- Jury Duty and Witness Leave Policy

Comment on Policy

.1 - AUDIENCE

All University employees.

.2 - PURPOSE STATEMENT

The purpose of Policy is to define the University’s policy and guidelines for administering jury duty and witness leave to employees of the University.

.3 - DEFINITIONS

Not applicable.

.4 - THE POLICY

I. Jury Duty

The University encourages all its employees to fulfill their civic responsibilities by serving as jurors.  Therefore, the University protects employees from a loss of income while performing required jury duty.  If an employee is selected to serve on a jury, the employee will be compensated his or her normal base wage if the jury duty is scheduled on the employee’s scheduled work day.

II. Witness Duty

An employee subpoenaed to appear in Court as a representative of Thomas More University will be paid regular base pay and will not be required to use vacation time for this absence.  An employee subpoenaed to appear in Court or a duly constituted administrative tribunal or hearing as a witness in a case not involving Thomas More University will be granted time off from work to appear in Court, however, employees will not be paid by the University unless they elect to use vacation time (if applicable).

.5 - RELATED POLICIES AND APPLICABLE LEGAL OR ACCREDITATION STANDARDS

KRS 337.415

Vacation Policy

.6 - PROCEDURES

An employee receiving a summons for jury duty must immediately notify his or her supervisor and give a copy of the summons to Human Resources.

Upon return to work, the employee must provide his or her supervisor or department chairperson with a statement confirming the time spent in jury duty.

If the employee is dismissed early from jury duty or informed he or she does not have to report, the employee is expected to report to work.

The University reserves the right to request an excuse from the jury duty if the University determines that the employee's services are vital to the operation of the department at the time.

.7 - REFERENCING THE POLICY

.8 - HISTORY

Date	Supersedes Policy	Summarize Change
September 2018	This is a new policy, replacing language in the Staff Manual (May 2014) and Faculty Policy Manual (2011).

.9 - APPENDIX

There are no appendices to this Policy.

.10 - APPROVALS

Laura Custer, Director of Human Resources

Dr. Kathleen Jagger, Acting President