One viewer was confused after receiving a pamphlet in the mail along with summons for jury duty in Bibb County.
The pamphlet says, "Employers must pay employees regular salary while on jury duty," but they've heard different information about whether that's true, leaving them confused. So we verified whether Georgia law requires employers to pay employees who are on jury duty. We verified by looking into the Georgia Statute 34-1-3, and an opinion letter by the Attorney General on this statute.
We made a visit to see Jeff Powers at Powers Law Group specializing in workers compensation to ask what the law says on jury duty.
"If somebody gets a jury summons and they notify their employer that they're going to be on jury duty. the proper course of action is allow them to serve on jury duty and not take any punitive action against them," says Powers.
The Georgia Statute 34-1-3 doesn't specifically say employee must be paid, but in 1989, the Attorney General sent out an opinion letter on this statute. It says that, "although employers cannot penalize employees, employers can offset employee's salaries by the amount of funds the employees receive for jury service (which in Bibb Co. that's $25 a day) to be combined to equal that person's gross salary."
So we verified it's true -- the law doesn't specifically say employees must be paid, but after the Attorney General wrote this opinion interpreting the law, many courts adopted the position.
Powers says there are no records showing anyone challenging this letter, "Most employers will do the right thing and pay their employers for being away."
So the section written in the pamphlet is based off the Attorney General's interpretation of the law, many counties use this opinion for their jurors, and so far no one has challenged this opinion.