Fined by Your Assigner
 

Does your assigner levy fines against those in your association for any reason (turning back games, etc.)? If so, what reasons?

Our assignor does not have the authority to do that (in my HS games). The Board does however, and we do levy fines for no-shows and for a few other things - had a guy show up for a JV game in shorts, things like that.

All fines are made known before the season starts.

No shows and turn backs (after acceptance).

The authority comes from the ability to withhold or withdraw assignments.

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.

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

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?

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?

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.

In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb ,...
 

Our local dues are due March 1.

Dues, Fees, And Fines ...
 

1. Missing an assignment
2. Turning back an assignment
3. Not meeting financial obligations

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. :)

A Phone Call ??? How Quaint ...
 

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.

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).

My assignor gets an assignment fee of $1.50 per game assigned. He assigns around 7000 games a year with 400 members. Do the math.

He is appointed by the Executive board to perform these duties.

We use Arbiter and there is no penalty if a game is declined.

The settings used are: notified, accepted or declined. When you are assigned a game you have a respond by date which is normally 24 hours prior to the actual game date.

If you do not accept by respond by date it goes by into the assignor queue to assign to someone who may not have a game assigned.

The question I have is

1. If this is a paid position, where does the fine money goes? Does it go to the assignor (pocket) or the association's scholarship fund?

Last comment: I agree with most of the fines, missing assignment or being late. But, to fine me for not accepting a game. Where do we draw the line as Independent Contractor?

Essentially, you are treating me like an employee.

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.