Fined by Your Assigner

[ballgame99]

we get one free turnback in Arbiter, The game doesn't have to be accepted either. If you have marked your self as available and get a game assigned, and have to turn it back, it costs you $5. I guess our assigner was having a lot of officials that were leaving themselves open and then cherry picking the games they wanted and didn't want and causing a lot of assigning issues.

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by ballgame99

If you have marked your self as available and get a game assigned, and have to turn it back, it costs you $5.

Follow-up, bg: Does your assigner do that with "pending" games, too (assuming he uses them)?

[ballgame99]

not sure what you mean by pending. In Arbiter, if you have a date open our assigner will assign you a game and it awaits your approval. That is what I would call a "pending" game. If we turnback a pending game it costs us $5. If we turn back a game that we have approved it costs us $5. I think that answers your question?

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by ballgame99

not sure what you mean by pending. In Arbiter, if you have a date open our assigner will assign you a game and it awaits your approval. That is what I would call a "pending" game.

Actually, take a look at the calendar ("blocks" tab). On the left column, you'll see a "legend" column. Assigned games are in dark blue; pending games are in light blue.

Pending games just appear on your calendar with light blue dates, but they don't appear in your schedule. Once they're assigned, they're in your schedule to approve/decline. My basketball assigner uses pending assignments. (My soccer assigner does not.)

Does anyone else get pending assignments?

[rpirtle]

Originally Posted by bainsey

...Does anyone else get pending assignments?

Our HS assignor has configured Arbiter to automatically "Accept" games that they assign. Assigned games initially appear on our shedule as "Notified". But once we go into Arbiter and look at it...it automatically changes to "Accepted".

In another HS association where I worked previously, they posted games and we could "Accept" or not. As I recall...it was not a very good idea to NOT accept their games.

I also work in a semi-pro league that also uses Arbiter. They post their games normally...and we can "Accept" or not. I don't work DI ball...and so I "Accept" all of their assignments. But I would imagine it's a different story altogether for someone that has a full DI schedule.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Pending games just appear on your calendar with light blue dates, but they don't appear in your schedule. Once they're assigned, they're in your schedule to approve/decline. My basketball assigner uses pending assignments. Does anyone else get pending assignments?

Our pending assignments show up on Arbiter with just a start time. No other information (site, teams, partner). We cannot close out a pending assignment date without a phone call to our assigner.

One cool feature of the Arbiter that we use. My Catholic middle school assigner can "see" my Arbiter high school assignments which allows him to avoid schedule conflicts. My high school assigner cannot see my Catholic middle school assignments.

[rpirtle]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

...One cool feature of the Arbiter that we use. My Catholic middle school assigner can "see" my Arbiter high school assignments which allows him to avoid schedule conflicts. My high school assigner cannot see my Catholic middle school assignments.

That's a great feature...whether or not Assignors can see information from another group. You can also control how much information different Assignors can see from your other groups / leagues. You might be OK with allowing the Assignor from another group seeing where you will be and when on a specific date. But you might not necessarily want them to see that you will be there to do a couple of middle school games.

Having the different officiating groups all using one system for assignments really helps with stress reduction. In previous years I can remember what a hassle it was to have to constantly update two different internet-based assignment applications. I really had to stay on top of new assignments...because neither Assignor had a reputation for being very forgiving in the area of turnbacks.

[Multiple Sports]

Bainsey ( and the rest of the gang) - I have assigned for the last 7 years using the arbiter. Thought I could answer some of the questions out here.
The pending feature is the assigner's way of "locking you in" on that date.
Other assigner's can't give you game on that date, if you work for more than
one guy.

As far as turnbacks, in my group everybody gets two freebies, but after that any other turnback costs $8, which is the assigning fee I charge the schools.
If you keep your availabilty up to date, you shouldn't have any turnbacks.

I know this will get some people upset, but it makes the membership accountable.

Peace my bros...........

[JRutledge]

No they do not. They are not in an authority to do that. All they can do is take away games they have already assigned us. The state however can fine us for not fulfilling contracts with the schools. The assignors have facilitated that as they work for the conferences, but they have no authority to make us pay anything if we choose not to. The state can fine us and can take away our license.

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

....
One cool feature of the Arbiter that we use. My Catholic middle school assigner can "see" my Arbiter high school assignments which allows him to avoid schedule conflicts. My high school assigner cannot see my Catholic middle school assignments.

This is something that is under the offcial's control. I have 4 supervisors. One on top, 2 equals in the middle, and one at bottom of my priority list.

I don't allow my top assignor to see my 3 other schedules b/c I will take his games regardless of previous committments and I always want him to see a clear backdrop on my calendar to show I'm available to work any of his games. My other 3 supervisors have policies in place that allow us to turn back accepted games for certain higher level games. The middle 2 only ask that they get a courtesy call from the supervisor who is "stealing" us. My #4 supervisor trusts that we are being honest and just asks for as much prior notification as possible.

My AAU, Summer Pro-Am, and military intra-murals don't use Arbiter so it's not a concern with them. They just ask for my availability.

[rpirtle]

Originally Posted by bainsey

...Pending games just appear on your calendar with light blue dates, but they don't appear in your schedule. Once they're assigned, they're in your schedule to approve/decline. My basketball assigner uses pending assignments....

Bainsy, I could be wrong...but I believe what you are describing is a game that you have been temporarily placed in...but your Assignor is not ready to release it yet. It's like keeping your finger on a chess piece until you determine if that's what you really want to do. In other words, the game has not been assigned to you yet...and so it is not a "Pending" assignment.

Once your Assignor is ready...they release the results. I believe it is then that the assignment should show up on your schedule...either as "Notified" (if Assignor has elected to set-up Arbiter to automatically accept) or as "Pending" (if your Assignor has set-up Arbiter to allow officials to accept).

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by rpirtle

Bainsy, I could be wrong...but I believe what you are describing is a game that you have been temporarily placed in...but your Assignor is not ready to release it yet. It's like keeping your finger on a chess piece until you determine if that's what you really want to do. In other words, the game has not been assigned to you yet...and so it is not a "Pending" assignment.

Actually, that describes it pretty well, and in Arbiter, it is indeed listed as a "Pending Assignment." They appear as light blue in your calendar, but not on your schedule.

Take another look at the Blocks tab, and see the legend to the left of the calendar.

[rpirtle]

In N. Texas our association (400 officials covering N. TX & DFW) has authorized our Assignor to assess fines in several situations. Fines can be assessed for the following: 1.) No shows = Up to the amount of the game fee they would have received; 2.) Turnbacks = $10 if > 24 hours prior to game & $25 if < 24 hours; & 3.) Paying Local Association dues late = $100.

We pay annual dues in the amount of $150 to a State governing body called UIL ($50) and a Local Association ($100). The local dues are due each year no later than April 1st.

It always seemed odd to me that our local dues had to be paid so early. No general meetings took place and printed materials were not disbursed until September each year. Then someone told me that doing it this was allows our Board to show prospective new schools that we have sufficient officials to cover their games during the upcoming season. I must assume the rationale behind the large fine for paying Local dues late is to boost our roster numbers for the Board's talks with these prospective schools.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by rpirtle

We pay annual dues in the amount of $150 to a State governing body called UIL ($50) and a Local Association ($100). The local dues are due each year no later than April 1st. It always seemed odd to me that our local dues had to be paid so early.

Our local dues are due March 1.