California Jury Summons: Excusals, Pay, and Penalties

A California jury summons is a court order with a response deadline printed on it, and you must reply by that date through the court’s online juror portal, its automated phone line, or by mailing the stub back, even if you plan to ask for a postponement or believe you don’t qualify. Ignoring it can lead to fines up to $1,500, contempt proceedings, or jail. Most people who do report finish their obligation in a single day.

Responding by the Deadline

Every summons lists a reporting date and a deadline for responding. You’ll usually have three ways to reply: the online juror portal (fastest, and it needs the juror ID number printed on the summons), an automated phone system, or returning the completed stub by mail. Pick one and do it before the date on the summons. The response itself is required regardless of what you plan to do next, including requesting a deferral or an excusal.

The summons includes a short qualification questionnaire. Fill it out completely. If you’ve moved out of the county that summoned you, respond anyway and note the move. Residency in the summoning county is a qualification, so you’ll be removed from that pool, but the court still needs to hear from you rather than finding an empty envelope.

Who Has to Serve

You qualify if you are a United States citizen, at least 18 years old, a resident of the county that issued the summons, and able to understand English well enough to follow the proceedings and deliberate with other jurors.¹ No legal background or special education is required.²

Four circumstances disqualify you even if you otherwise meet those criteria:

You are currently incarcerated in a prison or jail.
You are under a conservatorship.
You are currently on parole, post-release community supervision, felony probation, or mandated supervision for a felony conviction.
You are currently required to register as a sex offender based on a felony conviction.

A past felony conviction by itself does not bar you. The disqualification turns on your current status, so if you’ve completed your supervision, you’re eligible. No one in California can be excluded from jury service for any reason other than those listed in the statute.¹

Pushing Your Service Date Back

A deferral moves your service to a later date without excusing you from the obligation. You can usually defer once for up to 90 days past the original summons date, and courts grant deferrals for temporary conflicts like a planned vacation, a medical appointment, or exam week for a full-time student.³

One exception runs much longer. A mother who is breastfeeding can request a deferral of up to one year and renew it as long as she continues breastfeeding. The jury commissioner must grant that deferral without requiring a court appearance, as long as the request is submitted in writing under penalty of perjury.³

Getting Excused for Hardship

An excusal releases you from the current obligation entirely. The bar is higher than for a deferral: you need to show “undue hardship,” and the request must be in writing with facts explaining both the hardship and why a simple deferral wouldn’t fix it.⁴ Submit before your reporting date.

The Judicial Council recognizes several hardship categories:

Extreme financial burden. A letter from your employer confirming lost wages or commission is often needed.
Physical or mental disability. The condition doesn’t need to affect your ability to decide a case fairly; it just needs to create an undue risk of harm to you. A physician’s written verification is typically required.
Caregiving. You’re the primary caregiver for a child, elderly family member, or someone who is ill, and no comparable substitute care is available without creating economic hardship.
No reasonable transportation to the courthouse, public or private.
A one-way commute to the courthouse that exceeds an hour and a half.

You’re also entitled to an excusal if you served on any grand jury or trial jury, or were summoned and appeared for service in any state or federal court, within the past 12 months.⁴

What Happens If You Ignore the Summons

Courts don’t jump straight to punishment. If you fail to respond to your first summons, the court can issue a second one, but not until at least 90 days have passed. If you ignore that, a failure-to-appear notice follows, warning that monetary sanctions may come next. Only after that does the court issue a formal order to show cause.⁵

Monetary sanctions escalate: up to $250 for a first offense, $750 for a second, and $1,500 for a third or subsequent offense. Paying the fine doesn’t end your obligation. You still owe jury service.⁵

The court can also skip the sanctions track and pursue contempt. A contempt finding carries a fine of up to $1,000, up to five days in jail, or both.⁶ Most courts use the graduated sanctions first, but the authority to punish is real and gets used.

Reporting Day and the One-Day Rule

Bring the summons and a valid photo ID to the courthouse assembly room on your reporting date. California uses a “one day or one trial” system: if you aren’t assigned to a courtroom by the end of the first day, your obligation is finished for at least 12 months.⁷ Most people fall into this category and go home the same day.

If you are sent to a courtroom, jury selection begins. The judge asks preliminary questions, and the attorneys for each side question prospective jurors to identify anyone who might struggle to be impartial. If you’re sworn in, you serve for the whole trial, which could run a day or two or considerably longer for a complex case. Once the trial ends, your service is complete for at least a year.²

Pay and Job Protection

The state pays jurors $15 per day plus $0.34 per mile for round-trip travel. There is no payment at all for the first day. Compensation starts on the second day and each day after that.⁸

Your employer cannot fire you, demote you, or retaliate against you for taking time off to serve, as long as you give reasonable notice before your service date. If an employer does retaliate, you’re entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and benefits.⁹

One thing the law doesn’t require: your employer doesn’t have to pay your regular wages while you serve. Some employers do, voluntarily or under a collective bargaining agreement, but there’s no state mandate.¹⁰ You can use accrued vacation or personal leave to cover the time if your employment terms allow it.⁹

Spotting Jury Duty Scams

Scammers call or email people claiming they missed jury duty and will be arrested unless they pay a fine right now. The caller ID may be spoofed to show a real court or sheriff’s office number, and the caller may use the name of an actual judge or officer.

Real courts don’t work that way. The court will never call demanding payment, and it will never accept a fine through gift cards, prepaid debit cards, cryptocurrency, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfers, or a payment kiosk. Any actual fine can only be imposed after a court hearing, and official follow-up about a missed summons comes by U.S. mail.¹¹ If a message feels off, share nothing, then call the jury office at your local court directly to check whether you actually have an outstanding summons.¹²

1
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 203 – Persons Eligible and Qualified to Be Prospective Trial Jurors
2
Judicial Branch of California. Jury Service
3
Judicial Branch of California. Rule 2.1006 – Deferral of Jury Service
4
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 2.1008 – Excuses From Jury Service
5
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 209 – Trial Juror Failure to Attend
6
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1218 – Contempt Punishment
7
Judicial Council of California. About California’s One Day or One Trial Jury System
8
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 215 – Trial Jury Selection and Management Act
9
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 230 – Jury Service Employment Protection
10
Judicial Branch of California. Employer Information
11
Judicial Branch of California. Jury Scam Alert
12
United States Courts. Juror Scams