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MA · jury-duty pay

Jury duty pay in Massachusetts

What happens to your pay and your job if you're summoned in Massachusetts — with the statute behind each answer. Verified against a primary source on June 16, 2026.

At a glance

Employer payEmployer pay required
Job protectionProtected
Court per-diem$50/day
Status Verified

JurorPay summarizes state-by-state jury-duty pay rules and job-protection statutes. This is procedural civic-duty information, not legal advice. Statutes change; verify directly with your state court, employer HR, or a licensed attorney before relying on this summary.

Required

Will your employer pay you?

In Massachusetts, your employer is required to keep paying you during jury service. Each regularly employed trial or grand juror must be paid regular wages by the employer for the first three days (or part thereof) of juror service (G.L. c.234A §48). A court may excuse an employer on a showing of extreme financial hardship.

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

Employer-paid

How much, and for how long?

Each regularly employed trial or grand juror must be paid regular wages by the employer for the first three days (or part thereof) of juror service (G.L. c.234A §48). A court may excuse an employer on a showing of extreme financial hardship.

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

Protected

Can you be fired for serving?

Your job is statutorily protected. Massachusetts law prohibits firing, threatening, or penalizing you for responding to a jury summons or serving. Federal law (28 U.S.C. §1875) adds the same protection for federal-court service.

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

$50/day

What does the court pay you?

The court pays jurors $50 per day. $50 per day after day 3. A trial juror paid under §51 is NOT entitled to additional reimbursement for travel or other out-of-pocket expenses. The Commonwealth pays $50/day starting the 4th day; the first 3 days are employer-paid wages.

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

Editor's note on this state

Official malegislature.gov timed out; onecle.com (verbatim code mirror) fetched. §48 = employer pays regular wages first 3 days; §51 = Commonwealth pays $50/day from the 4th day, no separate travel reimbursement; §61 = anti-discrimination/anti-coercion (treble damages + attorney fees for willful violation). The 'court' per diem ($50) only begins on day 4 — days 1-3 are employer wages.

Sources for Massachusetts

Each figure links to the primary source we read it from. The federal baseline is 28 U.S.C. §1875 — it protects your job during federal-court service but does not require pay.

How Massachusetts compares on court per-diem

Court-paid daily fee, ranked across all states with a single statewide figure. Massachusetts is highlighted.

Petit-juror per-diem paid by the court (first/standard day), ranked. 9 jurisdictions set per-diem locally (county-by-county or pegged to minimum wage) with no single statewide figure, and are omitted here rather than shown as a guessed amount. Where a state pays a higher rate for extended service, this chart shows the standard day rate. See each state page for the full schedule and citation.

Other states with similar rules

Check another state

Same answer, any jurisdiction.

51 jurisdictions — all 50 states + the District of Columbia.

Editorial review

An employment attorney from our review pool is being onboarded to sign off on the jury-leave and anti-retaliation summaries. Until that review is complete, every figure on the site links directly to the state legislature or court primary source so you can verify it yourself. We will publish the reviewer's name, bar number, state, and profile here once secured — and never a placeholder name.