Do employees need to be paid for trial days and what piece of legislation is relevant to this query?

If an employee is called for jury service, the employee is generally obliged to attend. The Juries Act 1976 is the applicable piece of legislation and it provides that an employee or an apprentice who is called for jury duty must be given time off by their employer to attend court for the purposes of a trial. Where an employee is absent from work for the purposes of complying with a jury summons, the employee is entitled to be paid.

Section 29 of the Juries Act 1976 provides that for the purposes of any contract of service or apprenticeship or any agreement with an employer, a person shall be treated as employed or apprenticed during any period he is absent from his employment or