Not Part of the Job - Just a Spout!

[Paul Chilson]

One thing the "umpire manual" doesn't cover is chasing down payments after a game is completed. I live in northern Michigan with lots of small schools. Only 2 schools this year have had checks ready for us on the night of games. Most of the others have school policies that send you a check in the mail after the following Friday. Two schools have Arbiter Pay. 

As of this morning I am still waiting on payments from 4 different schools. One has outstanding games from the final week in March! Neither of the Arbiter schools have paid. I've been on the phone with ADs on multiple occasions - so have other umpires I've talked to. They keep telling me that the information has been forwarded to the business office and will come after their next payday.  I'm sure it will come, but I guess my spout is this: it shouldn't be our duty to have to call and call to get paid!

Our association has no teeth so that's not an option.

[Welpe]

The joys of being self employed. Back in Texas it took me over a year to get paid for several middle school basketball games I worked for one of the largest districts in the state.

[ricka56]

5 hours ago, Paul Chilson said:

Our association has no teeth so that's not an option.

Maybe your state has policy in place. If the state regulates how much you are paid, they probably have a policy on when the payment is due/over-due. In Texas, if the schools don't pay within 45 days, you can report them to the state...and no school wants the UIL on their arse.

You shouldn't have to work to get paid, but you do what you gotta do.