HR glossary · Leave, health and benefits

Jury duty leave

Jury duty leave is job-protected time off for an employee called to serve on a jury or attend court. In most places the employer does not have to pay it.

Also called: court leave, juror leave, witness leave

What jury duty leave means

Jury duty leave is time off for an employee who has been summoned to serve as a juror, to attend jury selection, or in some places to appear in court as a witness. The law protects the employee's job while they do this civic duty.

Jury service is not optional for the employee once summoned, unless the court excuses them. As the employer, you cannot refuse the time off or punish the employee for going. In the jurisdictions we checked, you also do not have to pay wages for the time away, although many employers choose to.

Jury duty can last a single morning or several weeks, and the employee often will not know the length in advance. That uncertainty is the main planning problem for a small business.

How it works

Ask the employee to show you the summons and to keep you posted. A juror who is not selected may be back at work the same day or the next; a juror on a long trial may be away for weeks. Agree on how the employee will tell you each day or week whether they are needed.

Treat the time as a protected leave. Under the Canada Labour Code, the leave lasts as long as needed to take part in jury selection, serve on a jury, or attend court as a witness. In British Columbia, an employer has the same duties to an employee attending court as a juror as it would to one on a statutory leave, and the service counts as continuous for vacation and benefits.

Decide on pay before it comes up. If the court pays the juror an allowance, it is unlikely to match a day's wages. If you top up or pay full wages, write the rule down: how many days, whether the employee hands over any court allowance, and what happens on days when they are released early.

Common mistakes: asking the employee to find a way out of serving, scheduling them for a shift on a day they are in court, or treating the absence as unpaid time that breaks continuous service.

Jury duty leave by province

Jury duty protection exists across Canada, but it sits in different laws and the details differ. We confirmed these on official pages.

Where the work is done	The rule
Federal	Unpaid leave for as long as needed to take part in jury selection, serve on a jury, or attend court as a witness.
British Columbia	If an employee must attend court as a juror, the employer has the same duties as for a statutory leave. The leave is unpaid, and employment is treated as continuous for vacation and benefits.

In other provinces and territories, jury duty protection may be in the employment standards law or in the province's jury law. We could not confirm the details, so check with your provincial employment standards office.

Example: A two-week trial at a Surrey moving company

Arjun runs a 15-person moving company in Surrey, British Columbia. His dispatcher Kim receives a jury summons for the first week of March. She is selected for a trial that the judge expects to last two weeks.

Arjun treats the time as protected leave. His policy pays the difference between the court allowance and regular wages for up to 10 working days, so he asks Kim to tell him what, if anything, the court pays her. On the two afternoons the court lets jurors go early, Kim offers to come in, and Arjun accepts but does not require it.

Hollis tracks the dates

Hollis, part of the Staffkin HR Suite, tracks leave returns, so you can see when an employee on jury duty is expected back.

Try Hollis live

Free tools and guides for this

Questions about jury duty leave

Do I have to pay an employee for jury duty?

Not under the federal or British Columbia employment standards rules we checked; the leave is unpaid. You can choose to pay or top up under your own policy.

Can I ask an employee to get out of jury duty?

Only the court can excuse a juror. You cannot require the employee to avoid serving or penalize them for going.

Does jury duty count as continuous service?

In British Columbia, yes, for vacation and benefit calculations. Check your province's rules elsewhere.

Official sources

General information for Canadian employers, not legal advice. Rules differ by province and territory and change over time, so check with your provincial employment standards office (or the federal Labour Program if you are federally regulated) before you rely on it. See employment standards by province.

Checked against official sources on 4 November 2026.