North Carolina's court system is taking steps to make jury duty less painful.
Jurors will now receive payment for their service on a debit card as they leave the courthouse. Until now, they've had to wait for a check to arrive in the mail.
"The payment for your jury service is usually loaded by that night," said Ryan Boyce, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. "That obviously makes it easier for people to get their money that they need. It also makes it easier for the clerk's office to track those payments and not have to deal with re-sending checks or hunting down old checks as well."
The court system has also set up an online portal for requests to be excused from jury duty. That process had previously required a phone call to the courthouse or a form sent by mail.
Boyce says the new online process will save time for court employees and give people a quicker response when they need to be excused from jury duty. "Instead of dealing with a hodgepodge of phone calls, in-person visits, letters, faxes, they're now getting them all to one portal where they can then track them and respond accordingly," he said. The online option has rolled out in about half of the state's counties so far.
"It's not going to make jury duty a trip to Busch Gardens, but just two little things to really make service easier, because we know it is a hardship. But it is a very important part of our system."
Boyce announced the changes during a Thursday meeting of a legislative oversight committee.
People who don't show up for jury duty without getting their service excused or deferred can face a $50 fine. The court system allows a number of reasons for people to be excused, including if they're a full-time college student attending school outside the state or if they're disabled or over 72 years old.
North Carolina residents can only be required to appear for jury duty once every two years at most. Serving on a grand jury allows people to be exempt from jury duty for six years.
