Illinois Paid Jury Duty Leave: What Employers Need to Prepare for Before January 2027

Illinois employers have time to review their jury duty and payroll processes before a new paid leave requirement takes effect. Beginning January 1, 2027, employers with 26 or more employees must pay employees at their regular hourly rate for their existing job-protected jury duty leave.

The change was enacted through House Bill 4844 and signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker on July 31, 2026. It amends the Illinois Jury Act and Illinois Jury Commission Act. The Amundsen Davis summary of the Illinois paid jury duty leave change highlights an important point for planning: the new paid leave does not come with caps or limitations.

For employers, the practical work starts before the effective date. Review who is covered, how jury service is recorded, how schedules are adjusted, and how payroll will distinguish paid jury duty leave from other types of time away from work.

Which Illinois employers need to prepare?

The new requirement applies to Illinois employers with 26 or more employees. Businesses should confirm whether they meet that threshold and establish a consistent way to monitor their employee count. This review should not be left until the first payroll affected by the new rule.

The law concerns employees using existing job-protected jury duty leave. That means the change is not simply a new category of general paid time off. Employers should keep jury duty leave separate from vacation, personal leave, sick leave, or other paid time off in their policies and payroll systems.

The source describes the payment requirement as the employee’s regular hourly rate. Employers should therefore identify how that rate is represented in their payroll system and how the system will apply it when an employee is absent for jury service. If an employee’s pay arrangement or work pattern makes the rate unclear, ask qualified employment counsel or a payroll professional for guidance rather than creating an informal rule.

The source does not provide every administrative detail for every employee situation. Employers should avoid assuming that their existing PTO rules answer questions about jury duty leave. Instead, review the new requirement alongside current policies and obtain advice on any situation that is not straightforward.

Update scheduling and time-off procedures

Jury service can affect staffing even when the employee gives advance notice. Managers may need to adjust shifts, find coverage, and avoid treating a protected absence as an attendance problem. A written process can help supervisors respond consistently.

Start by deciding where employees should report jury duty information. The process might involve a manager, HR contact, scheduling coordinator, or another designated person. The important point is that employees should not have to explain the same absence to several people or rely on an informal message that may be missed.

Your scheduling process should make it possible to:

• Record the expected dates of jury service.
• Mark the employee as unavailable for affected shifts.
• Prevent the absence from being treated as an unapproved absence when the leave is properly reported.
• Update the schedule if the period of service changes.
• Share only the information managers need to plan coverage.

This is also a useful time to review how shift managers receive and act on schedule changes. The guidance in Effective Communication For Shift Managers is relevant here because a payroll rule can still create operational problems if the scheduling team is not working from the same information.

Do not promise a fixed number of paid days or create a cap unless that limitation is supported by applicable law and legal advice. The Amundsen Davis summary specifically notes that the new paid leave has no caps or limitations. Employers should be particularly careful not to copy limits from another leave policy into the jury duty process.

Prepare payroll and recordkeeping

Payroll needs a clear record of when jury duty leave was taken and how it was paid. Create a separate time or pay code for paid jury duty leave rather than folding the time into a general absence category. A distinct code makes it easier to review payroll, answer employee questions, and identify whether the process is being applied consistently.

Before January 1, 2027, review the following items:

• The employee’s regular hourly rate used for payment.
• The dates and hours recorded as jury duty leave.
• The connection between the schedule, time record, and payroll run.
• The approval or notification record supporting the absence.
• The payroll report showing the payment made under the jury duty code.

Keep records that show what was reported, how the absence was entered, and how the payment was calculated. The source summary does not specify a separate record-retention period, so employers should not invent one. Follow applicable recordkeeping requirements and your legal adviser’s instructions.

A separate code can also help prevent common payroll errors, such as paying the leave at the wrong rate, leaving the employee scheduled for a shift they cannot work, or treating the absence as unpaid time. For a broader review of payroll controls, see 5 Tips on How To Eliminate Payroll Mistakes.

Review policies and train the people involved

The employee handbook, attendance policy, jury duty policy, scheduling instructions, and payroll procedures should use consistent language. If one document describes jury duty as unpaid while another refers employees to general PTO, employees and managers may receive conflicting instructions.

Your updated policy should explain where employees report jury service, how they notify the business, and how the absence appears in scheduling and payroll. It should also make clear that paid jury duty leave is handled separately from other forms of leave where appropriate.

Managers who approve timesheets or assign shifts should receive a short explanation of the new process. They need to know which code to use, whom to contact with questions, and that an employee’s jury duty absence must be handled through the designated procedure. Payroll staff should test the code and reports before the first affected payroll rather than discovering a problem after pay has been processed.

A review of your broader leave framework may also help. Creating A Paid Time Off Policy For Your Contracting Business covers the value of documenting how different types of time away from work are managed. Jury duty leave should be added to that framework without being treated as ordinary discretionary PTO.

What to do before January 1, 2027

Illinois employers with 26 or more employees should use the months before the effective date to confirm coverage, identify the applicable payroll rate, create a dedicated leave code, and test the scheduling and approval workflow. Then update written policies and explain the process to managers and employees.

The practical goal is a record that connects the employee’s jury service notification, the affected schedule, the approved leave, and the payment at the regular hourly rate. Building that process in advance will make the change easier to administer when paid jury duty leave begins on January 1, 2027.