Employees can be required to do Jury Duty. Each State in Australia has varying legislation; links to each of the States are included in the Fairwork page below. You might also need to refer to your Awards and EBAs for any other conditions - https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/community-service-leave/jury-duty.
Depending on what you need to comply with, you may need to set up paid Leave, unpaid Leave, or a deduction to reclaim any Jury payments.
Set up the Leave Reason
Set up a Paid Leave Reason for Jury Duty if you need to pay the employee whilst they are on Jury Duty, or if you need to pay the employee Make-Up Pay.
Go to Payroll, Maintenance, Leave, Leave Reason.
Click Add and enter a Code and a Description.
As there's no Leave balance to be reduced, select Other as the Leave Type.
Select a Cost Account if there is a Cost Account to be attached to Jury Duty.
Change the Rate Type if appropriate and leave the remaining fields as per the default.
To comply with ATO STP Phase 2, the STP Reporting Tab will also need to be completed. Review the ATO Employer quick reference guide for more information.
Click OK to save the Leave Reason.
Set up the Unpaid Leave Reason
Set up an Unpaid Leave Reason for Jury Duty if you don’t need to pay the employee whilst they are on Jury Duty, or for instances where the employee exceeds the number of paid Jury Duty days.
Go to Payroll, Maintenance, Leave, Leave Reason.
Click Add and enter a Code and a Description.
As there is no Leave balance to be reduced, select Other as the Leave Type.
Select a Cost Account if there is a Cost Account to be attached to Jury Duty.
Tick Unpaid Leave.
Click OK to save the Leave Reason.
Set up the Deduction to reclaim the Jury Payment
If the employee is to receive a Jury Payment from the Jury Service, which reduces the amount the employer is required to pay, set up a deduction to reclaim the Jury Payment.
Go to Payroll, Maintenance, General, Additions and Deductions.
Click Add and enter a Code and a Description.
This should be set up as a Deduction Before Tax to reduce the YTD Gross Earnings by the amount the employee received for their Jury Duty.
Choose Amount as the Type.
Make the appropriate selection for all other fields.
Select Cost Account if appropriate
Tick Include in Deduction Calculation checkbox if this deduction is to be included when calculating deductions, e.g., Super Salary Sacrifice by percentage would be reduced if the checkbox is ticked.
On the STP Reporting tab for STP Phase 1, ensure that Include in Gross Salary & Wages is selected for the STP Reporting. To comply with ATO STP Phase 2, the STP Phase 2 fields will also need to be completed.
Review the ATO Employer quick reference guide for more information.
Click OK to save.
Transaction to pay the Jury Duty
The instructions below are using the Extended Timesheet; you can, however, use Express Timesheet, Multi Employee Timesheet, or Manual Calculation instead.
Go to Payroll, Transactions, Processing, Extended Timesheet.
Enter the employee who is on Jury Duty, say No to generating Autopay if asked.
Select Other Leave from the Pay Summary, and enter the Jury Duty Leave Reason. The reason selected will depend on whether the Leave is to be paid or not.
Enter the number of hours and the Start and End Dates.
If the employee has received a payment from the Jury Service and you need to pay the difference between their Normal Pay and the Jury Service Payment, Make-up Pay, select Deds Before Tax in the Pay Summary.
Select the Deduction Before Tax created for Jury Duty Payments and enter in the Amount the Jury Service has paid the employee.
Enter in any other payments that the employee is entitled to, e.g., Normal Hours, Allowances, etc.
Once all components have been entered, click Process.
If the Gross Taxable Total has been reduced by the Jury Duty Payment, the employee’s Tax will also be reduced. A tax adjustment can also be included in the pay to account for this. This should be done in consultation with the employee.