Fined by Your Assigner

[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...........

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

...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...........

I had an assignor get upset b/c my job hit me with a business trip (TDY for military folks) even though I gave the assignor over 1 week's notice that I had to give the game back.

To say turnbacks won't happen if you keep your availability up-to-date is a mis-guided thought process.

[Multiple Sports]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

I had an assignor get upset b/c my job hit me with a business trip (TDY for military folks) even though I gave the assignor over 1 week's notice that I have to give the game back.

To say turnbacks won't happen if you keep your availability up-to-date is a mis-guided thought process.

BNR - can't argue that. The irony is that I assign in the same county as a military base and I get TDY all the time. I give those guys ALWAYS the benefit of the doubt, as I know that those trips sometimes come up on 24 notice

[tomegun]

Multiple, how do you keep track of the two turnbacks? If this is something you have to do manually that would be a pain in the neck.

[Multiple Sports]

Originally Posted by tomegun

Multiple, how do you keep track of the two turnbacks? If this is something you have to do manually that would be a pain in the neck.

Tome -

There is a feature in the arbiter that allows the assigner to print a report of your tbs........it will state state date / time / as well as the explanation that you put in for turning back game. I can pull it up and then print it out if neccessary. I do have to send a copy of it to the executive board if I am fining guys.....

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

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.

Thanks for that insight, MS.

Here's my motivation for starting this thread. As some here know, I was out for a week with an achilles injury. I alerted my assigner right away to block out that week. I had no assignments during that week.

Instead, I had three pending games that week. Pending, of course, is defined as "while awaiting.... remaining undecided." In other words, pending games are not assignments.

My assigner is attempting to see it differently, and wants to fine me for these three dates I never nor committed to, nor refused.

[Adam]

We have the option to accept or decline assignments in all our arbiter groups. Declining is discouraged, but sometimes stuff happens. I've had to decline two games this year, one because of a family emergency where I forgot to update arbiter as we packed to drive to Iowa, and one because I'm not in the habit of updating Arbiter past February. I had to turn back two games for the same Iowa trip, but the fine was waived.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Thanks for that insight, MS.

Here's my motivation for starting this thread. As some here know, I was out for a week with an achilles injury. I alerted my assigner right away to block out that week. I had no assignments during that week.

Instead, I had three pending games that week. Pending, of course, is defined as "while awaiting.... remaining undecided." In other words, pending games are not assignments.

My assigner is attempting to see it differently, and wants to fine me for these three dates I never nor committed to, nor refused.

The assignor is out of line, pure and simple. You were injured and unless you worked games for someone else during that same time-frame he has no grounds to attempt to fine you.

[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.