Compensation and reimbursement policy.

(1) The compensation policy of this chapter shall be to prevent financial hardship being imposed upon any juror because of performance of juror service.

(2) Juror service constitutes being summoned and reporting for jury service as well as actual service on a jury. Juror service does not include days for which the juror was notified before reporting that his or her presence was not required. Regular employment includes full-time employment and part-time, temporary, and casual employment, as long as the employment hours of a juror can be reasonably determined by a schedule or by custom and practice established during the 3-month period preceding the term of service as a juror.

(3)(a) Jurors who are regularly employed and who continue to receive regular wages while serving as a juror are not entitled to receive compensation from the clerk of the circuit court for the first 3 days of juror service.

(b) Jurors who are not regularly employed or who do not continue to receive regular wages while serving as a juror are entitled to receive $15 per day for the first 3 days of juror service.

(4) Each juror who serves more than 3 days is entitled to be paid by the clerk of the circuit court for the fourth day of service and each day thereafter at the rate of $30 per day of service.

(5) Jurors are not entitled to additional reimbursement by the clerk of the circuit court for travel or other out-of-pocket expenses.

(6) A juror who receives reemployment assistance benefits does not lose such benefits because he or she receives compensation for juror service.

(7) Any juror who is excused from jury service at his or her own request is not entitled to receive any compensation under subsection (3).

(8) In circuits that elect to allow jurors to donate their jury service fee upon conclusion of juror service, each juror may irrevocably donate all of the juror’s compensation to the 26 U.S.C. s. 501(c)(3) organization specified by the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office or to a domestic violence shelter as specified annually on a rotating basis by the clerk of court in the circuit for the juror’s county of residence. The funds collected may not reduce or offset the amount of compensation that the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office or domestic violence shelter would otherwise receive from the state. The clerk of court shall ensure that all jurors are given written notice at the conclusion of their service that they have the option to so donate their compensation, and that the applicable program specified by the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office or a domestic violence shelter receives all funds donated by the jurors. Any circuit guardian ad litem office receiving donations of juror compensation must expend such moneys on services for children for whom guardians ad litem have been appointed.