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INFORMATION
FOR EMPLOYERS
If your employee has been summoned for jury duty, please be aware that
he or she has an obligation under state law to serve. The following
sections from the New York State Judiciary Law provide the authority for
jury service, the prohibition against penalizing juror for their service
and the basis for payment of the jury fees. Please click here for a copy of the Employer/Employee Handbook.
New
York State Consolidated Laws- Judiciary Law Article 16 §500.
Declaration of policy.
It is the policy of this state that all
litigants in the courts of this state entitled to trial by jury shall
have the right to grand and petit juries selected at random from a fair
cross-section of the community in the county or other governmental
subdivision wherein the court convenes; and that all eligible citizens
shall have the opportunity to serve on grand and petit juries in the
courts of this state, and shall have an obligation to serve when
summoned for that purpose, unless excused.
New
York State Consolidated Laws- Judiciary Law Article 16 §519. Right of
juror to be absent from employment.
Any person who is summoned to serve as a juror under the provisions
of this article and who notifies his or her employer to that effect
prior to the commencement of a term of service shall not, on account of
absence from employment by reason of such jury service, be subject to
discharge or penalty. An employer may, however, withhold wages of any
such employee serving as a juror during the period of such service;
provided that an employer who employs more than ten employees shall not
withhold the first forty dollars of such juror`s daily wages during the
first three days of jury service. Withholding of wages in accordance
with this section shall not be deemed a penalty. Violation of this
section shall constitute a criminal contempt of court punishable
pursuant to section seven hundred fifty of this chapter
New
York State Consolidated Laws- Judiciary Law Article 16 §521. Fees and
travel expenses of jurors.
(a)
Except as provided in subdivision (b) of this section, trial and grand
jurors in each court of the unified court system, except town and
village courts, shall be entitled to an allowance equal to the sum of
forty dollars per day for each and every day of physical attendance
wherein the court convenes, except that no person who is employed shall
be entitled to receive such allowance if, pursuant to section five
hundred nineteen of this article, his or her employer is prohibited from
withholding the first forty dollars of wages of such person during such
period and such person's daily wages equal or exceed forty dollars. If
such person's daily wages are less than forty dollars, he or she shall
be entitled to receive an allowance hereunder equal to the difference
between forty dollars and the amount of his or her daily wages. Such
fees and those expenses actually and necessarily incurred in providing
food and lodging for jurors shall be a state charge payable out of funds
appropriated to the office of court administration for that purpose.
(b) No employee shall be entitled to receive the per diem allowance
authorized by subdivision (a) of this section for any regularly
scheduled workday on which jury service is rendered if, on such day, his
or her wages are not withheld on account of such service.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a trial or
grand juror may waive entitlement to the allowance authorized by
subdivision (a) of this section. In such event the amount of such
allowance shall be available to the chief administrator of the courts
solely for the purposes specified in paragraph (m) of subdivision two of
section two hundred twelve of this chapter, except that any such amounts
not expended in such fashion as of the close of the fiscal year in which
they became available shall be transferred by the comptroller to the
supplemental jury facilities fund established pursuant to section
ninety-four-c of the state finance law.
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