When an employee is called for jury service
If one of your employees is summoned for jury service, they must respond and be available. Jury service is a civic duty, and the law sets out what you must do as their employer while they serve.
Your employee won’t know at first how long they’ll be away. It depends on whether they are selected for a trial, and how long that trial lasts. The judge tells jurors what to expect at the start.
What you must do
Keep paying them
While your employee is away to comply with a jury summons, they are treated in law as still employed or apprenticed. This means you must treat them as if they were at work, so their pay and employment terms continue during their jury service.
Do not penalise them
warning You cannot dismiss or disadvantage an employee for jury service
You cannot dismiss an employee, or disadvantage them in any way, because they attended for jury service.
You cannot apply to excuse them
Only the person called can ask to be excused, and only in exceptional circumstances. You cannot apply on their behalf — except where they cannot apply themselves, for example because of illness or incapacity.
If jury service at a particular time would cause serious difficulty, your employee may be able to ask to be excused or to move their service to a later date. That decision rests with the court, not with you.
Proof that your employee attended
After jury service, your employee can get a certificate of attendance to give to you:
- from court staff at the end of their service, or
- through the online service for six months, if they responded to their summons online.
[Courts Service to confirm what, if anything, an employee can give you up front as proof of the summons, since the certificate is only issued afterwards.]
If you get a suspicious message about an employee’s jury service
The Courts Service will never ask you, or your employee, to pay a fee or fine, or to share bank details, in connection with jury service. If you receive a message like this, treat it as a scam. See respond to your jury summons for how to check that a message is genuine.
Get help
If you have a question about your obligations as an employer, contact the jury office:
- Email: juries@courts.ie
- Phone: [Courts Service to confirm phone number and opening hours]
Related: jury service and your job (for employees).
