If a federal court has summoned you for jury duty, your employer cannot fire you, threaten you, or pressure you because of it. That is the core of jurors’ employment rights under 28 U.S.C. § 1875. The statute covers permanent employees called to any federal trial or grand jury, and it gives you a direct path into federal court if your employer retaliates: reinstatement, lost wages and benefits, a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation against the employer, and the possibility of a court-appointed lawyer at no cost to you. One catch drives the whole thing: you have 90 days from the retaliatory act to file.
What Your Employer Cannot Do
The prohibition is written broadly. Your employer cannot discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce any permanent employee because of that employee’s federal jury service or scheduled appearance for service.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment That reaches the obvious termination letter and the subtler moves: hinting your absence will cost you a promotion, reassigning your duties to signal you are expendable, writing you up for the days you were in court, or docking your seniority.
Some employers try to push work around your service to force the issue. Telling you to ask the court for an excuse under false pretenses, or scheduling you for shifts that conflict with your service dates, is the kind of pressure the statute targets. The question a court will ask is whether the employer’s action was motivated by your jury service. If it was, the label on the action barely matters.
Vacation, PTO, and Regular Pay
Federal law does not require your employer to pay your regular wages during federal jury service. The Department of Labor treats pay during jury duty as a matter of agreement between you and your employer, because the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require pay for time not worked.2U.S. Department of Labor. Jury Duty Section 1875 protects your job, not your paycheck. Requiring you to use accrued PTO for jury days is not itself banned, though a policy designed to punish you for serving could edge into coercion.
One narrow rule cuts the other way. If you are a salaried exempt employee under the FLSA, your employer cannot dock your salary for a week in which you missed work for jury duty. Your full weekly salary stays intact. The employer’s only offset is the attendance fee the court paid you for that week.3eCFR. 29 CFR 541.602 – Salary Basis Federal jurors receive $50 per day for reporting to the courthouse, with modest increases available for long trials.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1871 – Fees
Who Is Actually Covered
Section 1875 protects “permanent employees” summoned to serve in any federal court, on either a trial jury or a grand jury.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment Jury service in state, county, or municipal courts is not covered; separate state laws handle that.
“Permanent employee” is broader than the phrase suggests. A federal court reading the provision held that a permanent employee is anyone whose job is expected to continue as long as performance is acceptable, as opposed to someone hired for a short-term, temporary need. At-will and probationary employees both qualify, because the risk of being fired at any moment does not make the job temporary. What matters is that both sides understood the position as ongoing rather than time-limited.5Justia Law. Hackney v Jack Daubert MD PA
Independent contractors sit outside the statute. Section 1875 speaks to the employer-employee relationship and does not reach contractors or freelancers.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment If a client drops you from a 1099 engagement because you were called for jury duty, this law will not help.
What You Can Recover If Your Employer Violates the Law
The statute stacks penalties on the employer and remedies for you. A court can impose a civil fine of up to $5,000 per violation per employee and can order the employer to perform community service.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment Your side of the ledger is meant to put you back where you would have been:
- Wages and benefits lost because of the violation.
- Reinstatement to your former position, with the jury service period treated as a leave of absence so you lose no seniority.
- Restoration to insurance and benefit plans on the same terms that apply to employees returning from a leave of absence or furlough.
- An injunction ordering the employer to stop the unlawful conduct, plus any other appropriate relief.
The lost-wages remedy covers wages you lost because of the illegal action, such as a firing. It does not convert into a right to your regular salary for the days you were actually serving.
The 90-Day Deadline
You must apply to the U.S. District Court within 90 days of the date you were discharged, intimidated, or coerced.6GovInfo. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment Miss it and your right to court-appointed counsel under the statute is gone.
File in the district where your employer has a place of business.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment The process usually starts with the Clerk of Court or the jury coordinator. You do not have to exhaust any administrative process first; there is no agency step. A judge reviews your application and decides whether your claim has “probable merit.” That is a real screen, not a rubber stamp: the judge is asking whether the facts you have put forward make an actual violation likely. If the answer is yes, the court appoints counsel to handle the case through resolution.
How Attorney Fees Work
Two paths, and the difference matters. If the court appoints your lawyer after reviewing your application, that lawyer is compensated under the framework used for court-appointed criminal defense attorneys under 18 U.S.C. § 3006A. You pay nothing out of pocket, and if you win, the court can order your employer to reimburse the government for those legal costs.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment
If you hire your own attorney, the court can award you reasonable attorney fees as part of your costs if you prevail. A caution runs the other way: if you lose and the court finds your claim was frivolous, vexatious, or brought in bad faith, the employer can recover its fees from you. Courts apply that standard sparingly, but it is on the books.
Evidence That Will Carry Your Claim
Probable merit turns on what you can show. Start collecting documents from the day the summons arrives.
- The federal jury summons itself, which fixes the dates you were required to appear.
- Proof you notified your employer: the written notice you gave your supervisor or HR, plus any email confirmation.
- The employer’s reaction in writing: emails, text messages, voicemails, or internal memos about your absence. A supervisor’s complaint in a group chat can carry as much weight as a formal letter.
- Adverse actions from the service window: termination letters, write-ups, demotion notices, or sudden schedule changes issued during or shortly after your service.
- Before-and-after evidence. If your reviews were consistently positive before the summons and turned negative afterward, that pattern speaks for itself.
The heart of the case is connecting the employer’s action to your jury service. An employer who fires someone the day after a two-week trial has a hard story to tell. An employer who fires someone six months later for documented performance problems has a much easier one. The tighter the link in time and cause between the summons and the adverse action, the stronger your claim. Keep everything organized in chronological order so an attorney, and eventually a judge, can read the sequence at a glance.