The Jury System Improvement Act passed by the United States Congress in 1978 protects employees from actions against them by their employers because they serve on juries. The Jury System Improvement Act states in part that:
No employers shall discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate or coerce any permanent employee by reason of such employeeÆs jury service, or the attendance in any connection with such service, in any court of the United States.
Jury System Improvement Act not only grants an employee the right of action against any employer whose actions violate the law, it also provides for government-paid counsel to represent an employee in such a case. Further, if an employee uses a private counsel in a case brought under the Jury System Improvement Act and wins the case, the court is allowed to award fees for the employeeÆs legal counsel.
Nix, therefore, has a legitimate claim against his employer if Nix is a permanent employee (as specified in the Act). The Act is not intended to apply to temporary employees, i.e., people hired on a day-to-day basis as needed or people hired for a specific temporary period. The wording of the Jury System Improvement Act includes the phrase ôin any court of the United Statesö. Court rulings have interpreted this phrase to mean any court in the United States, as opposed to a narrower interpretation of only federal courts.
A claim under the Jury System Improvement Act applies only to the loss, the threat of loss, reduction in wage rates, and so forth. The Act does not require employers to pay an employeeÆs wages or salary while the employee is performing jury service or participating in actions related to such service, i.e., waiting at the court house to be called to a court and so forth. Some states, however, have laws requiring employers to compensate employees for time spent on jury service.
Because minimum wage, overtime, and other employment laws do not apply to in...