Just PAY the darn bill . . .
 

First let me say I am very fortunate. I umpire in an area where the assigining commissioner will not assign umpires to any game unless the entire league has paid, in full, all umpire fees for the current season. That is one of the advantages of working in a well organized and coordinated umpire association.

Sadly we don't umpire ALL the games that are played in the great Portland (OR) area.

So I got THE call last night.

"Hey Tee, this is Jon . . . we are having a huge problem . . . our umpires aren't getting paid."

After 10 minutes of his emotional cry for help I said the following:

"Jon, it is the fault of YOUR group for not having contracts and a payment schedule . . . it is your fault if you assign ONE MORE umpire to this league."

Obviously that is not what Jon wanted to hear . . .

So I ask all of you:

"How do you get paid (primarily during the summer) and be assured that all umpires in your group get their fair pay for games worked?"

Is this just a local problem or are people not paying their bills elsewhere?

Thanks,

Tee

I guess We have it easy in our area ( I am the assigner BTW ).
All of our umpires are paid in cash before the game. No cash -- no game !!

Summer and Fall, cash or check at the plate meeting or no game!

There are certain situations where the assignor will pay by check in the mail or in person, but the umpires are informed of this upon taking the game.

Summer ball here, each league is different. I work one where we get cash at the end of the night, one where we get one check at the end of the season (only a 4 week season) and one for a township rec. dept. where we are put on a payroll and paid every 2 weeks.

We have a couple of associations in my area, both pay their umpires mid season and at the end of the seasons, say July & Oct. Tournament play we are paid at the conclusion of our assignments that day, by an assigned UIC usually a check, but in some cases cash, or the check is mailed.


The association I work for, submits the bill once the league schedules are forwarded.
Payment to the association occurs either on a monthly basis or all at once.

As a former league UIC and or Pres, we got a monthly bill from the association, and remitted payment monthly.

I've never been paid by a team at a game..even when I tell em up front, hey, I can be bought, never had any body call my bluff..

Tee, I work for two associations during the season. One pays once per month, doesn't use the computer or email. The other pays once the season is over, and uses Arbiter. My summer association is cash/check at the plate.

It depends on the league. Spring HS is by check in the mail in some counties, check on site in others. One league I work for pays by check every 2 weeks. Legion pays on site by check. I have waited as long as 3 weeks to get paid sometimes, usually means they have my address messed up. If I don't get paid in reasonable time, I make a call to the assigner and in a few days the check shows up.

I expect if a league was delinquent too many times my assigner would pull the plug on them. It hasn't happened.

I worked a few adult rec games in a neighbouring city a couple months ago. They have my mailing information, but I am still waiting for a paycheck.

That's why I'll never do men's rec ball again...

Tee,

I have had delayed payments on several occasions. That happens in HS where we get a check from the school. If someone in the chain, say the AD or bookeeeper is out, then sometimes we don't get a check on site. Our assignor is very clear about this: you will work the game no matter if a check is there or not. Rarely have I waited more than a week for a check. Legion pays on site and I can't ever remember a problem there. Some of our JR legion teams like to pay at the end of the game (which I hate), but there are no issues with not getting paid.

Lawrence

League 1 started a new policy this year, where we get checks sent monthly for the previous 4 weeks. I'm still waiting for my payment from May.

Leagues 2-10 pay cash on site. One league gives us a check made out to cash, and most of the smaller kids (LL/Mays/Reese) pay in the concession stand after the game, but most coaches have the cash in hand before they even say hi to me.

All of our high schools are contractually obligated to pay our umpires in a "timely manner". That being said, we have one school that has as of yet not
paid any of their obligated fees. We have contacted the City School Athletic Director in an attempt to collect fees our guys have earned.
Every season, we have a few guys who are owed at the end of the season,
due to misplaced vouchers, poor mail service,etc.

Our men's league is billed at the end of each month. We don't have a problem with getting the money as our assigner sits on the board for the league.

Everything else I do is either cash at the plate meeting or is waiting for us in the umpire's room after the game with a meal and some beer.

We had a good system when I was in Pitts.

Summer ball held 6 or 8 meetings , once every two weeks. Dues depended on your attendance. If you attended you got 5.00 off for dues. with a max of $25 off. This was to get the officials at the meeting for training, not all were school ball officials. The association was responsible for collecting all fees and if you worked games you showed at the meeting and could collect up 80% of what you worked todate. The remaining amount was held for the final payout meeting, usually the end of May or at a banquet. It covered your dues and other possible deductions, assignors fee, etc.

There were groups that were late payers but for the most part if you stiffed us one year your money was due upfront the next year. The money was regulated between the league and association and it saved a lot of problems.

As Tim already said, if you do games without a contract or other form of gaurantee, don't go complaining to anyone but yourself. I have seen supposedly good friends, stiff people.

In closing . . .
 

It just really bothers me when people require a service, find someone to fill that need and then STIFF them by not paying.

There is no excuse for it.

Regards,

In my association:

High school/College is paid by each school. some pay at the field, some in a couple days, some wait until the school board meetings to approve payment (once a month) there are 2 or 3 that pay at the end of the season through the association

travel/summer games are paid through our association. april/may games are paid June 15, june games july 15, july games august 21 (we have a big tournament the last week of july/first week of august that pushes the pay back a week) and fall games pay at the end of the fall season. (some teams do pay cash or check on the field.)

Regular season, HS Fed ball, we are paid prior to the plate meeting or at the plate meeting.

I work 2 associations in the summer and we are paid at the plate meeting or the game doesn't start. Depending on the outcome of the game and who's paying, sometimes it's a pain to wait until after the game.

I guess we are just lucky in my area. HS spring ball lump sum check at end of season, paid thru association, never been a problem. Summer ball is paid at the site or check mailed asap- I've never had a payment issue.....

Tee we get paid at the plate conference EXCEPT for tournaments in which the assignor collects the money UP FRONT and pays us after the tournament

If by chance we get a bad check, we are reimbursed for ALL bank FEES and from then on for that particular team ONLY cash will be accepted.

We often talk about what should be said at the plate conference. In our association number one on the list is MONEY. No money no baseball.

Also, if we show up and one team does not have enough players we get paid a FULL game FEE. If we show up (before first pitch is thrown) and the rains come then we get a travel FEE.

In my area there is plenty of baseball so no one is "crying" that they cannot get enough games. If they do not get many games it is on them meaning their availability. In fact we have a shortage and personally I am averaging 6-8 games just on the weekends.

I do not know about your area, but youth leagues have "sky-rocketed" in my area. Legion now has 3 divisions. 19 and under , 17 and under and this year they started a 15 and under Program.

My summer assignor attends most of the meetings for the clients we service and our payment structure is SPELLED OUT UP FRONT so that there is no confusion / problems as in your OP.

We have a very good assignor who treats us fairly but most important when you schedule you need the right temporment otherwise teams will walk all over you.

The bottom line as you say is that there is no formal payment schedule.

BTW Tee are the umpires that work for this particualr association "dropping like flys" and will your association slowly but surely start picking up these contracts.

Pete Booth

For HS games, we filled out vouchers in the home dugout before the game. Most schools would send our checks without delay. Others you had to cajole into paying you, including several phone calls to various administrators and even trips to the finance office of the school.

For adult league and youth games, pay at the plate before game, or the snack shack after the game. No pay, no umpires to the league until umpires paid. Our assignor didn't put up with teams/leagues not paying the umpires. We always got our money right away. If there was any problem with a league paying the assignor, the association paid the umpire and went after the league for reimbursement.

Tee,

Given the forum, I thought this post was going to describe a "bill" for which neither one of us has been paid. Oh, well.

--Rich

Umpire room?? Sweet!

My umpire room is the space right behind the trunk of my car. :(

~Gulp~
 

Hehehehe, Rich you are waaay to smart to be an umpire.

Regards,

We have known that Rich was way too smart a long time ago!! His IQ is way above the legal limit to umpire, at least here in Northern California.

In my local summer league we are paid weekly. Our summer leagues have a really good record and there are really no problems. I did have a small issue where I wasn't paid this year but a simple call and it was taken care. For this league, I don't mind being paid weekly since they have a good record and everyone basically knows everyone else. All other times, they pay during the pre-game conference.

In my opinion, if a league hires an assignor it certainly makes sense to make them pay the bill before umpires start getting assigned to work their games.

my .02
 

HS is check at the plate meeting......

Summer ball is a combination of cash or check at the plate meeting...

If a team no shows, we get full fee

If a team calls us off less than 1 hour prior to game time we get travel fee....

If a game is suspended before becoming official, we get travel fee, plus a per inning fee.........(usually $20 for travel $3 an inning)

I had a funny run in with a coach this season, My partner and I showed up at a game where he was the Visiting team coach... He began to complain about the umpire he was getting at his home field (we are officers in the assoc)......he said he did not get first rate umpires anymore......I reminded him that he had stiffed several umpires (us included) on travel fees last year.............

I wont go back where I am not paid.............

We have a contract with the league to supply umpires for the leagues games..............but no where does it state who those umpires will be.......

He paid us the travel fees owed......................