How Jury Duty Works: Summons, Selection, and Pay

Here is how jury duty works from start to finish: a federal court mails you a summons with a qualification questionnaire, you return the questionnaire within about ten days, you report to the courthouse on your assigned date, you answer questions during jury selection, and if chosen you sit through the trial and deliver a verdict. Skipping any of those steps without a good reason can cost you up to $1,000, up to three days in jail, or both.¹

The Summons and Questionnaire

Your packet arrives in the mail. Inside are a summons telling you when and where to report, and a qualification questionnaire asking for your name, address, date of birth, sometimes your Social Security number, and a set of questions that let the court confirm you are eligible to serve. You generally have ten days to complete and return it. Many federal courts include a prepaid envelope, and most districts also run an online portal called eJuror where you can submit the form and get immediate confirmation.²

Fill it out carefully. The questionnaire is a legal document, and lying on it to get out of service carries the same penalties as ignoring the summons.³ If a medical condition would prevent you from serving, attach a note from your doctor.

If the report date is genuinely bad for you, ask for a deferral rather than an excuse. Through eJuror or by calling the clerk’s office, you can request a later date and pick an alternate time to serve.² Courts tend to be flexible about rescheduling as long as you reach out before your report date.

Who Qualifies

Federal jury service requires that you meet all of the following under 28 U.S.C. § 1865:

Be a U.S. citizen.
Be at least 18 years old.
Have lived in the judicial district for at least one year.
Read, write, speak, and understand English well enough to follow testimony and complete the questionnaire.
Have no pending charge, and no prior conviction, for a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, unless your civil rights have been legally restored.

People who meet those requirements may still be excused for a physical or mental condition that would prevent adequate service.⁴

What Happens If You Ignore the Summons

Not showing up is the worst way to handle this. The court can order you to appear and explain yourself. If you can’t show good cause, you face a fine of up to $1,000, up to three days in jail, community service, or any combination of the three.¹ Courts don’t usually jump straight to sanctions. The common sequence is a second summons or a letter demanding an explanation. But the authority is real, and courts do use it when someone ignores repeated contact.

Reporting Day and Jury Selection

When you report to the courthouse as a prospective trial juror, you enter voir dire, the selection phase. The judge and attorneys for both sides ask you questions to surface biases or experiences that might affect how you’d evaluate the case. Some of the questions feel personal. They’re supposed to. Candor is what the process needs.

Attorneys can remove you in two ways. A challenge for cause requires a specific reason, like a relationship with one of the parties or an admitted inability to be impartial, and the judge has to agree the reason is valid. There is no cap on these. A peremptory challenge lets an attorney strike you without giving a reason, but each side gets only a limited number of them.⁵ Peremptory strikes cannot be used to discriminate based on race, ethnicity, or sex; if a pattern suggests they are, the striking attorney has to offer a neutral explanation.⁶

If you aren’t selected, you’re sent home and your service is usually complete. If you are selected, you stay for the trial.

Trial Jury or Grand Jury

Most summonses are for a trial jury, called a petit jury. It hears a civil or criminal case and delivers the verdict: liable or not liable, guilty or not guilty. Service generally lasts the length of the trial, which can run from a single day to several weeks.

A grand jury is a different animal. It handles only criminal matters and doesn’t decide guilt. It reviews evidence from a federal prosecutor and decides whether probable cause exists to formally charge someone; if at least 12 members agree, the grand jury issues an indictment.⁷ A federal grand jury has 16 to 23 members and typically serves for 18 months, meeting several times a month for a few hours per session.

What Jury Duty Pays

Federal jurors receive $50 per day for each day they actually attend court. If a trial runs longer than ten days, the judge can increase the rate, with the statute capping that increase at $10 per day above the base.⁸ You also receive a travel allowance for the round trip between home and the courthouse at a per-mile rate set by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, paid regardless of how you actually travel.

State court pay works differently and varies widely by state. If your summons is from a state court, check that court’s website.

Your Job Is Protected

Federal law bars your employer from firing you, threatening to fire you, or retaliating against you because you served on a federal jury. The protection covers your service days and any scheduled attendance related to the process.⁹ An employer that violates the rule is liable for your lost wages and benefits, can be ordered to reinstate you with full seniority as if you had been on an approved leave, and faces a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation.

The law does not require private employers to keep paying your regular salary while you serve. Whether you get your normal paycheck depends on your employer’s policy or your state’s law. A handful of states require employer-paid jury leave; most do not.

One protection matters specifically for salaried workers. If you’re classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, your employer cannot dock your salary for partial-week absences caused by jury duty. The employer may offset your salary by the jury fees you received that week, but cannot cut your pay below that amount.¹⁰

Rules Once You’re Seated

The judge will give you instructions about conduct outside the courtroom. The core rules: don’t discuss the case with anyone, don’t do your own research, and don’t visit any location connected to the case. Your verdict has to rest on what’s presented in court.

Social media complicates this. Judges now routinely instruct jurors not to post about the case, read news coverage of it, or look up the parties or attorneys online. Violations can bring contempt sanctions and fines, and serious misconduct can force a mistrial. The safest approach is to stay off your phone during the trial and save any commentary for after the verdict.

Jury Pay and Taxes

Jury duty pay is taxable income. You report it on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8h. If your employer kept paying your regular salary during service and required you to hand over the jury fees, you can deduct the amount you turned over as an adjustment to income on Schedule 1, line 24a, so you’re not taxed on money you didn’t keep.¹¹

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1866 – Selection and Summoning of Jury Panels
2
United States Courts. Summoned for Federal Jury Service
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1864 – Drawing of Names From the Master Jury Wheel
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1865 – Qualifications for Jury Service
5
United States Courts. Participate in the Judicial Process – Rule of Law
6
Justia. Batson v Kentucky, 476 US 79 (1986)
7
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure – Rule 6, The Grand Jury
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1871 – Fees
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment
10
U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA Overtime Security Advisor
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income