PS Form 1224, Court Duty Leave: The $25 Rule and Filing Steps

PS Form 1224, Court Duty Leave — Statement of Service, is what USPS employees use to certify the hours they spent at a court proceeding so those hours are paid as court leave instead of charged against annual leave. A court official signs the form to verify your arrival and departure times, and your supervisor uses it to enter the absence in the timekeeping system. It pairs with PS Form 3971, the standard absence request, and a copy of your jury summons or subpoena.

Who Can Use the Form

Full-time and part-time regular USPS employees are eligible for court leave when summoned as jurors in any federal, state, or local court, including courts in U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. It also covers being called as a witness in a nonofficial capacity on behalf of a federal, state, or local government.¹

Testifying as a witness for a private party is covered only when the Postal Service is itself a party or the real party in interest. A private lawsuit unrelated to USPS, or a case in which you are a party yourself, does not qualify, and you would need to use annual leave or leave without pay for those absences.¹

Part-time flexible employees are a separate case. The ELM says certain PTFs receive court leave “as provided and governed by applicable collective bargaining agreements.” PTFs not covered by those agreements are ineligible for paid court leave and must use annual leave or LWOP, though they keep any fees the court pays them.¹ Check your contract or ask your supervisor before you assume court leave applies.

Getting the Form Before Court

PS Form 1224 is prepared when court leave is authorized under ELM Section 516.23.² Ask your supervisor for a copy as soon as you know you have a court date. Take it with you. The whole point is to have a court official sign it while you are actually at the courthouse; chasing a clerk’s signature after the fact is far harder than getting it on the day.

Submit PS Form 3971, Request for or Notification of Absence, to formally request the time off, and attach a copy of your jury summons or witness subpoena so your supervisor can confirm the proceeding qualifies. The 3971 authorizes the absence; the 1224 documents what happened at the courthouse.

What Goes on the Form

PS Form 1224 captures two sets of information: yours and the court’s.

Your full legal name and eight-digit Employee Identification Number, printed above “Employee ID” on your earnings statement.³
The full name and location of the court, the exact dates of service, and your arrival and departure times for each day, including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays if any apply.
A signature from a court official, such as the clerk of court, confirming that you appeared and that the times are accurate.
A breakdown of any money the court paid you, separating the daily jury fee from allowances for travel, mileage, parking, or meals. The two categories are treated differently when you return to work, so keep them distinct.

Record arrival and departure times carefully each day. If court releases you early, the combined total of paid court leave and postal duty for that day cannot exceed eight hours.¹ Accurate times on the 1224 keep the court’s certification and the timekeeper’s entries lined up.

The $25 Rule on Court Fees

Under ELM Section 516.41, you may retain up to $25 per day in court allowances on days you receive paid court leave. Anything above $25 per day must be remitted to your supervisor.¹ You cannot waive the court’s fee to sidestep this; the ELM prohibits it.

The rule changes when court service falls outside your normal schedule. If you serve on a scheduled day off or outside your regular tour and no court leave is granted for those hours, you keep the entire fee. The same is true for holidays within your basic workweek if you would have been excused from postal duties anyway.¹ Employees on annual leave or LWOP for court service, whether by choice or because they don’t qualify for court leave, also keep all fees.

Keep receipts for separate mileage, parking, or meal reimbursements. Those are not the jury fee and are handled separately, and listing them properly on the 1224 helps your supervisor sort what is owed back from what isn’t.

Turning It In

Bring the completed, court-verified Form 1224 to your supervisor or designated timekeeper as soon as you return to work. If it doesn’t reach the timekeeper before the payroll processing window closes, your absence can be coded incorrectly and your pay delayed. Your timekeeper enters the court leave into the Time and Attendance Collection System (TACS) using the court leave designation.⁴

Early Release and Night Shifts

Courts often release jurors early. When that happens and an appreciable portion of your postal tour remains, you’re expected to report back and finish the day if it’s feasible, still within the eight-hour combined cap. If court keeps you all day, you don’t report for postal duty at all.¹

If you work nights, ELM Section 516.33 gives you two options when a daytime court schedule collides with an overnight tour. You can perform your regular postal tour in addition to court service, or you can submit PS Form 3189, Request for Temporary Schedule Change for Personal Convenience, together with PS Form 3971, to shift your hours to match court. The request must state that the change is for personal convenience and must be agreed to by your local union. Employees who take this route receive full compensation for the court service period, including any night differential that would apply to the revised schedule.¹ File it as soon as you get your summons rather than the night before.

1
United States Postal Service. Employee and Labor Relations Manual – 516 Absences for Court-Related Service
2
United States Postal Service. ELM 55 – Employee and Labor Relations Manual – Forms Index
3
LiteBlue USPS. LiteBlue
4
National Association of Postal Supervisors. Board Memo 046-2021 – USPS Issues Memorandum Reiterating Timekeeping Policies