California Jury Summons: Excusals, Penalties, and Pay

If you’ve received a California jury summons, you must respond by the date printed on it — even if you plan to ask for a postponement, believe you don’t qualify, or intend to request a hardship excusal. The summons is a court order, not an invitation, and ignoring it can lead to fines up to $1,500, jail time, or both. Most people who show up finish their obligation in a single day.

How to Respond by the Deadline

Your summons lists a response deadline and gives you three ways to reply: an online juror portal, an automated phone line, or mail. The portal is the fastest and only needs the juror ID number printed on your summons. Whichever method you use, respond by the date on the notice. That step is mandatory even if you’re going to ask for a deferral or excusal.

The summons includes a short questionnaire about your eligibility. Fill it out completely. If you’ve moved out of the county that summoned you, respond anyway and say so. You won’t have to serve in that county, but you still need to close the loop with the court rather than throwing the envelope away.

Who Has to Serve

You qualify for jury service in California if you are a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old, a resident of the county that summoned you, and able to understand enough English to follow the case and deliberate with other jurors.¹ There’s no education, professional, or legal-knowledge requirement.²

Some circumstances automatically disqualify you even if you meet the basic criteria:

You are currently incarcerated in a prison or jail.
You are under a conservatorship.
You are currently on parole, post-release community supervision, felony probation, or mandated supervision for a felony conviction.
You are currently required to register as a sex offender based on a felony conviction.

A past felony conviction by itself does not bar you. What matters is your current legal status; once you’ve completed supervision, you’re eligible again. Under California law, no one can be excluded from jury service for any reason not listed in the statute.¹

Postponing Your Service Date

If the date on your summons conflicts with something specific — a planned vacation, a medical appointment, exam week for a full-time student — you can ask for a deferral. A deferral doesn’t excuse you; it moves your service to a later date, typically within 90 days of the original summons.³

One deferral runs longer. A mother who is breastfeeding can defer for up to one year and renew the request as long as she continues breastfeeding. The jury commissioner must grant it without a court appearance if the request is submitted in writing under penalty of perjury.³

Getting Excused for Hardship

An excusal releases you from this round of service entirely. The bar is higher than for a deferral. You must submit a written request before your reporting date, describe the hardship, and explain why simply postponing wouldn’t solve the problem.⁴

The Judicial Council recognizes several categories of undue hardship:

Extreme financial burden, often supported by an employer letter confirming you’d lose wages or commission.
A physical or mental condition that would create an undue risk of harm to you, typically with a physician’s written verification.
Caregiving obligations, where you are the primary caregiver for a child, an elderly family member, or someone who is ill, and no comparable substitute is available without economic hardship.
No reasonable public or private transportation to the courthouse.
A one-way commute to the courthouse of more than an hour and a half.

You’re also entitled to an excusal if you’ve served on a grand jury or trial jury, or appeared for service in any state or federal court, within the past 12 months.⁴

What Happens If You Ignore the Summons

Courts don’t jump to punishment on the first miss. If you don’t respond, the court can issue a second summons after at least 90 days, noting the earlier no-show. If you skip that one too, a failure-to-appear notice follows, and only after that does the court issue an order to show cause.⁵

The fines escalate: up to $250 for a first offense, $750 for a second, and $1,500 for a third or later violation. Paying doesn’t erase the obligation. You still owe the jury service.⁵

In more serious cases, the court can bypass the sanctions track and pursue contempt of court, which carries a fine of up to $1,000, up to five days in jail, or both.⁶ Most courts start with graduated sanctions, but the tools are real, and courts use them.

Your Job and Your Pay During Service

California law prohibits an employer from firing, demoting, or otherwise retaliating against you for taking time off to serve on a jury. You do have to give reasonable notice before your service date.⁷

If your employer retaliates anyway, you’re entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and benefits. You can file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and an employer who willfully refuses to rehire an eligible employee can face misdemeanor charges.⁷

What the law doesn’t do is require your employer to pay your regular wages while you serve. Some employers pay voluntarily or under a collective bargaining agreement, but there’s no state mandate.⁸ You can use accrued vacation or personal leave if your employment terms allow it.⁷

The state itself pays $15 per day plus $0.34 per mile for round-trip travel, and there is no payment at all for the first day. Compensation starts on day two.⁹

What Reporting Day Looks Like

Bring your summons and a valid photo ID to the courthouse assembly room on your reporting date. California operates on a “one day or one trial” rule: if you aren’t assigned to a courtroom by the end of the day, your obligation is finished for at least 12 months.¹⁰ Most people go home that same day.

If you are sent to a courtroom, jury selection begins. The judge and attorneys question prospective jurors to identify anyone who might not be impartial in that specific case. Attorneys can ask the judge to remove a juror for cause or use a limited number of peremptory challenges. If you’re selected and sworn in, you serve for the length of the trial, and your service is complete for at least a year once it ends.²

Jury Duty Scam Calls

Scammers regularly pose as court officials or deputies, calling to say you missed jury duty and threatening arrest unless you pay a fine right now. Some spoof caller ID to display a real court or sheriff’s number and drop the names of actual judges or officers.

The real court system will never call to demand payment. It will never ask for gift cards, prepaid debit cards, cryptocurrency, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfers, or a payment kiosk. Any actual fine can only be imposed after a court hearing, and legitimate follow-up about a missed summons arrives by U.S. mail.¹¹

If you get a suspicious call, don’t share personal or financial information. Contact your local police department’s fraud unit and the jury office at your local court to check whether you actually have an outstanding summons.¹²

1
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 203 – Persons Eligible and Qualified to Be Prospective Trial Jurors
2
Judicial Branch of California. Jury Service
3
Judicial Branch of California. Rule 2.1006 – Deferral of Jury Service
4
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 2.1008 – Excuses From Jury Service
5
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 209 – Trial Juror Failure to Attend
6
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1218 – Contempt Punishment
7
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 230 – Jury Service Employment Protection
8
Judicial Branch of California. Employer Information
9
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 215 – Trial Jury Selection and Management Act
10
Judicial Council of California. About California’s One Day or One Trial Jury System
11
Judicial Branch of California. Jury Scam Alert
12
United States Courts. Juror Scams