Jury duty pay in Colorado is capped at $50 per day, and who writes the check depends on the day. For the first three days of service, your employer pays your regular wages up to that $50 ceiling. Starting on the fourth day, the state takes over and pays every juror a flat $50 daily, regardless of employment status. Jurors who aren’t regularly employed have their own reimbursement track for the first three days.
Employer Pay for the First Three Days
If you’re regularly employed, your employer must pay your usual wages for the first three days of jury service, up to $50 per day.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-71-126 – Compensation of Employed Jurors During First Three Days of Service If you normally earn less than $50 a day, you get your actual wage. Employers can voluntarily pay more, but the law doesn’t require it.
“Regularly employed” is broader than most people assume. Part-time, temporary, and casual workers count, as long as their hours followed a schedule, custom, or practice in the three months before service began.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-71-126 – Compensation of Employed Jurors During First Three Days of Service A part-timer with a steady Tuesday-Thursday shift qualifies. Someone with no predictable pattern over the prior three months would not.
Payment is due within thirty days after the employer receives your juror service acknowledgment. Miss that window and you can sue. If a court finds the employer acted willfully, it may award treble damages and reasonable attorney fees.2Colorado Judicial Branch. Information for Employers
If You’re Not Regularly Employed
Unemployed, retired, self-employed, student, and homemaker jurors follow a separate track for the first three days. On your first day of service, apply to the jury commissioner for reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs. Travel, childcare, and other necessary expenses qualify. Food does not. Total reimbursement is capped at $50 per day for those three days.3Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-71-128 – Reimbursement of Unemployed Jurors Mileage is calculated at the state’s official reimbursement rate.4Colorado Office of the State Controller. Mileage Reimbursement Rate History Serving on a jury will not cost you your unemployment benefits.
An employer can also apply for a financial hardship exemption from the wage-payment duty. If the court grants it, the state steps in and pays the juror up to $50 per day for the first three days instead. The employer has to request a hardship hearing in writing through the jury commissioner within five days of receiving the employee’s acknowledgment.2Colorado Judicial Branch. Information for Employers
State Pay From Day Four Onward
Once service passes three days, the state pays every juror $50 per day directly, whether you’re employed, self-employed, or not working.5Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-71-129 – Compensation of Jurors After First Three Days of Service Your employer is no longer legally obligated to pay your wages during that stretch, though many companies voluntarily continue full pay through longer trials. Check your handbook or ask HR whether your employer supplements the state’s $50.
One trade-off: jurors receiving the state’s daily rate get no additional reimbursement for travel or other expenses.5Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-71-129 – Compensation of Jurors After First Three Days of Service The $50 covers everything from day four on.
Salaried Exempt Employees
If you’re classified as salaried exempt under federal labor law, your employer can’t dock your pay for partial-week absences caused by jury duty. Exempt employees are entitled to their full weekly salary in any week they perform any work, and jury duty isn’t a permitted deduction.6eCFR. 29 CFR 541.602 – Salary Basis Your employer can offset jury fees against your salary for the week, though. If you took in $50 in jury pay during a week you also worked three days, your paycheck for that week can be reduced by $50.
Federal Jury Duty in Colorado
Different rules apply if your summons is to a United States District Court rather than a state court. Federal jurors get a $50 attendance fee from the first day, and federal law doesn’t impose the employer-payment mandate that state law does.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1871 – Fees Colorado’s employer-pay statute still governs your job, though, so an employed juror in federal court effectively receives both the employer wage (up to $50/day for three days) and the federal attendance fee.
Federal grand jurors who serve more than forty-five days may get up to $10 per day beyond the standard $50, at the presiding judge’s discretion.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1871 – Fees Federal jurors also receive mileage reimbursement and, when an overnight stay is required, a subsistence allowance for meals and lodging.
Taxes on Jury Pay
Jury pay is taxable income, whether it comes from your employer, the state, or a federal court. Report it on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8h.8Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income
Some employers require you to turn over your jury fees because they’ve already paid your full wages for the same days. If yours does, you can deduct the surrendered amount on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 24a.8Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income You still report the full jury pay as income; the deduction cancels it out so you aren’t taxed twice.
Your Job Is Protected
Colorado law forbids your employer from firing you, threatening you, or taking away any employment benefit because you received a summons, responded to it, or served. Your employer also can’t make demands that seriously interfere with your ability to serve.2Colorado Judicial Branch. Information for Employers The statute reaches all “incidents or benefits” of employment, which covers seniority, insurance, and accrued leave.
If your employer retaliates, you can sue for damages and injunctive relief. A finding of willful conduct opens the door to treble damages and attorney fees. Willful harassment or penalizing of a juror is also a class 2 misdemeanor, which can carry jail time and fines.2Colorado Judicial Branch. Information for Employers