NY State Senate Bill 2021-S7566

Senate Bill S7566

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Increases the amount of daily allowance that trial and grand jurors are entitled to in each court of the unified court system

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to judiciary
Dec 03, 2021	referred to rules

2021-S7566 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Judiciary Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§521 & 519, Judy L

2021-S7566 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Increases the amount of daily allowance that trial and grand jurors are entitled to in each court of the unified court system.

2021-S7566 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7566

SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the judiciary law, in relation to increasing the  amount
of allowance that trial and grand jurors are entitled to in each court
of the unified court system

 
PURPOSE:

Relates to increasing the amount of daily allowance that trial and grand
jurors are entitled to in each court of the unified court system.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends subdivision (a) of section 521 of the judiciary law to
raise the juror allowance from forty dollars per day to one hundred
twenty dollars per day for each day of jury attendance.

Section 2: Amends section 519 of the judiciary law to raise the required
rate of wages that an employer who employs more than ten employees must

not withhold from an employee on jury service from forty dollars per day
to one hundred twenty dollars per day for the first three days of jury
service.

Section 3: Provides an effective date of 60 days from enactment.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York State jurors fulfilling their civic duty receive considerably
less than the state and federal minimum wages per hour. The current
daily allocation for jury duty is 40 dollars per day. This allocation is
equal to approximately $5.71 per hour of service. This is well below the
New York State minimum wage of $13.20 and even the meager federal mini-
mum wage of $7.25 per hour. Most jury trials involve full days in court,
with schedules requiring service from 9 AM to 5 PM.  The work that
jurors are doing is valuable to society and their time spent in court is
legally required. Paying jurors below minimum wage is unacceptable. This
bill increases the daily pay of jurors to a proper rate for carrying out
their civic service, above the minimum wage threshold.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None. New Legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become law.

2021-S7566 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7566
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             December 3, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to increasing the  amount
   of allowance that trial and grand jurors are entitled to in each court
   of the unified court system

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  (a)  of section 521 of the judiciary law, as
 amended by chapter 302 of the laws  of  2002,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   (a)  Except  as provided in subdivision (b) of this section, trial and
 grand jurors in each court of the unified court system shall be entitled
 to an allowance equal to the sum of [forty] ONE HUNDRED  TWENTY  dollars
 per  day for each and every day of physical attendance wherein the court
 convenes, except that no person who is employed  shall  be  entitled  to
 receive  such allowance if, pursuant to section five hundred nineteen of
 this article, his or her employer is  prohibited  from  withholding  the
 first  [forty] ONE HUNDRED TWENTY dollars of wages of such person during
 such period and such person's daily wages equal or  exceed  [forty]  ONE
 HUNDRED  TWENTY  dollars.  If  such  person's  daily wages are less than
 [forty] ONE HUNDRED TWENTY dollars, he  or  she  shall  be  entitled  to
 receive  an  allowance hereunder equal to the difference between [forty]
 ONE HUNDRED TWENTY dollars and the amount of his  or  her  daily  wages.
 Such  fees  and  those  expenses  actually  and  necessarily incurred in
 providing food and lodging for jurors shall be a  state  charge  payable
 out of funds appropriated to the office of court administration for that
 purpose.
   §  2.  Section 519 of the judiciary law, as added by chapter 85 of the
 laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
   § 519. Right of juror to be absent from employment. Any person who  is
 summoned  to  serve  as a juror under the provisions of this article and
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13397-01-1

 S. 7566                             2
 
 who notifies his or her employer to that effect prior to  the  commence-
 ment  of a term of service shall not, on account of absence from employ-
 ment by reason of such jury service, be subject to discharge or penalty.
 An employer may, however, withhold wages of any such employee serving as
 a juror during the period of such service; provided that an employer who
 employs more than ten employees shall not withhold the first [forty] ONE
 HUNDRED  TWENTY  dollars  of  such  juror's daily wages during the first
 three days of jury service. Withholding of wages in accordance with this
 section shall not be deemed a penalty. Violation of this  section  shall
 constitute  a  criminal contempt of court punishable pursuant to section
 seven hundred fifty of this chapter.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.

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