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MT · jury-duty pay

Jury duty pay in Montana

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

At a glance

Employer payNo state employer-pay mandate
Job protectionVaries
Court per-diem$12/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.

Not required

Will your employer pay you?

In Montana, no state law requires your employer to pay your wages during jury service (federal law protects your job, not your pay). No Montana statute requires private employers to pay wages during jury service. MCA 2-18-619 (state-employee jury leave) requires the employee to remit juror fees against amounts due from the employer, but does not mandate wage payment and applies to state employment.

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

No state mandate

How much, and for how long?

No state-mandated employer pay. You may still be paid voluntarily, under a contract, or under a collective-bargaining agreement — check your employer's policy. The court pays a separate per-diem (see the court-pay card).

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

Varies

Can you be fired for serving?

Montana job-protection for jury service may rest on general wrongful-discharge doctrine rather than a jury-specific statute. Federal law (28 U.S.C. §1875) protects federal-court service. Confirm before relying on this.

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

$12/day

What does the court pay you?

The court pays jurors $12 per day. $25 per day for jurors selected to serve. Mileage allowance per MCA 2-18-503 for travel each way between residence and court. Panel member receives $12/day for attendance; a juror selected and serving on a case receives an additional $13/day ($25/day total).

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

Editor's note on this state

Per-diem statute MCA 3-15-201 fetched: $12/day attendance + $13/day additional once selected/serving (extended_usd=25 reflects the combined serving rate, not a multi-day threshold; extended_after_days null as the bump applies upon selection). No dedicated jury-service anti-retaliation statute found; job protection appears to derive from Montana's general Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act (MCA 39-2-904) public-policy doctrine, not a jury-specific statute, so job_protection_required left null to avoid overclaiming a specific jury statute.

Sources for Montana

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.

  • Employer-pay statute: MCA 2-18-619 (state employees)Primary source
  • Anti-retaliation statute: not specifiedverified June 16, 2026
  • Court per-diem schedule: not specifiedPrimary source

How Montana compares on court per-diem

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