8.50 – LOA – Jury and Witness

PART 1: JURY DUTY

In order for university employees to fulfill their civic responsibility as jurors, regular full-time and part-time employees and non-regular employees in a term appointment may be granted leave for this purpose.

1. Employees are not required to report for work after serving 8 hours of jury duty during the day. If service is less than 8 hours in a day, employees will return to work for the remainder of their 8-hour shift (or may request annual leave).
2. Jury duty is that service and time spent away from a university job as a result of a subpoena or notice issued by the court and counts as time worked.
3. Department heads are authorized to grant jury duty leave upon the presentation of a subpoena or notice issued by the appropriate court.
4. The university will pay regular employees who serve such duty their normal salary for each regular work day of service, not to exceed 8 hours per day.
5. Non-regular employees will not receive compensation; however, they may be reimbursed through or by the appropriate court.
6. A copy of a written statement furnished the employee by the court indicating the number of days or hours served should be furnished to the supervisor. It is the responsibility of the employee to keep the supervisor informed of the anticipated time to be spent away from the job.
7. Employees must use annual leave or leave without pay for jury duty/witness service in a jurisdiction other than that of their primary work locale, with the exception of employees residing in El Paso and working in Las Cruces.
8. Regular employees may not receive any form of compensation from state courts other than mileage.
9. All employees may receive compensation while serving on federal juries.

PART 2: COURT WITNESS

1. University employees, as do all citizens, have the right, and on occasion the obligation, to serve as witnesses in a court of law. As such, they are not representative of the university, but are private citizens.  Their conduct in the case of court appearances as private citizens should, however, reflect well on the community of university scholars.
2. Eligible employees shall be granted annual leave, or placed on leave without pay if ineligible for leave, for time spent testifying as a witness.
3. The employee should provide the supervisor with a copy of the subpoena.
4. University employees who are plaintiffs in any legal action against the university must use annual leave or leave without pay for all time spent in activities related to such action.
5. University employees appearing on behalf of the university or as a representative of the university in any legal action, to include depositions or witness testimony, will not be required to use annual leave or leave without pay for such purposes unless the employee receives a witness fee.