Jury Duty in Georgia

cjgeorgia

Does Georgia have a law that requires employers to pay employees for jury duty ? If it is a benefit and the employer is paying the employee for the time spent on jury duty, can the employer request the employee to turn in the jury duty check to them?

David Hagaman GA

Georgia does not have a specific law requiring employers to pay for jury duty. However, the attorney general of GA has issued an advisory opinion (not binding law) that an employee's total compensation may not be reduced by jury service and so employers must make up the differencebetween the employee's usual salary and any payment received for jury service. If the employer is paying for the jury service, rather than require the employee to turn the check over to the employer, the best practice is to pay the employee the difference after the employee has presented the jury service check. I do not know of any law or case that would prohibit the employer from requiring the employee to turn the check over to the employer if the employer is making the employee whole.