Effective January 1, 2027, Illinois employers with 26 or more employees must pay employees at their regular hourly rate for their existing job-protected jury duty leave. The change, enacted through House Bill 4844 and signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker on July 31, 2026, amends the Illinois Jury Act and Illinois Jury Commission Act. Crucially, there are no caps or limitations on the new paid leave.

While Illinois employers have long been required to provide employees with protected time away from work to fulfill jury duty obligations, the new law fundamentally changes who bears the financial burden of that leave. Serving on a jury is an important civic duty, but the pay jurors receive has remained low for decades. Illinois has chosen to place responsibility for additional pay above the low jury duty stipend on private employers with 26 or more employees. As a result, what was previously an operational challenge of covering for an employee’s absence will now also become a potentially significant payroll expense.

Illinois law already requires employers, regardless of size, to provide eligible employees with job-protected leave for service on an Illinois petit or grand jury. Eligible employees are those who have not been disqualified from sitting on juries and have been duly summoned for jury duty in any Illinois court. The law already provides that it does not matter which shift the employee works, the employee is entitled to job-protected leave when summoned for jury duty. The employee is required to provide reasonable notice of the need for jury duty leave to the employer, which is 10 days from receiving the notice. The acts also prohibit all Illinois employers from discharging, intimidating, or coercing employees because of their jury service or attendance or scheduled attendance in court.

New Illinois Requirement for Paid Jury Service Leave

The most significant change is the new requirement that covered employers continue paying employees their regular hourly rate while they serve on a jury.

Previously, Illinois employers were required to provide job-protected leave but not required to pay employees during that leave. As such, while jury duty caused scheduling and operational challenges to ensure there was appropriate coverage, employers generally did not incur substantial direct labor costs unless they voluntarily chose to provide paid jury duty leave as an employee benefit.

Effective January 1, 2027, that will no longer be the case for employers with 26 or more employees. Covered employers will be required to pay employees at their regular hourly rate for the entirety of their  jury duty leave with no exceptions, caps, or limitations of any sort.

Financial Impact of Paid Jury Duty Leave on Illinois Employers

Employers that did not previously provide any paid jury duty leave will face significant increased costs under the new law. In addition, the costs associated with jury service can be highly unpredictable. Jury summonses are issued by the court system, making the timing and duration of service outside of an employer’s control. An employer may face zero additional costs one year and then face tens of thousands the next with little advance notice.

The financial impact may be especially significant in less common but entirely foreseeable situations. For example, if an employer has a high-earning employee making $250,000/year and that employee is summoned for jury duty and selected in a complex murder trial that lasts three months, the employer faces not only the significant operational challenges of covering for that employee, but paying the employee nearly $70,000 while receiving no work or benefit in return.

Preparing for Illinois’s New Paid Jury Duty Leave Requirements

Illinois employers with 26 or more employees should begin preparing now for the January 1 effective date. Recommended action items include:

  • Revising and updating their jury duty leave policy to comply with this new requirements.
  • Evaluating budget impacts associated with paid jury duty leave so that any costs are not entirely unanticipated in 2027.