Many of us dread jury duty — it usually entails days of sitting and waiting around. But in addition to being boring, it can also cause financial strain, depending on your individual circumstances.
Find Out: What Is the Economic Cost of America’s Care-Worker Crisis?
Read More: How Companies Can Use the Great Resignation To Transform the Workplace
Here’s a look at the potential costs of jury duty.
Whether or not being a juror will cause financial strain depends on where you are serving your jury duty, whether or not you have a salaried position and how much you normally make. Where you are serving and whether you are serving on a federal or local trial will determine how much you will get paid for your time.
“Federal jurors are given $40 a day for shorter trials and $50 for longer ones,” said Lyle David Solomon, principal attorney at Oak View Law Group. “However, not all courts are so generous. Beginning the second day of jury service, Los Angeles County jurors receive only $15 per day and 34 cents per mile one way. (This is the amount that the State Legislature has imposed.)”
Even if you earn the federal court’s juror pay, this may not be enough to make up for lost wages.
“If you work full time for the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) and volunteer for five days on a federal trial, your weekly budget will be $90 short,” Solomon said. “If you’re paid $15 hourly, you’ll be $400 short. And getting paid for jury duty can...
Welcome to Reality Check, NewsGuard’s nonpartisan newsletter that tracks the false claims and conspiracy theories that shape our world — and who’s behind them. Please support us by becoming a premi...