Can they do this?

[TexBlue]

I was talking to a friend/umpire of mine who registered with one of the umpire associations in the NE side of Ft Worth with ASA, last year. He told me that he decided not to call ball for them due to the distance he had to drive and some scheduling issues, I didn't ask what.

The association told him if they caught him calling for anyone else besides them (his primary) they would get him banned from calling at all. Now, I had my doubts, but another ump said he knew of a guy who had the same problem about 20 years ago and they banned him for the rest of the year. When he complained about it, his group banned him for 3 more years.

Do the State UIC's actually allow something this petty to go on? Does the ump have a chance to talk to anyone about this, in his defense? It seems like you wouldn't want to run off an umpire just because he didn't want to drive so far, or couldn't get there in time for the games to start.
Just wondering if anyone has any input on this as to whether it goes on or not. I can see an umpire getting banned for several reason ( fighting, unprofessional behavior, etc. ) I just don't think I can follow any logic that says " I can do it. so therefore, I will" if a guy/gal decides they would rather call closer to home.