By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The Alabama House has passed a bill to require employers to allow their workers time off for jury duty. The legislation also says they cannot force the employees to use vacation days or sick time. Bill sponsor Alabaster Representative Cam Ward says the bill is a comprehensive rewrite of the laws concerning jury duty. The law specifies that workers can take legal action against employers who fire or penalize them for answering a summons to jury duty. The bill now heads to the Senate for debate. The measure also protects small businesses from losing their work force to jury duty. The bill says, if a business employs fewer than five people, only one worker can be called to jury duty at a time. The bill also says a person can only be called to serve as a juror once every two years but can be fined $300 if he or she skips jury duty.