty excuse is as easy as following 3 easy steps!

1. Search Jury Duty Excuse on DoNotPay, and enter your jury duty summons information, including the assigned date, court name, juror number, and more.
2. Select your reason for excusal, and provide a few more details regarding your situation and upload evidence to prove your point.
3. Enter the fax number or mailing address of the courtroom as displayed on your jury summons letter.

DoNotPay works across all entities with the click of a button

In addition to being fast, easy, and successful, DoNotPay is also a versatile tool that can be used in every state. You can submit a jury duty excuse in California, Florida, or any other state.

What else can DoNotPay do?

Once you're done requesting your excuse from jury duty, you have only scratched the surface on what DoNotPay can do. DoNotPay's range of legal and company services is wide and includes:

• Child travel consent form
• Government test prep
• Sue anyone in small claims court

If you're experiencing these issues or others, sign up for DoNotPay today and see what the world's first robot lawyer can do.