If you are an employee
The law protects your job and your pay while you are on jury service. You can only be excused in exceptional circumstances, and your employer cannot apply to excuse you on your behalf.
Tell your employer as soon as you can
When you get your jury summons, tell your employer straight away that you have been called. You won’t know yet how long you’ll be away — that depends on whether you are selected for a trial, and on how long that trial lasts. The judge will tell you what to expect at the start.
[Courts Service to confirm what, if anything, an employee should give their employer up front as proof of the summons, since the certificate of attendance is only issued afterwards.]
Getting paid
While you are away from work to comply with a jury summons, you are treated in law as still employed or apprenticed. This means your employer must treat you as if you were at work, so your pay and employment terms continue during your jury service. [Courts Service to confirm the exact pay position, including how it applies to variable or commission-based pay.]
Your job is protected
info Your employer cannot penalise you
Your employer cannot dismiss you, or disadvantage you in any way, because you attended for jury service.
[Courts Service to confirm where an employee should go if an employer refuses to pay them or penalises them — for example, the Workplace Relations Commission or the jury office.]
Part-time, casual and other workers
[Courts Service to confirm whether the same protection applies to part-time, casual, zero-hours and agency workers.]
Your certificate of attendance
After your jury service, you can get a certificate of attendance to give to your employer:
- ask court staff for it at the end of your service, or
- if you responded to your summons online, access it through the online service for six months. [Courts Service to confirm.]
If you get a social welfare payment
[Courts Service to confirm the position — for example, whether a social welfare payment continues during jury service. This is currently stated on another page and should be confirmed and stated here as the single source.]
If you are self-employed
The Juries Act 1976 does not provide any payment to self-employed people for time spent on jury service. [Courts Service to confirm this remains current.]
If jury service would cause serious harm to your business, you can apply to be excused, or ask to move your service to a later date. [Courts Service to confirm deferral is available; delete if not.]
If you are an employer
If one of your employees is called for jury service, you must continue to treat them as employed and cannot dismiss or disadvantage them for attending. They will give you a certificate of attendance afterwards. [Courts Service to confirm employer obligations and add a dedicated employer page if needed.]
Get help
If you have a question about your rights during jury service, contact the jury office at juries@courts.ie [Courts Service to confirm phone number and opening hours].
