In Tennessee, does an employer have to pay an employee for the time spent driving to and from jury duty?

Subject

Opinion No. 11-72, Jury Duty Travel Compensation, October 10, 2011

Plain-English summary

Tennessee's jury-pay statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(b), tells employers they must pay an employee his or her "usual compensation" while the employee is serving on a jury. Senator Faulk asked whether the travel time, the time the employee actually spends driving to and from the courthouse, has to be paid too, in cases where the employer doesn't normally pay for the employee's commute.

The AG said yes. The statute itself says no employer is required to compensate an employee "for more time than was actually spent serving and traveling to and from jury duty." That phrasing builds travel time into the compensable period. The AG read the statute the way Tennessee courts and the U.S. District Court in In re Heritage Propane have read it: as a broad, remedial provision meant to remove the financial penalty that workers would otherwise face for showing up to jury service.

The AG gave a worked example. An employee who spends two hours driving to and from the courthouse and four hours sitting on the jury is entitled to six total hours of usual compensation. The employer can deduct the juror fee the state pays, but cannot decline to pay for the travel time on the theory that commute time is not normally compensated.

The opinion also flagged the standard small-employer carve-outs from § 22-4-106(b): an employer with fewer than five regular employees, or an employer of a temporary worker on the job for less than six months, is not required to pay at all. Within the protected group, however, travel time is on the meter.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2011. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

The substance of Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(b), which the AG noted had been in place since 1978 without significant change, has remained the jury-pay framework in Tennessee. Employers and employees should still consult current statute text and DOL guidance before acting.

Background and statutory framework

The statute. Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(a)(1): when summoned, the employee must show the summons to the immediate superior, and the employer must excuse the employee for any day jury service exceeds three hours. § 22-4-106(b): the employee "shall be entitled to the employee's usual compensation," and "no employer shall be required to compensate an employee for more time than was actually spent serving and traveling to and from jury duty." The employer has discretion to deduct the juror fee. Small-employer and short-term-employee exceptions apply.

Legislative history. The provisions were originally enacted in 1978 Tenn. Pub. Acts 522 and have not changed significantly. The AG's office had previously opined on the statute in Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. No. 78-311 (July 31, 1978) and Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. No. 99-014 (January 27, 1999), both of which read the statute as broadly remedial. Op. 78-311 noted that "usual compensation" varies case by case and is a question of fact, and that salaried employees receive their usual salary on a prorated basis.

The federal court's reasoning in In re Heritage Propane. Employers "share the obligations of every citizen for making our jury system work" and have a duty to ensure employees can serve "without fear of reprisal or loss of benefits." Reprisal, whether by discharge or elimination of benefits, "interferes with the integrity of the judicial system." 2007 WL 433290, at *2.

Statutory construction. When statutory language is clear, courts apply the plain meaning. Auto Credit of Nashville v. Wimmer, 231 S.W.3d 896, 900 (Tenn. 2007). Because § 22-4-106(b) refers expressly to "serving and traveling to and from jury duty," the plain meaning covers travel time.

Common questions

Does this rule cover the time spent waiting in the courthouse before the jury is empaneled?

The opinion does not separately address waiting time, but the statute covers time "actually spent serving and traveling to and from jury duty." Time the juror is required to be at the courthouse is a normal component of "serving." The narrow read would say only voir dire and deliberation count as "serving"; the broader read (more consistent with the AG's remedial framing) would include required courthouse waiting time. Employers facing a contested case should expect the broader read.

Can the employer require the employee to use vacation time?

No. The statute entitles the employee to "usual compensation," which courts have read as compensation in addition to, not in place of, accrued leave. Op. 78-311 and the In re Heritage Propane court both warned against schemes that shift the cost of jury service back onto the employee.

What is the small-employer exception?

The statute carves out employers with fewer than five regular employees and employees on a temporary basis for less than six months. Those employers are not required to pay at all under § 22-4-106(b). The carve-out is narrowly drawn; "regular basis" is the key phrase.

Can the employer deduct the juror fee from wages?

Yes, at the employer's discretion. Tennessee pays jurors a daily fee. The employer can subtract that amount from the usual compensation the employer owes, so the employee receives the same net pay as a normal workday, just funded partly by the state.

Does the rule apply to grand jury service?

The statute refers to "service as a juror in any court of the United States or this state." That language is broad enough to cover federal and state grand jury service. The AG did not separately analyze grand juries in this opinion.

Citations

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(b)
• Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 22-4-101 to 106
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(a)-(c)
• 1978 Tenn. Pub. Acts 522
• In re Heritage Propane, No. 2:07-MC-01, 2007 WL 433290 (E.D. Tenn. Feb. 6, 2007)
• Auto Credit of Nashville v. Wimmer, 231 S.W.3d 896 (Tenn. 2007)
• Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. No. 78-311 (July 31, 1978)
• Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. No. 99-014 (January 27, 1999)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2011/op11-072.pdf

Original opinion text

October 10, 2011
Opinion No. 11-72
Jury Duty Travel Compensation

QUESTION

Does Tennessee Code Annotated § 22-4-106(b) require an employer to compensate an employee for travel time to and from jury duty when the employee is not compensated for travel as a part of the employee's usual compensation from the employer?

OPINION

Yes. Tennessee Code Annotated § 22-4-106(b) requires an employer, subject to certain limited exceptions, to provide an employee his or her "usual compensation" for time "actually spent serving and traveling to and from jury duty."

ANALYSIS

Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 22-4-101 to 106 provide a comprehensive framework for jury duty service. Tennessee Code Annotated § 22-4-106 addresses the compensation of jurors, and states in pertinent part:

(a)(1) Upon receiving a summons to report for jury duty, any employee shall, on the next day the employee is engaged in the employee's employment, exhibit the summons to the employee's immediate superior, and the employer shall thereupon excuse the employee from employment for each day the employee's service as a juror in any court of the United States or this state exceeds three (3) hours.

(b) Notwithstanding the excused absence as herein provided in subsection (a), the employee shall be entitled to the employee's usual compensation received from such employment; however, the employer has the discretion to deduct the amount of the fee or compensation the employee receives for serving as a juror. Moreover, no employer shall be required to compensate an employee for more time than was actually spent serving and traveling to and from jury duty. If an employer employs less than five (5) people on a regular basis or if the juror has been employed by an employer on a temporary basis for less than six (6) months the employer is not required to compensate the juror during the period of jury service pursuant to this section.

(c) It is the duty of all persons paying jurors their fee or compensation for jury service to issue to each juror a statement showing the daily fee or compensation and the total amount of fees or compensation received by the juror. The person also shall provide a juror with a statement showing the number of hours the juror spent serving each day if the juror or juror's employer requests such a statement prior to the service at issue.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(a)-(c) (emphasis added).

The provisions governing employer compensation of an employee summoned to jury duty were originally enacted in 1978 and have not changed significantly since that date. Compare 1978 Tenn. Pub. Acts 522 with Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(b).

An employer is essentially required to pay the employee his or her "usual compensation", provided that no employer is required to compensate an employee for "more time than was actually spent serving and traveling to and from jury duty." Tenn. Code Ann. § 22-4-106(b) (emphasis added). This Office has previously addressed the operation of this statute, as well as the Legislature's intent for these statutory provisions to have a broad and remedial effect to correct the injustice of compelling workers to sustain a financial loss because of their service on a jury. Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. 99-014 (January 27, 1999); Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. 78-311 (July 31, 1978) (copies attached). Opinion No. 78-311 observed that what constitutes "usual compensation" would necessarily vary on a case-by-case basis and would be a question of fact. The legislative floor debates indicated a salaried person would receive his or her usual salary, upon a pro rated basis. Tenn. Op. Att'y Gen. 78-311 at p. 2. The Opinion also provided an example of how a person summoned to jury duty would be compensated, stating that an employee who serves two hours "traveling and sitting as a juror" would be entitled to compensation for the two hours at his or her usual rate of compensation. Id.

Courts addressing the application of these statutes have likewise emphasized their remedial nature. As the United States District Court recognized in the case of In re Heritage Propane:

Employers ... enjoy the benefits of our independent judiciary and share the obligations of every citizen for making our jury system work. First and foremost, employers have a duty to ensure that employees can report for jury duty without fear of reprisal or loss of benefits. No juror can be ... attentive ... if the juror is anxious and worried about the security of his or her employment or the loss of benefits as a result of absence from work because of jury service.

...

Employer reprisal in any form, whether by discharge or the elimination of benefits otherwise available, interferes with the integrity of the judicial system, is an obstruction of justice, fosters disrespect for the rule of law and jeopardizes the national policy of providing a fair cross section of the community on juries.

In re Heritage Propane, No. 2:07-MC-01, 2007 WL 433290, at *2 (E.D. Tenn. Feb. 6, 2007).

In light of the statutory reference including travel time as a component of jury service and the legislative intent to protect workers from the loss of benefits when called to jury service, Section § 22-4-106(b) is properly construed as providing that travel time to and from jury duty is compensable as part of jury service. When the statutory language is clear, as is the case here, the plain meaning of the language must be applied in its normal and accepted use. See Auto Credit of Nashville v. Wimmer, 231 S.W.3d 896, 900 (Tenn. 2007).

Accordingly, it is our opinion that an employer is required to compensate an employee for travel time to and from jury duty, as well for the employee's service on the jury. Thus, if an employee spends two hours traveling to and from jury service and four hours serving on the jury, the employee would be entitled to six total hours of his or her usual compensation.

ROBERT E. COOPER, JR.
Attorney General and Reporter

WILLIAM E. YOUNG
Solicitor General

E. ASHLEY CARTER
Assistant Attorney General

Requested by:
The Honorable Mike Faulk
State Senator
Suite 10A, Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243