Mississippi: Jury Duty Leave and Pay Requirements
The short answer
A Mississippi employer may not fire or take other adverse action against an employee because of jury service, as long as the employee reports the summons to the employer within a reasonable time after receiving it. The employer may not require or request the employee to use vacation, personal, or sick leave for jury time. Mississippi does not require the employer to pay wages during jury service, and a violation is punishable as contempt of court rather than through a private damages suit.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Mississippi. Ezel applies current Mississippi law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | Miss. Code Ann. § 13-5-35 (employment protections for jurors), as amended by 2006 SB 2488; no separate employer jury-pay statute |
|---|---|
| Jury service covered | Responding to a jury summons, the jury-selection process, and actual jury service (§ 13-5-35(2)); the section speaks of a 'juror' generally and does not separately address federal-court service |
| Employers and employees covered | 'Any employer or any other person'; no employer-size or tenure gate for the anti-retaliation rule. The postponement in subsection (4) is specific to employers with 5 or fewer full-time employees |
| Time-off entitlement | No affirmative leave grant; the absence is protected by barring removal or other adverse employment action because of jury service (§ 13-5-35(1)). No set number of days |
| Employer-paid wages | None; § 13-5-35 does not require an employer to pay wages during jury service |
| PTO and juror-fee treatment | Employer may not require or request use of annual, vacation, or sick leave for summons response, selection, or service (§ 13-5-35(2)); no duty to create such leave for workers not otherwise entitled. Juror-fee offset not addressed |
| Employee notice and proof | The anti-retaliation protection applies only if the employee notifies the employer of the summons within a reasonable time after receiving it (§ 13-5-35(1)); no written-notice or summons-copy requirement stated |
| Scheduling and return-to-work rules | For an employer with 5 or fewer full-time employees, the court automatically postpones and reschedules a second summoned worker's service if another employee was already summoned for the same period (§ 13-5-35(4)); no night-shift or same-day-return rule |
| Job protection and remedies | Bars persuading or intimidating a juror and adverse employment action for jury service; a violation of subsection (1) or (2) is contempt of court, punishable as such (§ 13-5-35(3)). The section states no private damages action, reinstatement, or civil fine |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Protected from adverse action, but no employer pay
Mississippi's juror-employment protection is Miss. Code § 13-5-35. It makes it
unlawful for "any employer or any other person" to persuade or attempt to
persuade a juror to avoid service, to intimidate or threaten a juror, or "to
remove or otherwise subject an employee to adverse employment action as a
result of jury service." That covers being fired, demoted, or otherwise
penalized for answering a summons and serving.
The protection is a shield against retaliation, not an affirmative grant of
paid leave. Section 13-5-35 says nothing about wages, so Mississippi does not
require a private employer to pay an employee during jury service. An employer
policy or agreement may provide paid jury leave, but state law does not.
No forced PTO, and a notice condition
An employer may not "require or request" an employee to use annual, vacation,
or sick leave for time spent responding to a summons, sitting through jury
selection, or actually serving. The same subsection adds that this does not
force an employer to create such leave for an employee who is not otherwise
entitled to it under company policy — so the rule bars charging jury time
against existing balances rather than manufacturing new leave.
The anti-retaliation protection in subsection (1) carries a condition: it
applies where "the employee notifies his or her employer that he or she has
been summoned to serve as a juror within a reasonable period of time after
receipt of a summons." The statute does not fix a day count, require written
notice, or require the employee to hand over a copy of the summons; it asks
only for reasonable, timely notice.
Small-employer postponement
Section 13-5-35(4) adds a scheduling protection aimed at very small workplaces.
If an employee works for an employer with five or fewer full-time employees (or
the equivalent) and another of that employer's workers has already been
summoned for the same period, the court "shall automatically postpone and
reschedule" the second worker's service. The statute states that this
court-ordered postponement does not use up the juror's separate right to one
general automatic postponement. The mechanism is handled by the court, not the
employer, and exists so a tiny business is not stripped of two workers at once.
What trips people up
The remedy here is narrower than in many states. A violation is "deemed an
interference with the administration of justice and a contempt of court and
punishable as such." That routes enforcement through the court's contempt
power; the section itself does not create a private lawsuit for damages, an
order of reinstatement, or a fixed civil fine. An employee who is fired over
jury service should raise it with the court connected to the summons rather
than assume the statute supplies its own damages claim.
"Adverse employment action" is broad, but the notice condition matters. An
employee who never tells the employer about the summons, or waits an
unreasonable time to do so, weakens the statutory protection against
retaliation.
Common questions
Does Mississippi make my employer pay me for jury duty?
No. Section 13-5-35 protects you from being punished for serving but does not
require the employer to continue your wages. Any paid jury leave comes from
company policy, not state law.
Can my employer make me use vacation days for jury duty?
No. The employer may not require or request that you use annual, vacation, or
sick leave for responding to the summons, jury selection, or service.
What happens if I am fired for serving on a jury?
The statute treats that as contempt of court, punishable as such. Raise it with
the court tied to your summons; the section does not itself spell out a private
damages suit.
My small employer already lost a worker to the same jury pool — do I still have to go?
If your employer has five or fewer full-time employees and another employee was
already summoned for the same period, the court is directed to automatically
postpone and reschedule your service.
Statutes and sources
- Miss. Code Ann. § 13-5-35 — employment protections for jurors:
anti-retaliation rule and notice condition (subsection 1), no forced PTO
(subsection 2), contempt remedy (subsection 3), and the small-employer
automatic postponement (subsection 4). Quoted from the Mississippi
Legislature's official enrolled 2006 SB 2488 (As Sent to Governor), § 6,
which sets the current section text.
Official enrolled act
(accessed July 13, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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