Jury duty while on FMLA ?
Redbudpt
55 Posts
An employee who is out on FMLA for 8 weeks due to surgery called me and said that he has Jury duty tomorrow and wanted to know if he would get paid for this or if he would have to use his PTO in order to receive pay for the day. Our jury policy states that we will supplement an employees income to equal an employees normal salary while on Jury duty. And our FMLA policy states that employees may choose whether or not they would like to use PTO concuurent with FMLA leave. How would you handle this situation and does this affect his FMLA status?
Comments
If the employee can't work due to FMLA, I don't see how they can attend jury duty. Many courts have an excuse policy for times such as this or for other reasons. I would have the employee call the court. I would question why the employee could do jury duty and not work.
As for pay, does your PTO policy require that the person work the day before/after that day to get paid for it? If he is using PTO, I would pay him and then decide whether to hit the PTO bank or use jury time. If he is not using PTO concurrently, I wouldn't pay jury duty time since he is out unpaid and you really don't care what he does with personal leave time.
This is not that cut-and-dry. First thing is that the FMLA REGS do not regulate what a person may do (within reason) while on FMLA. There is no FMLA requirement that says they must sit at home. This is a company policy matter and not an FMLA REG. If you had a person on sick leave and your policy says they must stay home then you could probably hold the person on FMLA to the same rule. You must treat the person on a qualified FMLA absence the same as you treat other employees under any similar absence policy from your company. As long as the person is not performing work that is similar to the work that they are out for FMLA, in fact not working at all, I would examine my policy for jury duty pay in light of any similarly situated absence for other employees.
Secondly, you cannot compel a person on FMLA to return to a modified duty position even if the medical provider says they can work one. FMLA guarantees job protection for the 12 workweeks for a serious health condition that prohibits the person from performing their essential job duties. As long as the employee cannot perform their essential job duties the FMLA qualification exist. Be very careful here that you do not end up with an interference of the EE's FMLA rights. Look into this a little deeper and consult your company attorney.