Do You Have to Use PTO for Jury Duty in Texas?

In Texas, your employer can require you to use PTO for jury duty. State law doesn’t force private employers to pay your regular wages while you serve, and nothing in Texas or federal law stops a company from applying your accrued vacation or paid time off to cover the days you’re at the courthouse. Whether PTO actually gets charged depends on your employer’s written leave policy.

Why Employers Can Charge PTO for Jury Days

The Texas Workforce Commission has addressed this directly: the general rule under both Texas and federal law is that an employer doesn’t have to pay for time not worked, and jury duty falls into that category. Requiring an employee to use vacation or PTO for a jury absence doesn’t conflict with either body of law.¹

That means three things are possible, and your handbook decides which one applies to you:

Your employer offers separate paid jury leave that doesn’t touch your PTO bank.
Your employer requires you to use accrued PTO or vacation to stay paid.
Your employer treats the time as unpaid, which is what happens by default and what happens once your PTO is exhausted.

Check your handbook before your service date so you know which category you’re in and what notice or documentation your employer expects.

One Exception for Salaried Exempt Employees

Federal wage-and-hour rules add a wrinkle if you’re salaried exempt. If you perform any work during a week you also serve on a jury, your employer must pay your full salary for that week and cannot dock you for the partial-week absence. The employer is allowed to offset the jury fees the court paid you against your salary for that week.² Hourly, non-exempt employees get paid only for hours actually worked, so jury hours are unpaid unless company policy says otherwise.³

What the Court Pays You

Jury fees won’t replace a paycheck, but they help. In Texas state courts, jurors receive at least $20 for the first day of service and at least $58 for each day after that. Individual counties set the exact amount within those minimums, and the presiding judge can authorize higher reimbursement in specific cases with the parties’ agreement.⁴ One catch worth knowing: if your employer keeps paying your regular wages during service, you forfeit the daily fee and receive only travel expense reimbursement set by the county commissioners court.

Federal court pays more. Jurors receive $50 per day, which can rise to $60 per day after 10 days of service if the presiding judge authorizes it.⁵

Your Job Is Protected Even When Your Pay Isn’t

Unpaid doesn’t mean unprotected. The Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code prohibits any employer from discharging, threatening, intimidating, or coercing a permanent employee for serving on a jury or for attending court in connection with that service. The protection covers service in any court in the United States, so it applies whether you’re summoned to a Texas state court or a federal court.⁶

Note the word “permanent” in the statute. Temporary and contract workers may not have the same coverage, so clarify your status before your service date if there’s any doubt.

You also have the right to return to the same position you held when summoned, provided you give actual notice to your employer that you intend to return as soon as practical after being released.⁶ A phone call or email the day you’re dismissed is the safest approach. Ask the court’s jury administrator for an attendance certificate showing the dates and times you served; your employer may require it as proof of absence.

If you’re serving in federal court, 28 U.S.C. § 1875 adds overlapping protection. Employers who violate it face a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation per employee, plus liability for lost wages and potential court-ordered reinstatement.⁷

If Your Employer Retaliates

If your employer fires you, demotes you, cuts your hours, or otherwise punishes you for jury service, Texas law gives you a private right of action. A successful suit entitles you to reinstatement and damages ranging from one to five years of compensation, calculated at the pay rate you earned when you were summoned. The court can also award reasonable attorney’s fees.⁸

There’s a hard deadline. You must file within two years of the date you served as a juror, or you lose the claim regardless of how clear the retaliation was.⁸ Document everything from the start: save written communications where your employer references your jury service, note dates and witnesses for verbal conversations, and keep the attendance certificate from the court.

For federal jury service, a federal court can appoint counsel if your claim has probable merit, and the employer faces that civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation on top of damages for lost wages.⁷

Taxes on Jury Pay

The daily fees from the court count as taxable income. Report them on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8h.⁹ Expense reimbursements for things like parking and mileage are typically not taxable.

If your employer continues your full salary during jury duty but requires you to turn over the jury fees you received, you still report the fees as income and then deduct the amount you handed over as an adjustment on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 24a.⁹ It’s an above-the-line deduction, so you don’t need to itemize. One thing you can’t deduct: lost wages from serving. The IRS doesn’t treat foregone income as a deductible expense.

1
Texas Workforce Commission. Jury Duty
2
eCFR. 29 CFR 541.602 – Salary Basis
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Jury Duty
4
State of Texas. Texas Government Code 61.001 – Reimbursement of Expenses of Jurors and Prospective Jurors
5
United States Courts. Juror Pay
6
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 122.001 – Protection of Jurors Employment
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment
8
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 122.002 – Damages, Reinstatement, Attorney Fees
9
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income