How does your Assoc handle this?

[MadCityRef]

With the association or commissioner assigning the crews, it gets into an employee-employer relationship. The official is told with whom and when to work.
We are independent contractors and cannot be under such restrictions without the Assn. or Commr. being liable for taxes, workers comp., etc. Someday your state dept. of revenue will come calling about it, as the state of Oregon is now.

My former Oregon assn. assigned individuals to each game. We'd work with different people each week. I liked this system because you'd learn something new from different experience levels and it created a lot of camaraderie.
In Illinois, we form our own crew and accept assignments as we wish. Last season we worked for six different assignors, but we are isolated because we don't have a chance to see other officials and such. Nor do the majority belong to an association.

Dump those losers, Rut, and come work with me!! I'll even buy a "Les Miles, More Wins!" t-shirt.

[OverAndBack]

I thought I would miss the varied experience of being with different folks every week when I joined a crew for this season (in Illinois). I found that I enjoyed being a part of a crew, too.

But I was free to join or not join any crew. If someone wants to "poach" you from one crew to another, well, I guess they have the right to try and you have the right to do whatever you feel you need to do.

My feeling is that if you can't build a relationship with the other guys on your crew to the point where you just want to jump off, then you weren't an optimal crew in the first place. Nothing wrong with that, I guess - some groups of five people are going to get along better than others.

If you get on a good crew, it makes working games more enjoyable. If you don't enjoy working with someone, chances are they don't enjoy working with you, in which case, on you get. Find a situation that works for you.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by MadCityRef

Dump those losers, Rut, and come work with me!! I'll even buy a "Les Miles, More Wins!" t-shirt.

I would at least love the T-shirt.

Peace

[Forksref]

We have a good relationship among the white hats here. No one goes out and solicits anyone else from another crew. What usually happens is that we are so short of officials that we have to go out and hustle to get guys to fill our crews but we go after guys who have not been on a crew yet.

Three years ago my crew (I was the BJ) had the WH and U retire and they never told anyone and we had two guys move away and I was only aware of one of them leaving. I had to go out and get 4 guys to make up a crew and I returned to the WH position which I had done years ago with another crew in another part of the state. With a lot of training and encouragement, our crew ended the season ranked number 1 by the area coaches and we got a playoff game. Every year we have to fill spots and it's always kind of "iffy" when you put new guys on the field. This year I took a rookie under my wing and he was with us at games for pre-game, half-time, etc and walked the sideline during the game. He filled in a couple times later in the season and did a fine job. We are adding a crew next year and my LJ will go help fill the new crew and my sub (rookie) from this year will fill his spot. I see this mentoring as a major asset to our association, so that rookies do not have to go it alone. There's a lot to learn and being part of a crew, even though you are not on the field is an excellent way to learn the game.