An employee summoned for jury duty can apply to defer their jury service once for up to 6 months from their initial summons date. This deferral must be applied for well in advance of the date they have been summoned. When an employee is summoned, they are requested to inform their employer about their summons to jury duty as soon as possible. Issues of inconvenience and/or hardship can then be discussed between the employee and the employer.
However, it is important to remember that jury duty is the responsibility of the person summoned and there are serious penalties for an employer acting prejudicially towards an employee when they are doing jury duty. Further information about this is detailed below.
Employers can also apply for a reimbursement of lost income when a staff member is doing jury duty if a loss can be substantiated. This also applies to self-employed people who attend jury duty.
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Information I need to know as an employer
Show moreWhat do I do if my employee is summoned for jury service?
A jury summons is issued approximately five weeks in advance of the summons date and employees are advised to notify their employers as soon as possible of the attendance date.
Employers must allow an employee the time to attend jury service and continue to pay their wages or salary whether full-time, part time of casual.
Employers need to take steps to account for the absence of their employee as jury service can be for an unknown period.
We encourage you to talk to your employee about jury service. In consultation with your employee, you may both consider the option to defer jury service to a later date, not exceeding a maximum of six months. However, this decision remains with your employee, and you cannot make this decision for them.
Do I have to release my employee?
You are required to release your employee. It is an offence to act in any way prejudicial to an employee if they have received a summons for jury service.
Do I have to continue to pay my employee?
In Western Australia, the Juries Act 1957 prevails over the Fair Work Act 2009 (Commonwealth) in relation to the payment of wages. In the absence of a signed contract that states otherwise, any employee whether fulltime, part time or casual should continue to be paid their normal income in full, (including any allowances or overtime) that they would normally be entitled to had they not been summoned and required to attend jury duty.
Another fundamental function of the Act is to ensure that no employed juror is subject to any prejudicial action by their employer due to being compelled to do jury service. Pursuant to section 56 (2) of the Act an employer acts prejudicially against an employee if the employer does any of the following:
- terminates the employee’s employment.
- ceases remunerating the employee.
- reduces the employee’s remuneration.
- otherwise acts so as to prejudice the employee in relation to his or her employment with the employer.
- threatens to take an action described in any of paragraphs (a) to (d).
There is a penalty of $10,000 for individual employers and $50,000 for corporations if an employer takes any prejudicial action as a consequence of an employee being summoned to jury service.
What happens for fly in fly out (FIFO) or drive in drive out (DIDO) employees?
If the initial summons date is not convenient or will cause hardship to the business you may in consultation with your employee consider the option to defer jury service to a later date, not exceeding a maximum of six months. It is not recommended for the employee to defer their jury service to their down time as this is their time to rest and recoup. Employers should also consider that employees need to be released from work with enough time to attend as summoned.
If there are serious issues around your employee being summoned, please contact the summoning court.
How long will my employee attend jury service?
The duration of jury service will be determined by the length and the number of trials listed each week.
The selection process can continue for up to 5 consecutive days, and if your employee is not selected on any given day they will be released. Employees will be expected to return to work or contact their employer for instructions.
What happens if my employee is selected as a juror?
If your employee is empanelled as a juror, they must attend daily for the duration of the trial as directed by the Judge, until the trial concludes, or they are discharged.
What if my employee usually works weekends or shift work?
Jury service can be full time Monday to Friday, and some trials run for several weeks.
It is important for employers to consider maximum work hours, minimum break requirements and consecutive days worked or attended for jury service.
If your employee is selected as a juror on a trial and the trial continues from one week into the next week, your employee should not be required to work their usual weekend shifts or be made to submit leave to cover the weekend.
Can my employee be excused from a trial after they have been empanelled?
Only the judge can excuse a juror after empanelment.
How can I verify my employee attended jury service?
You can request your employee provide you a copy of their Attendance Record. Your employee can download an Attendance Record by logging into the Jury WA Portal or the court can provide them a copy to show you.
Making a claim for reimbursement
Show moreWhat is verifiable evidence?
An employer can submit their employee’s payslips that show a history of the employee’s wages before, during and after jury service.
For a self-employed person you have the option to submit an Australian Taxation Office Notice of Assessment (post lodgement), a history of invoices and corresponding bank statements and/or payslips.
My employee is FIFO or DIDO what can I claim?
You are only able to make a claim for the juror’s wages for the days they served as a juror. Jury Services cannot cover flights, travel days and the days the person did not attend jury service but would normally have worked.
My employee would normally work on a weekend or on an evening what can I claim?
If a trial continues from one week into the next week the employer can claim for the weekend for which a juror would normally have worked.
A juror should not be required to work an evening on the same day as they are required to partake in jury service. It is important to consider that the juror should not be exhausted while participating in jury service. You can claim for their usual evening shift if it falls within the period of their jury service.
My employee normally works overtime hours, can I claim for that?
You can include overtime and shift penalties if it can be demonstrated as a regular part of their normal income.
I work on commission how does that work?
You will be able to make a claim for the days served as a juror by working out a daily average that is based on your past earnings and supplying tax verifiable documents.
I replaced my employee for their time at jury service what can I claim?
Jury service will only cover the cost of the jurors’ wages for the days they served as a juror. Jury service does not cover the cost of the replacement staff member.
I am relief teacher how can I claim for lost income?
As a relief teacher you can make a claim as if you are self-employed and provide proof of earnings that can be averaged out to work out a daily average.
I charge an hourly rate. Can I charge the court for my time based on my hourly rate?
You will not be able to invoice jury services. You can make a claim for the days served as a juror by working out a daily average that is based on your past earnings and supplying tax verifiable documents.
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