What to do
 

Ok, I was asked this question and I have no idea how to answer it. Deals with letting people umpire for a small rec league.

Situation 17year old girl that umpired last year for this league has expressed interest in returning to umpire again this year. Problem is she is pregnant and will be approx 5-6 months pregnant during the heart of the league season.

Concern the individual has is what if the girl or her baby get hurt while umpiring on the field, what would be the leagues liability? Other issues incur in is it a chance for the girl or her family to come back on some sort of discrimination toward the league for not letting her umpire?

My opinion is that I would request/require her to get a letter of clearance from her doctor stating that, in his professional opinion, it would not be physically harmful to her or the baby to umpire, and under what conditions (or time frame) that would change. Then I would keep that letter on file, and follow it as the guidelines to scheduling her.

I think she's nuts. But I'm not sure her pregnancy is enough reason to prevent her from umpiring, from a legal point of view.

However, if you CAN insist on a doctors note as suggested above, you might save everyone a headache (and that baby a tragedy). She may not be able to get one, since I doubt that any doctor in their right mind is going to sign something saying that a 5-months pregnant woman is able to sprint and pivot without endangering the baby.

I honestly don't know what might happen if she refuses to get a note and you refuse to let her work because of it. Might want to talk to an actual lawyer on that, if it comes to that.

There is no additional liability and, to be honest, isn't anyone else's business other than the girl and legal guardian.

I disagree, Mike. There may (MAY!) not be any additional legal liability - I'm not a lawyer. However, I think it's general common knowledge that at this point in a pregnancy, the mother should not be making sudden movements, especially any twisting motions. It's not necessarily additional liability for the umpire, but for the child. Facilitating this mother putting her child in harms way is almost as bad as handing her a drink or a cigarette.

But, mcrowder, as Mike said, .

I assume you are not a doctor, either. Nor am I. Therefore I have no medical training upon which to base any decision concerning this person's health or ability to perform the duties required of the position.

Absent any presumed authority trained medical personnel MAY have, I will not be so pretentious as to impose my beliefs, opinions or moral ethics upon someone else.

To be honest, I don't think anyone's moral and ethical convictions are being questioned or undermined. It seems that a lot of precautions are taken to ensure the safety of all the participants in this sport. Masks with throat protectors, helmets with facemasks, bats that won't send scorching Line drives at infielders, this is all done for safety. No one has to be a Dr. for common sense to prevail (I am not implying that anyone in the forum does not have common sense). A pregnant young woman should probably be discouraged from umpiring just like she would be from playing, (BTW are there rules that govern her playing?) Unfortunately the shuck and jive of politics (read the abortion issue) and the retarded legal system have entered into what should be a common sense decision at the local level not to let her umpire. As hard as it may be to admit, some people need to be protected from themselves.

Why?

Why should the ASA (or whatever) association feel the need to regulate the activity of pregnant females? Heck, they don't require much at all in the way of safety equipment for umpires - a mask and that's it.

What about umpires with other physiological characteristics? OK, blind I get ... ;)

If she can meet the same requirements for umpiring as are applied to every other umpire, physically, the last thing the local association, league, whatever, needs is to get involved in personal medical decisions.

Wow.

That's all I can say.

There are no rules that prevent a player from playing simply on the grounds that they are pregnant. As a matter of fact, I worked a D3 game last year where the left fielder was about 6-7 mos pregnant. I was a little concerned, myself, about her batting, but I had absolutely no recourse within the rules to prevent her from doing so. I just worried about those inside pitches.

When she did get a hit, the coach put in a substitute to run for her. She only got the one hit in both games of the double header. Defensively, she did manage to snag several fly balls that came her way.

Yep, in an NCAA lead-off tourney here about 4 years ago, there was one who was about 7 months along. She was VERY pregnant! Short gal, so everything moved outwards. Man could that gal slide!

If it were me, I might still want to ask an attorney what litiguous situations I could get into. It would probably be just as bad, maybe more so to deny her the opportunity. Pregnant or not, if she's a minor with parental permission, put her to work!