Jury Duty Leave and Pay Requirements in Florida
At a glance
| Governing law | Fla. Stat. §§ 40.271 (employment protection) and 40.24 (court-paid juror compensation) |
|---|---|
| Jury service covered | Summoned or accepted service on any grand or petit jury in Florida; protection is tied to the nature or length of that jury service (§ 40.271) |
| Employers and employees covered | Any person summoned or accepted for covered jury service; no permanent, full-time, tenure, or employer-size gate stated in § 40.271 |
| Time-off entitlement | Statute bars dismissal because of the nature or length of covered service and permits contempt for threats of dismissal; it does not separately describe a broader leave-administration procedure (§ 40.271(1)-(2)) |
| Employer-paid wages | §§ 40.24 and 40.271 impose no employer wage-continuation duty; § 40.24 instead coordinates court compensation according to whether regular wages continue |
| PTO and juror-fee treatment | §§ 40.24 and 40.271 do not address PTO use; no first-3-day court pay if regular wages continue, otherwise eligible juror gets $15/day, then $30/day after day 3 (§ 40.24(3)-(4)) |
| Employee notice and proof | §§ 40.24 and 40.271 set no employee advance-notice, summons-copy, or attendance-certificate rule |
| Scheduling and return-to-work rules | §§ 40.24 and 40.271 set no night-shift rest window, same-day return rule, or long-trial scheduling procedure |
| Job protection and remedies | Dismissal supports compensatory and punitive damages plus reasonable attorney's fees; threats of dismissal may be contempt. Text does not expressly create the same civil remedy for lesser adverse actions (§ 40.271(2)-(3)) |
Requirements one by one
Jury service covered and dismissal protection
Section 40.271 protects a person "summoned to serve" or "accepted to serve" on a Florida grand or petit jury from dismissal because of the nature or length of that service. Its separate threat provision says a dismissal threat "may be deemed a contempt" by the court that issued the summons.
Court compensation and employer wages
Section 40.24 sets the clerk's payment, not an employer wage obligation. A juror whose regular wages continue receives no clerk payment for the first three days; one who is not regularly employed or whose wages do not continue receives $15 a day. From the fourth day, the clerk pays each serving juror $30 a day. The text expressly includes part-time, temporary, and casual work in "regular employment" when hours can be determined by a schedule or the preceding three months' established practice.
Remedy after dismissal
Section 40.271(3) gives a civil action to the "individual who has been dismissed" and names compensatory damages, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney's fees. The quoted text does not give that civil remedy to a person who experienced only a threat; subsection (2) separately addresses contempt.
What trips people up
The clerk's definition of a service day includes being summoned and reporting, even without actual service on a jury. It excludes a day when the juror was notified before reporting that attendance was unnecessary. Keep this court-fee count separate from any employer pay policy.
Common questions
Do these jury sections require an employee to give the employer a summons copy?
Sections 40.24 and 40.271 do not set a summons-copy or advance-notice rule.
Do these sections say an employee must use accrued PTO during jury service?
Neither section addresses compulsory or optional PTO use. The clerk-payment rule accounts for wages that do or do not continue; it does not prescribe how the employer handles leave balances.
Statutes and sources
- Fla. Stat. § 40.271: dismissal protection, contempt, and civil remedy — official text (accessed September 23, 2026).
- Fla. Stat. § 40.24(2)-(4): juror-service definition and court compensation — official text (accessed September 23, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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