Paying UIC
 

I just wanted to see if this was happening anywhere else. Lately the tournaments I have worked my check has been shoted by $5.00. When I asked the other umpires that worked they all reported the same thing. That is 24 of us that worked the 2 days. We were orgionally told that that money was deducted to pay the evaluator. From what I can gather none of us were evaluated. We later found out they used that money to pay the UIC because he wanted more money to sit on his air conditioned A** for 2 days. Is this common? I am working the games, I am an independant contractor(Told that numerous times), where in my independant contract does it say I will pay extra out of my check to pay the UIC.

Don't know, what does your contract state? Where did you get your information? If not from a reliable source, I would be careful in the manner you may address this with others. I would also weigh what a UIC provides to the umpires in the tournament and who made the decision to take it from the umpires. It is possible the UIC had no idea you were shorted money to make up for whatever the host decided to pay him/her.

There is no one answer to this. Everyone's area may be different, just as the pay scale probably is different.

In my area, if there is a UIC assigned to a tournament, that amount is determined in advance and paid by the host or association.

Local associations often have an assignor's fee, which I could understand as that in not an easy job. However, when that happens, you should know that in advance.

If you choose to work for the same people again, make sure you get all information in advance. If you don't trust their word, ask for it in writing.

It's common around my parts, the UIC is paid a per assingment fee.

If the UIC is also working games that's the norm around here, if the UIC isn't working then they normally get a flat fee for the tourny. I'd say the bucks the UIC rakes in may or may not break them even.

Schedules and umpires don't just fall out of the sky, there is work involved.
When I'm not the UIC I do my best to create or encourage as many protests as I can..(not really but it's always a fun threat). Every UIC I've seen, myself included usually supplies a cooler or two of ice cold drinks, water, gatorade, maybe some fresh cut fruits and veggies, pop up or two for those hot or drizzly days, get's there a couple hours early, etc..

Now if indeed you didn't know that coming in, then that's a problem.

I've never heard of that practice here in NTX - the UIC fee is always knows up front and paid along with what the officials are paid, at least with any tournament I have worked/UIC'd.

9 times out of 10, maybe 9 1/2, the UIC/assignor (of whatever sport) is being paid by the school / TD / League. In those rare cases it's the other way around, I simply stop working for them - this happens enough and it will stop.

Here in Houston, the Host Team/TD pays the Assigner/UIC fee. I do not work for any UIC that will charge umpires a fee to work for them and I do not charge umpires to work for me when I UIC Tournaments. I would not believe that I was being evaluated if there was no critique after my games, therefore I would not pay for an evaluation.

There is a person in Ohio who charges a scheduling fee, AND charges every umpire between $2-4, per umpire, per game. He only gets umpires that are desperate along with rookies who know no better. It's despicable.

Do any of you schedule for a league? If not do you know someone who does? I want to know if most Leagues/Associations pay thier UIC/Assigner to schedule and train umpires?

Yes, all the associations pay their assignor either by paying them a percentage or the fee or negotiating a contract where the league pays a set rate per game assigned.

I agree 100%.

It is not proper for an assignor to receive compensation from both the league and the assigned umpires. The assignor, albeit usually an umpire, should work for either the league OR the umpires, NOT both. To be paid by both creates a conflict of interest.

A few years ago I found out from a youth softball group that they were supposed to pay a lump sum flat fee to our organization for taking care of the assigning at the end of the season (once the games were totaled). We didn't know that when we paid the umpires, so a fee was taken out originally. Despite everyone being happy with the way things were, we still reimbursed the umpires for the fees. It's unethical to do otherwise.

I've seen "assignors" (an kiss-a$$ umpire friendly with a few leagues) create their own so-called association just so umpires would pay them money for the right to join and get access to the games. That's a load of garbage too. Unless the association is providing a service other than mere assigning (e.g., rule books, interpretations, mechanics, etc.) then no umpire should have to pay someone who is paid by the leagues for assigning just to get access to games.