In Ontario, the employer is not obligated to pay for your time away from work. They're obligated to maintain your job. However, we've heard from jurors—and I am one of them—that the employer often feels incredibly put out, and there's a lot of pressure on you as a juror to continue to work on top of doing that civic duty.
I was one of those individuals who, after seeing horrific evidence, went back to the office, met with my team, worked for six hours, and then went back into the courtroom the very next day. While my employers gradually understood that I was going through something pretty harsh, the bottom line was that I was going to get the job done right, meaning the job I was employed to do.
Jury pay doesn't cover the costs of transportation and incidentals a juror has in a day of jury duty. If you're commuting from Pickering to the downtown Toronto courthouse and parking your car, that's absorbed. It's gone, and that's before you have to buy lunch.