You’ve been summoned for jury duty. Your first reaction was an unsuccessful attempt to avoid jury duty (see last week’s column). This week’s column addresses common questions about jury service.
How much time from work will I miss to serve on the jury?
It depends. There are typically three main stages to jury service: impaneling, jury selection, and trial. Impaneling usually takes 1-2 hours. Travis County allows jurors to save time by impaneling online using the I-Jury Online Impaneling form. Jury selection takes place within a few weeks of the impaneling process and can typically take a few hours to a full day. The lawyers and the judge will conference on estimated trial length prior to starting, however accurately predicting a trial’s length can be difficult. Some trials last for weeks or months, but in general jurors can expect the trial to last a few days to one week.
Does my boss have to pay me while I’m serving on a jury?
No. Texas law does not currently require your employer to pay you while you are serving on jury duty, though some employers choose to do so. The law does, however, state that your employer cannot fire you for serving on a jury.
Do I get paid to serve on a jury? How much?
Yes – you will be paid for jury service. Each juror receives $6 for the first day of appearance and $40 for the second and any subsequent days of appearance. Sound like peanuts? That’s because it is. For example, a juror who serves on a one-week trial will be paid significantly less than minimum wage for his or her time. Amazingly, this pay rate was recently increased in 2005 (prior to that it was only $6 per day). Some speculate that low jury pay contributes to low turnout for jury duty, particularly for those hardest hit by the loss of work income, including everyone from high-paid self-employed professionals to hourly employees. Whether low jury turnout threatens one’s right to obtain a jury pool that reflects a representative cross section of the community remains to be seen.
This article appears in October 10 • 2008.