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VA · jury-duty pay

Jury duty pay in Virginia

What happens to your pay and your job if you're summoned in Virginia — 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 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.

Not required

Will your employer pay you?

In Virginia, no state law requires your employer to pay your wages during jury service (federal law protects your job, not your pay). Virginia law does not require employers to pay wages during jury service. 18.2-465.1 bars discharge/adverse action and bars requiring use of sick/vacation leave, and restricts scheduling night shifts after a 4+ hour jury day, but does not mandate pay.

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

Protected

Can you be fired for serving?

Your job is statutorily protected. Virginia 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. Statute provides $50/day 'for expenses of travel incident to jury service and other necessary and reasonable costs.' Jurors summoned from another political subdivision may additionally be allowed actual expenses. No separate mileage figure in statute.

Primary source · verified June 16, 2026

Editor's note on this state

Both statutes fetched cleanly from official law.lis.virginia.gov. Per-diem confirmed currently $50/day under 17.1-618 (older versions were $30; current official text reads $50). Violation of 18.2-465.1 is a Class 3 misdemeanor. Protection statute is in the Crimes title (18.2); no standalone employer-pay statute, hence pay_statute_citation null.

Sources for Virginia

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 Virginia compares on court per-diem

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