State or association policy ?

[chapmaja]

Ok, what is your groups policy when the following happens.

2 umpires are scheduled, but only one shows up to work the game.The game is worked under a 1 umpire system.

I know the MHSAA has a written policy that states officials who work a contest with less the number of contracted officials shall recieve the pay that official would have gotten. This basically means a 2 person crewed work by one official should get equal to both checks. 3 umpires contracted, 2 work means they split the check.

Several schools have developed their own policy however which pays 50% or less of the agreed pay. I have not seen this challenged with the MHSAA yet.

I do know the MHSAA has not backed me when I should have gotten two checks because I worked alone when 2 umpires were scheduled. Why? The school never responded to the MHSAA's request for comment.

The Rec LEague I work pays 50% of the fee if you work alone when 2 are scheduled. We also get fined if we are late, 25% of the fee the first time late, 50% second time, 100% the third time, and possibly loss of contracted games. You also lose the portion of the game fee as well.

If you miss a scheduled game you are fined 100%, plus loss of the fee (first offence), 2 game fees (plus loss of fee for game (s) missed) for a second offence, and 3 times fee, plus loss game fee (third offence).

Basically we miss a night of games, we work the next night free.

[chuck chopper]

I get no extra pay if my partner fails to show

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by chapmaja

Ok, what is your groups policy when the following happens.

2 umpires are scheduled, but only one shows up to work the game.The game is worked under a 1 umpire system.

I know the MHSAA has a written policy that states officials who work a contest with less the number of contracted officials shall recieve the pay that official would have gotten. This basically means a 2 person crewed work by one official should get equal to both checks. 3 umpires contracted, 2 work means they split the check.

Several schools have developed their own policy however which pays 50% or less of the agreed pay. I have not seen this challenged with the MHSAA yet.

I do know the MHSAA has not backed me when I should have gotten two checks because I worked alone when 2 umpires were scheduled. Why? The school never responded to the MHSAA's request for comment.

The Rec LEague I work pays 50% of the fee if you work alone when 2 are scheduled. We also get fined if we are late, 25% of the fee the first time late, 50% second time, 100% the third time, and possibly loss of contracted games. You also lose the portion of the game fee as well.

If you miss a scheduled game you are fined 100%, plus loss of the fee (first offence), 2 game fees (plus loss of fee for game (s) missed) for a second offence, and 3 times fee, plus loss game fee (third offence).

Basically we miss a night of games, we work the next night free.

chapmaja:

It seems to me that you are in Michigan (that state up north as we Buckeyes refer to it) and that MHSAA is the MichiganHSAA. And I have never had a school fail to pay per the MichiganHSAA Officials Contract. Member schools of the MichiganHSAA canNOT unilaterally change any portion of the MichiganHSAA Officials Contract.

You do not state how you contacted the MichiganHSAA about a school's failure to live up to its contract obligations. If you just reported the school via a letter to the MichiganHSAA then the school felt no obligation to respond to any inquiry from the MichiganHSAA.

I suggest that you file a MichiganHSAA Officials Game Report (the same form that you complete when you eject a player or coach. This forces the hands of both the MichiganHSAA and the school. It puts a school on record with the MichiganHSAA for breach of contract and forces the MichiganHSAA to take action against the school on your behalf.

If the school fails to fulfill its contract with you, you can always take the school to small claims court. As an extreme measure, you could file a criminal complaint against the school's treasurer for theft of service (in most states it is usually a misdemeanor; in Ohio school treasurers have meet certain legal requirements to hold the position and a criminal conviction of theft of service would cause them to lose their job). I made the threat of theft of service against a school treasurer once and received my check within 48 hours via registered mail, . The school treasurer did not have a contract on file (she refused to accept a copy of my contract or the fact that I had signed the Scorebook and that I was in the game film as proof that I had officiated the game) and would not issue payment without a contract on file and would not issue a contract for a contest that already been played.

MTD, Sr.

[Stat-Man]

The MHSAA Official's Guidebook has the following (emphasis mine):

Unless other provisions are made in advance by schools and officials involved, these conditions shall apply:

1. Officials who work alone or with an incomplete crew are entitled to the fee or an equal portion of the fee for which the absent official(s) is/are contracted.

If the contract for the game states that working solo or shorthanded will only net an additional half of the absent official's fee's, it appears that is permissible. Absent such wording, the MHSAA rule would apply.

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by Stat-Man

The MHSAA Official's Guidebook has the following (emphasis mine):



If the contract for the game states that working solo or shorthanded will only net an additional half of the absent official's fee's, it appears that is permissible. Absent such wording, the MHSAA rule would apply.

The contract was simply the MHSAA's standard officials contract that used to be used.

As for contacting the MHSAA. I actually sent a letter and several emails to the MHSAA regarding the lack of payment. I did not fill out an officials report. The reason being that I was not aware I wasn't being paid properly until payroll was processed two weeks later. The problem was that at the time I was a school employee of the school district this occurred in. Unlike most districts, this district required all school employees to be paid through payroll with taxes taken out. This means we didn't know if we were not paid properly until well after the contest.

The district has since gone to ref-pay and I am no longer an employee of the district since were were privitized several years ago.

As an assignor as well as an official, taking the school to court is something that should never happen.

[Robmoz]

Originally Posted by chapmaja

The contract was simply the MHSAA's standard officials contract that used to be used.

As for contacting the MHSAA. I actually sent a letter and several emails to the MHSAA regarding the lack of payment. I did not fill out an officials report. The reason being that I was not aware I wasn't being paid properly until payroll was processed two weeks later. The problem was that at the time I was a school employee of the school district this occurred in. Unlike most districts, this district required all school employees to be paid through payroll with taxes taken out. This means we didn't know if we were not paid properly until well after the contest.

The district has since gone to ref-pay and I am no longer an employee of the district since were were privitized several years ago.

As an assignor as well as an official, taking the school to court is something that should never happen.

You work games for the school that employs you on a regular basis? Sounds like a conflict of interest violation "...In all sports, it will be considered a “conflict of interest” for any MHSAA registered official to be hired or employed by a member school..."

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by Robmoz

You work games for the school that employs you on a regular basis? Sounds like a conflict of interest violation "...In all sports, it will be considered a “conflict of interest” for any MHSAA registered official to be hired or employed by a member school..."

I said school DISTRICT, not member school. There is a difference. Not to mention, the MHSAA and the schools already knew that I work in the district, as do the majority of schools they compete against. I worked as a substitute teacher, which means I could have been in any number of schools in a given week.

As a substitute teacher you have to be careful even using the term regular basis. I might work in that school 1 or 2 times a month, given that I am registered in 15 different school districts and worked in 42 different schools last year alone.

The MHSAA has clearly stated to me previous the conflict of interest rule applies to employees who work as a REGULAR employee of the school in which they officiate.

If you were to eliminate any employee who worked in the district you would lose a lot of umpires/officials who work in one building but officiate in other buildings. A school district like Detroit uses a lot of officials who are DPS employees in some capacity as officials.



Also, maybe you should post the entire rule, not the part that specifically meets your needs for the arguement.

I have posted the entire section from the MHSAA Guidebook for you since you forgot the second half since it did not apply to your position.

"In all sports, it will be considered a “conflict of interest” for
any MHSAA registered official to be hired or employed by a
member school or coach to provide a sport-specific clinic or
training session for students at that school when that official later
officiates contests involving that school for the next 12 calendar
months."

I have decided to make it very clear the remainder of the regular which you have so nicely failed to post.

[MD Longhorn]

Most places I work, if partner doesn't show, I get nothing. One league pays an extra $10 for working alone. However, in most places if the school/team chooses to only schedule one umpire, they pay extra (like $50 instead of two $35's or $75 instead of two $50's).

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

This is one of the nice things about working in an area where a local agency handles ALL scholastic athletic matters - both scheduling games and scheduling/paying officials. This way our contracts are ALWAYS honored to the letter.

Same thing for our leagues, where our assignor always gets the $$ ahead of time, and our contracts are quite specific on these things.