Jury Duty Pay in Maine

About Jury Duty in Maine

Maine pays jurors $15 per day — a rate that’s particularly burdensome given the state’s rural, spread-out population. A juror in Aroostook County (larger than Connecticut) might drive two or more hours each way to reach the courthouse, making the daily stipend almost irrelevant compared to the travel commitment.

How Jury Pay Works

Maine uses a flat $15/day rate under Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 1201. Mileage reimbursement typically follows the federal GSA rate. Maine is a “one day or one trial” state. There is no employer mandate to pay wages. The state courts have experimented with remote jury selection in far-flung counties to reduce the travel burden on rural jurors.

Aroostook County: The Distance Extreme

Aroostook County covers 6,800 square miles — larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined — with a population of roughly 67,000. The county seat is Houlton (near the southern border of the county), meaning a juror from Fort Kent or Madawaska (on the Canadian border) faces a 120-mile drive each way. For $15/day plus mileage, that’s a full day of driving for a single day of jury service.

Maine’s other rural counties — Piscataquis, Somerset, Washington — pose similar though less extreme challenges. The state’s recognition of this problem has led to innovative experiments with remote jury selection, allowing potential jurors in distant towns to participate in voir dire via videoconference rather than driving to the courthouse.

Employer Obligations

Maine employers are not required to pay wages during jury service. The state’s major employers — L.L. Bean, MaineHealth, Bath Iron Works, and the paper industry — generally continue salary for permanent employees. Maine’s significant fishing, lobstering, and tourism industries operate on seasonal and self-employed models where jury duty pay is an unfunded mandate on the individual.

How Maine Compares

Maine’s $15/day exceeds New Hampshire’s $10/day but falls well below Massachusetts’s $50/day and Connecticut’s $135.52/day. The New England variation is extreme: three hours’ drive separates a $15/day jury system from a $50/day one with employer-paid leave. Maine’s remote jury selection experiments — using videoconferencing for voir dire in distant counties — represent one of the more innovative adaptations to rural geography in any state court system, and they have drawn interest from other rural states facing similar access challenges. Federal jurors in Maine’s single district receive $50/day.

Statute: Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 1215 — Official source