You've been summoned to serve on a New York City jury. Here's what to expect.

Jury duty is among Americans' most critical obligations, but is also one of the obligations they dread most. Why else would prospective jurors on Staten Island pull out excuses like “my skin burns off monthly” and “I’m in a relationship and can’t do two things at once” to try to get out of it?

To make the process a little less painful, Gothamist has answered some of your most pressing questions about jury service in the city.

I got a summons in the mail. Now what?

It depends on which county you live in. In some places, you need to call the court the night before you’re scheduled to serve to see if they need you. In others, you just have to show up.

After you go through security and check-in (more about that below), you’ll watch some informational videos about jury service and the court system.

Then, you might be called into a courtroom, where lawyers and a judge will decide — in a process called “voir dire" — if you could impartially weigh the facts of the case. They might ask if you know the defendant, if you have any relatives in law enforcement, or even if you’ve ever hired a nanny.

Lawyers can block a certain number of people from serving on a jury if they believe those people can't be impartial. But attorneys are prohibited from discriminating against potential jurors based on their race, gender, religion or other protected traits.

Queens County Commissioner of Jurors Audrey Pheffer said the goal is for people to spend just one day in court if they’re not selected to serve on a jury. If someone is picked, they will serve for the duration of one trial, she said.

Who is eligible to serve on a jury?

Normally, people are eligible to serve jury duty in state or federal court every six years. Beyond that:

• You must be 18 or older.
• You must be a U.S. citizen and a resident of the county where you got the jury summons.
• You must speak English.

New York bars people with felony convictions from serving on a jury unless they have a certificate of good conduct. The nonprofit New York Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit in 2022 challenging the ban, arguing that it violates the Constitution and disproportionately affects Black residents.

What can I bring?

Don’t bring a gun or giant bag of groceries.

You can bring a cellphone or tablet to use in the waiting area, as long as it's tucked away and on vibrate when you're in the courtroom, according to Pheffer. And as long as you don’t go overboard, she said, you can bring snacks to nibble on. Jurors can go out for lunch during a midday break.

When you get to court, you’ll have to go through security to make sure you don’t have anything dangerous with you. You'll be asked to remove your jacket and belt and empty your pockets. Make sure to factor in extra time for this, since the line can be long.

I’ve heard jury duty is a total drag. Is that true?

Stephen Fiala, commissioner of jurors in Richmond County, said he remembers sitting in a dingy basement with not enough seats, watching talk shows on rollout TVs, when he served as a juror in the 1980s. But in 1994, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye did what she could to make it as painless as possible. Her changes aimed to shorten jury stints, clean up courthouses and sweeten the manners of court employees.

Pheffer said most people summoned for jury service these days are pleasantly surprised.

“Not all the time are people happy to come to jury service,” she said. “But once they're there and they realize why they're there and they see the films and they understand their role, they're not so angry."

Can I get out of it?

If you aren't free on the date you're asked to come, you can use this online form or call 800-449-2819 to postpone your service.

If you simply don’t come to court, you still get a second chance before you get in trouble, Fiala said. After that, you could be fined or held in contempt of court.

The people who have the best excuses are able to show they are unable to serve, either for medical or financial reasons. But people can get pretty creative, said Fiala. His office keeps a list of the most creative excuses they hear in Staten Island. One good one? “My neighbor steals my mail, so I don’t get any notices to serve.”

What if I have a job?

Your boss can’t punish or fire you for missing work for jury dury, as long as you let them know ahead of time. New Yorkers also get paid while on jury duty.

Depending on the type of job and pay, some workers will continue to receive payments from their employers. Others will get $40 per day from the state. A measure pending in the state Legislature would increase the daily pay for jurors to $72.

How’d they find me?

New York state draws its jury pool from five public databases that feature a wide swath of the state’s population. Officials determine who is eligible for jury duty by mailing out questionnaires, using names drawn from the source lists. Then, a machine randomly selects a group from those deemed eligible to serve.

Fiala said New York pulls from so many source lists in hopes of recruiting the most diverse juries possible.

“The broader reach, the better pool you have,” he said. “The better pool you have, the more enlightened jury you have, because when those six or eight or 10 or 12 people are in a deliberation room alone, think about the perspective that they're bringing.”

You can find more information about jury duty at nyjuror.gov.