Giving staff time off for jury service

Skip to contents of guide

Overview

You must allow an employee time off if they’re called up to serve on a jury.

You can’t discriminate against your employee for going on jury service.

If you dismiss your employee for going on jury service they could take you to an employment tribunal.

You can ask your employee to try to delay their jury service if their absence would seriously harm your business. They’ll need a letter from you explaining why.

They can only delay jury service once in a 12-month period, and must say on the jury summons when they’ll be available.

Jury service usually lasts up to 10 days, but can be longer.