Summoned for Jury Duty
ORC 2313.19 — and the leave an employer may not even ask for
Two things about a jury summons are commonly got wrong, and they pull in opposite directions. People overestimate how easily an employer can make it a problem, and underestimate what ignoring the summons itself is.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
An employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, or discipline toward discharge. No employer shall discharge a permanent employee summoned as a juror, threaten to, or take any disciplinary action that could lead to discharge, where the employee gave reasonable notice of the summons before service began and was absent because of actual jury service. Reasonable notice is the employee's part of it, and it is the part worth doing early.
And may not require or even request that leave be used for it. No employer shall require or request an employee to use annual, vacation or sick leave for time spent responding to a summons, for time in the jury selection process, or for time actually serving. Request is in the section alongside require, which closes the gap where an employer asks nicely and an employee agrees rather than argues.
An employer who breaches the section is punished as for a contempt of court. That is a court's own power over conduct interfering with its jury, which is a different mechanism from an employment claim and a faster one.
| The employer | What the section says |
|---|---|
| The employerFires somebody for serving | What the section saysProhibited |
| The employerThreatens to | What the section saysProhibited in the same sentence |
| The employerDisciplines in a way that could lead to discharge | What the section saysProhibited |
| The employerRequires vacation or sick leave to be used | What the section saysProhibited |
| The employerAsks the employee to use it instead | What the section saysProhibited. Request sits beside require |
The protections run to a permanent employee who gave reasonable notice. Somebody who says nothing until the morning they are due in court has not done the thing the section asks of them, which is why the notice is the first step rather than an afterthought.
“Has the employer been told, in writing, and when.”
Whether an employer pays for the time, what the court pays a juror, excuses and deferrals, and the consequences of not responding to a summons are set by the court that issued it and by other provisions, and are not on this page. Every common pleas court publishes its own juror information. Whether a particular employee is covered, and what a breach is worth, are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney, and the court that summoned the juror is usually the fastest place to raise an employer problem.
Sources for this section (1)
- ORC 2313.19 — What an employer may not do to an employee summoned as a juror
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.