Help! Anyone out in Calif.?
nicroman
15 Posts
We have a small (4 people) office in Santa Monica and one of our employees is scheduled for jury duty. Can we require the employee use vacation and/or personal days to account for the days he/she will be out?
Any help/feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Any help/feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Comments
Firstly, FLSA certainly prohibits the employer from docking the exempt's salary for absences DURING the week due to jury duty IF the employee works any part of the week. And fcourse, the employer may offset the amount of salary with jury duty fees the exempt employee receives.
The State Department of Industrial Relations has issued a formal opinion that docking salary for jury duty is only permissible if the exempt employee works NO part of the work week. See the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement at Sections 51.6.21 [url]http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/DLSEManual/dlse_enfcmanual.pdf[/url]. The State makes no direct comment on whether the California employer may offset any part of the salary with the jury duty fees but it seems that it may not be able to based upon the State's opinion.
If the employer fails to pay the salary as required, of course, the exempt status is then jeopardized.
Actually, I think you will find largely the same answer under federal law, FLSA. I.e., if the exempt employee works any part of the week, you will have to pay for the whole week they are out on jury leave.
The additions in Calif. are 1) you have to allow them to use vacation pay etc. if they wish (only relevant if they are out an entire week and are not getting paid), and 2) you have to give jury leave as a matter of public policy. I suspect that you will find some form of the latter in almost every state.
So, in this instance, I don't think Calif. is out of step. But if you want to be certain, you need legal advice, as this is just my quick read.
Regards,
Steve
Steve McElfresh, PhD
Principal
HR Futures
408.605.1870