Illinois Employers With 26+ Workers Must Pay for Jury Duty Starting Jan. 1 — Here's the Plan

If you run a business in Illinois and have more than 25 employees, a juror summons in your team's mailbox will soon become a payroll item. Beginning January 1, 2027, a new state law requires covered employers to pay workers their regular rate of pay for time spent on jury duty. Employers with 25 or fewer employees are exempt from the pay requirement, but they still have to protect jurors' jobs.

The change comes from House Bill 4844, now Public Act 104-0683, which amends the Illinois Jury Act and the Jury Commission Act. Law firms Fisher Phillips and Duane Morris have both flagged it as one of several Illinois workplace changes arriving with the new year. Here is what it says, what it leaves unclear, and how to get ready.

What the New Illinois Jury Duty Law Requires

The core rule is simple. Employers with more than 25 employees must compensate employees at their regular rate of pay for time spent serving on jury duty. The requirement starts January 1, 2027.

The law does not state a dollar cap or a limit on the number of paid days. Based on the published summaries, a covered employer owes regular pay for the time an employee actually serves.

Employers at or below the 25-employee line may continue to treat jury duty as unpaid time off. They are not off the hook entirely, though, because the existing jury-service protections still apply to every employer.

What Stays the Same for Every Employer

No retaliation. You may not discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce an employee because of jury service.
Summons notice. Employees must give reasonable notice by delivering a copy of the summons to you within 10 days of its issuance.
Reinstatement. Employees who return from jury service must be reinstated without loss of seniority.

What It Could Cost: A Quick Example

The law does not set a number, so here is a simple illustration using made-up figures. Say a warehouse lead earns $22 an hour and works eight-hour days. If that employee serves five days on a jury, regular pay for that week would be $880 in wages, and you would still need coverage for the shifts. A trial that runs longer raises the cost in a straight line.

For a business with 30 to 60 employees, one juror is manageable. The risk is the unplanned timing: summonses arrive with little warning, and you may be paying one person while paying overtime to someone covering the work. If you track labor costs on a monthly profit and loss statement, consider adding a small line for paid civic leave so it does not surprise you.

Where the Law Leaves Gaps

Several questions are not answered in the statute, and legal commentators have pointed them out:

How to count to 25. Fisher Phillips notes that the statute does not specify how to measure the employee threshold, whether by single location, statewide, or some other method. If you are close to the line, watch for state guidance before January.
What "regular rate of pay" means. Duane Morris points out that the law does not define the term or address tipped employees. Employers with tipped staff, commission pay, or variable schedules should ask counsel how to calculate it.
Interaction with PTO. The law does not spell out how paid jury pay fits with existing paid time off or paid leave policies. Fisher Phillips advises confirming how the new obligation works with your current policies to avoid double payment or confusion over which policy applies.

Until Illinois issues guidance or courts weigh in, the safest approach is to write your policy conservatively and document how you apply it.

Enforcement: What Happens if You Skip It

The law does not add new penalty amounts, but existing remedies remain. Violations can lead to a contempt petition from the State's Attorney. Employees also have a private right of action to recover lost wages, benefits, and attorneys' fees. For a small business, the fee-shifting piece is often the expensive part, since a dispute over a few hundred dollars of wages can bring legal costs well beyond it.

Your 5-Step Plan Before January 1

Confirm your headcount. Count employees now, and look at whether you are near the 25-employee threshold. If your count moves up and down seasonally, note the numbers in case you need to explain your position later.
Update your handbook and payroll settings. Any policy that treats jury duty as unpaid needs revising before the effective date. Add a jury duty pay code in your payroll system so it is tracked separately from PTO.
Brief your managers. Anyone who approves time off should know that, for covered employers, denying pay for jury service will no longer be allowed.
Set up summons intake. Decide who receives summons copies, how they are logged, and how you confirm the 10-day notice window. If you operate in several states, check whether your multistate leave policy needs an Illinois-specific section.
Plan coverage. Cross-train staff so that one juror summons does not stall a shift. Review the schedule for roles that have no backup.

Other Illinois Employer Changes Arriving With the New Year

Jury pay is not the only Illinois change worth putting on your calendar. According to Duane Morris, several other laws take effect on or around January 1, 2027:

Driver's license limits (Public Act 104-0776). Employers with 15 or more employees may not refuse to hire or take other action against someone for lacking a driver's license unless driving is an essential job function or tied to a legitimate business purpose. If a posting requires a license, it must briefly explain why.
Layoff reporting to IDES (Public Act 104-0839). Employers with 75 or more Illinois employees that carry out a WARN-triggering layoff of 50 or more people at a single site must submit each separated worker's details to the state.
Biomarker information (Public Act 104-0642). Employers may not request or require biomarker information as a condition of employment.
Civil Rights Safeguard Act (Public Act 104-0744). Takes effect June 1, 2027 and makes it a civil rights violation to use hiring criteria or methods that have a discriminatory effect, even without intent, unless the practice is job-related and consistent with business necessity.

If you are hiring in Illinois, review your job postings now. A line like "must have valid driver's license" copied from an old template could create a problem for employers with 15 or more employees.

Who Should Pay Closest Attention

If you have between 26 and a few dozen employees, you are in the group most likely to be surprised. Businesses just over the threshold often lack a dedicated HR person, so the handbook update tends to slip. Consider also how the change fits your broader compliance setup: if you are growing and tracking whether workers are properly classified, the independent contractor vs. employee guide covers a related question, since contractors are not counted as employees and are generally not covered by an employer's paid leave rules. And if a juror dispute turns into a claim, check what your business insurance policy covers, because employment practices coverage is often a separate add-on.

The Bottom Line

For Illinois employers with more than 25 employees, jury duty becomes paid time on January 1, 2027. The law leaves open how to count employees and how to calculate regular pay for some workers, so build a clear written policy, set up the payroll code, and train managers now. Employers with 25 or fewer employees do not owe jury pay, but they must still avoid retaliation and reinstate returning jurors. This article is general information, not legal advice; confirm details with an employment attorney.

Sources: Fisher Phillips LLP, "Illinois Employers Must Pay Employees Who Serve on Jury Duty Starting January 1, 2027"; Duane Morris LLP, "As 2026 Comes to a Close, Illinois Employers Face Another Wave of Expanded Employee Protections and Compliance Obligations."

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash