Jury Duty in Queensland: Notices, Excusal, Pay and Your Job

By James Stevens, Director and Solicitor, Go To Court Lawyers. Last reviewed 15 April 2026.

In Queensland, jurors are chosen at random from the electoral roll under the Jury Act 1995; you must return the questionnaire sent with your notice, jury service generally lasts no more than four weeks, and you can ask to be excused but not to postpone. Prospective jurors are paid $51.30 a day and jurors on a trial $153.30 a day, and an employer must release you and must not dismiss or prejudice you because of jury service.

Checked on 23 October 2026 against the Jury Act 1995 (Qld), Queensland Courts and the Fair Work Ombudsman.

How jury service works in Queensland

1. Notice to prospective juror: you are chosen at random from the Queensland electoral roll. The notice includes a questionnaire you must complete fully and truthfully and return by the due date, online through the QJuror portal, by email or by post, even if you think you are ineligible or want to be excused. Not completing or returning it is an offence.
2. Summons: if you are eligible and available, or your excusal application is refused, your name goes into a second random selection. If chosen, you receive a summons setting out your panel number, the courthouse and your jury service period. You must stay available throughout that period.
3. Daily attendance: each evening you are told, or must check, whether you are needed the next day. Queensland Courts says you would probably need to attend no more than two mornings a week unless you are selected for a trial.
4. Selection (empanelment): if you are not chosen for a jury you are usually let go for the day. If you are chosen, you attend every day until the trial ends. Trials in the Supreme and District Courts typically last 3 to 5 days but can be longer.

Jury service generally lasts no more than four weeks. A criminal trial has 12 jurors and a civil trial 4, and the judge can add up to 3 reserve jurors.

Who cannot be a juror

You are qualified if you are enrolled to vote and your enrolled address is in the jury district. The Jury Act 1995 says these people are not eligible:

• the Governor, members of Parliament, and mayors and councillors;
• current and former judges and magistrates;
• lawyers actually engaged in legal work;
• current and former police officers (in Queensland or elsewhere), detention centre employees and corrective services officers;
• people aged 70 or over, unless they choose to be eligible;
• people who cannot read or write English, or who have a physical or mental disability that makes them unable to perform a juror's functions effectively;
• people convicted of an indictable offence, or ever sentenced to imprisonment (in Queensland or elsewhere).

Being excused

• No postponing: Queensland Courts says you cannot postpone jury service; you can only ask to be excused.
• Reasons that may be accepted: you served as a juror in the past 12 months; ill health or disability; caring responsibilities; work or study commitments that make it absolutely impossible; personal financial hardship; substantial financial hardship for your employer; religious beliefs; or another reason you explain.
• What the decision-maker weighs: substantial hardship from your work or personal circumstances, substantial financial hardship, substantial inconvenience to the public, whether others depend on your care with no suitable alternative, and your health.
• Served recently: if you attended for a jury service period ending less than a year before the new one, you are entitled to be excused.
• How: complete the excusal section of the questionnaire, with evidence such as a medical certificate, a letter from your employer, your study timetable or travel bookings. Only you can apply; your employer cannot apply for you. Work commitments alone are not usually enough.

Jury pay and allowances

• Meals: Queensland Courts lists the meal allowances for when the jury is allowed to separate, and says you may receive them if lunch is not provided.
• Travel: you can claim public transport fares, or a private vehicle allowance where public transport is not reasonable. Parking fees are not paid, and neither are costs such as childcare.
• Long trials: a special payment for business or other financial loss can be sought only if you served on a trial that lasted at least 30 days.

Your job and your pay from work

Your employer must release you for jury service unless you have been excused, and it is an offence to dismiss anyone, or prejudice them in their employment, because they are, were or will be away on jury service (maximum 1 year's imprisonment).

Under the national employment rules (the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act 2009), jury duty is a kind of community service leave, which every employee can take, casuals included.

• Tell your employer as soon as possible how long you expect to be away, and give evidence of your jury service if asked.
• Full-time and part-time employees are paid by their employer for the first 10 days they are away: the difference between the court's payment (not counting expense allowances such as travel) and their base pay for the ordinary hours they would have worked, if they show, when asked, that they took the steps needed to get the court's payment.
• Casual employees have no right to pay from their employer under the national rules, but an award, enterprise agreement or contract may give one.

Rules jurors must follow

• Failing to attend: not complying with a summons without a reasonable excuse is an offence (maximum 10 penalty units or 2 months' imprisonment) or can be dealt with as contempt of court.
• No research: a sworn juror in a criminal trial must not make inquiries about the accused, including internet searches, until the verdict or until discharged (maximum 2 years' imprisonment).
• Confidentiality: publishing jury information, or seeking it from a juror or former juror, is an offence (maximum 2 years' imprisonment).

Free help

For your notice or summons, contact the court listed on it, or your nearest Supreme or District Court registry.

How Go To Court Lawyers can help

Our free line, 1800 577 015, answers at any hour. Jen, our AI legal information assistant, gives general legal information and takes your details; Jen is not a lawyer and does not give advice about your case. A 60-minute consultation with a lawyer who practises in Queensland is a fixed $295, by phone, video or in person where the lawyer offers it. The lawyer can advise on an excusal application, what to do if your employer will not release you or has treated you badly, and any charge for not attending. Requests are taken at any hour; how soon a lawyer can see you depends on who is available. Request a $295 consultation.

General information only, not legal advice. Updated 23 October 2026. Checked against the Jury Act 1995 (Qld) (current as at 30 March 2017), sections 4, 5, 21, 22, 28, 32 to 34, 63, 64, 69, 69A and 70; Queensland Courts' jury service pages on the notice, the summons, being excused, payment, employers and what happens on a jury; and the Fair Work Ombudsman's jury duty page, on 23 October 2026.