Georgia: Jury Duty Leave and Pay Requirements
The short answer
A Georgia employer may not discharge, discipline, penalize, or threaten an employee for missing work to attend a judicial proceeding in response to a jury summons, and an employee harmed by a violation may sue for actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees. State law does not require the employer to pay wages during jury service and does not address using PTO; a widely repeated 1989 unofficial Attorney General opinion suggesting pay continues is advisory only, not binding. The employer may require reasonable notice of the absence, and the protection does not cover an employee who is charged with a crime.
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This is the general rule in Georgia. Ezel applies current Georgia law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | O.C.G.A. § 34-1-3 (leave to attend a judicial proceeding, including a jury summons); no separate Georgia statute on jury pay, PTO, or scheduling |
|---|---|
| Jury service covered | Absence to attend a judicial proceeding in response to a summons for jury duty; the same section also covers subpoenaed court attendance, and 'judicial proceeding' has been read to include proceedings in other states (§ 34-1-3(a)) |
| Employers and employees covered | Any employer or its agent, and any employee; no employer-size, tenure, or job-classification gate stated (§ 34-1-3(a)) |
| Time-off entitlement | Protected unpaid absence: the employer may not penalize the employee for being absent to attend; the statute bars penalties rather than granting a defined block of leave (§ 34-1-3(a)) |
| Employer-paid wages | No statute requires a private employer to pay wages during jury service; § 34-1-3 bars only penalties and threats. A 1989 unofficial Attorney General opinion read the statute to require regular pay less juror fees, but unofficial opinions are advisory, not binding, and current court guidance differs |
| PTO and juror-fee treatment | Statute is silent: it neither compels nor forbids using vacation, sick, or other paid leave, and does not address crediting court juror fees against wages (§ 34-1-3) |
| Employee notice and proof | Employer may require the employee to follow reasonable-notification rules for an expected absence or late arrival; no written-notice, summons-copy, or attendance-certificate rule is stated (§ 34-1-3(c)) |
| Scheduling and return-to-work rules | No statutory night-shift, rest-before-or-after, same-day-return, or long-trial scheduling rule |
| Job protection and remedies | Bars discharge, discipline, other penalties, and threats of such action; remedy is a private civil suit for actual damages plus reasonable attorney's fees; no criminal penalty. Does not apply to an employee who is charged with a crime (§ 34-1-3(a)-(c)) |
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What the protection covers
Georgia's single jury-employment rule is O.C.G.A. § 34-1-3. It makes it unlawful
for an employer or its agent to discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize an
employee for being absent to attend a judicial proceeding "in response to a
subpoena, summons for jury duty, or other court order or process." A second
sentence makes it equally unlawful to threaten such action. The rule reaches any
employer and any employee, with no size, tenure, or job-classification limit,
and it protects the absence itself; it does not grant a fixed number of leave
days or address how the time off is scheduled.
Because the statute is built around attendance at a "judicial proceeding," it
also covers an employee subpoenaed to appear as a witness, and it is not limited
to Georgia state courts. An official 1995 Attorney General opinion read
"judicial proceeding" to include proceedings in courts of other states.
Notice the employer may require
Section 34-1-3(c) lets an employer enforce "regulations requiring reasonable
notification ... of the employee's expected absence or delay in reporting to
work." The statute stops there. It does not say the notice must be written, sets
no advance-day count, and does not require the employee to hand over a copy of
the summons or a certificate of attendance. Those are matters for the employer's
own policy.
Remedies for a violation
An employee harmed by a violation may bring a private civil action and recover
"all actual damages" plus "reasonable attorney's fees." The statute creates no
criminal penalty and no agency-enforced fine; the 1995 Attorney General opinion
confirms it sets no criminal offense. One carve-out applies: § 34-1-3(c) says
the protection does not cover an employee who is the one charged with a crime.
What trips people up
The pay question is the big one. Many Georgia county jury handouts tell jurors
their employer "must pay" their regular salary during service. That language
traces to a 1989 unofficial Attorney General opinion (No. U89-55), which read
§ 34-1-3 to require continued regular pay, with the court's juror fee credited
against it. But the statute itself says nothing about wages: it bars penalties
and threats and provides a damages remedy, and nothing in its text requires an
employer to keep paying. An unofficial Attorney General opinion is advisory, not
binding law, and county guidance is not uniform, with some clerks stating there
is no pay requirement. Treat continued pay as something to confirm with your
employer or the court, not as a settled statutory right.
A related point: the court's juror fee is not the same as wages. Section 34-1-3
does not coordinate the two, so the statute neither guarantees pay nor sets off a
fee against pay.
The protection also turns on attending a proceeding. An employee who is the one
charged with a crime is expressly outside the statute under § 34-1-3(c).
Common questions
Does a Georgia employer have to pay me while I serve on a jury?
No statute requires it. Section 34-1-3 protects your job but does not order the
employer to continue wages. Some jury materials say pay continues, based on a
non-binding 1989 opinion, so confirm the point with your employer.
Can I be fired or written up for going to jury duty?
No. Section 34-1-3 makes discharge, discipline, other penalties, and even
threats of them unlawful, and it lets you sue for actual damages and attorney's
fees.
Do I have to give my employer notice first?
The employer may require reasonable notice of your expected absence or late
arrival under § 34-1-3(c). The statute does not fix the form or timing, so
follow your employer's policy.
Does the law cover federal jury duty?
The statute protects absence to attend a "judicial proceeding in response to a
... summons for jury duty" and is not limited to Georgia state courts; the 1995
Attorney General opinion read "judicial proceeding" to include proceedings in
other states.
Statutes and sources
- O.C.G.A. § 34-1-3: jury and judicial-proceeding leave, the anti-penalty rule,
and the civil remedy —
official public-domain OCGA text
(accessed July 13, 2026). - Georgia Attorney General Official Opinion 95-13 (supporting authority that
§ 34-1-3 creates no criminal offense and that "judicial proceeding" includes
other states) —
View official text (law.georgia.gov)
(accessed July 13, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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