---SDABL Umpire Payment Policy---

NOTE:  Each Umpires Association has a designated Representative who is responsible for contacting the SDABL pertaining to matters of Umpire Compensation.  As a member of that particular Umpires Association, you must contact your Official Representative to ensure payment.  If you have any questions, please email me here: (John Marabeas, SDABL Chief Umpire).

----------------------------

 

Section 1:  Payment Compensation

 

This section describes the exact amounts an umpire will be paid for various circumstances

 

1.1  Forfeits --- Umpires will be paid a full game fee for all forfeits where umpire presence is REQUIRED.

 

1.1.1  Definitions (Forfeit):

Note:  Dropping below an already established Offensive Lineup in terms of the number of batters, once a game has started, will not constitute a forfeit, so long as there are at least eight (8) batters in the lineup.  Refer to the SDABL Offensive Lineup Rules for details concerning this issue, as well as other related issues.  In particular those that involve Injury Substitution.

 

1.1.2  On-the-Field Payment Policy for Forfeits:

Note:  If one team shows up with only eight (8) players and the opposing team has nine (9) or more players, both teams are responsible for paying the umpires, since eight (8) players are enough to start and play any game.

 

1.2  Rain-outs and Other Uncontrollable Events

 

1.2.1  Umpires will retain the full game fee if:

1.2.2  Umpires must return one half (50%) of the full game fee to each team if:

1.2.3  Umpires will receive a $5.00 Show Fee (from the League) if:

Note:  The SDABL will do its best to determine ahead of time whether or not a field is playable due to rain.  It will then make every effort to inform the official umpire representative in an attempt to prevent any umpires from making unnecessary trips to a field.  The umpires themselves, as well as the official umpire representative, should also make an effort to determine what fields may have been rained out, accomplished by calling the SDABL Emergency Game Day Phone---(619) 851-6225 (Primary), or (619) 994-4225 (secondary).  In those cases where no information is available the umpires, unfortunately, may have to drive to a field for confirmation one way or the other.  It should be realized that the players themselves may have to drive to a field for confirmation as well.  While this is an obvious inconvenience to all, the unpredictability and the obviously uncontrollable nature of these situations must preclude any financial obligation on the part of the league and/or players, other than the Show Fee above.  Most games will be made up at a later date.  Fortunately, rain-outs in San Diego are infrequent enough for this to become a major issue.

 

Aside from rain-outs, Show Fees and partial payments to umpire will occur for various situations and will be explained further below.

 

1.3  League Issues

 

Umpires will be paid 75% of the prevailing game fee for each game they were scheduled to work but did not work because of the following reasons:

 

1.3.1  Schedule Changes/Wrong Fields

 

If umpires have mistakenly been sent to a field by the SDABL that has no games due to a schedule change, or for any other reason, whereby the official umpire representative is not informed in enough time to have prevented umpire travel and which results in those umpires not working any adult games that day.

 

Note 1: Procedures necessary to qualify for payment:

Note 2:  The umpires are still obligated to work the regularly scheduled afternoon game, unless the SDABL has notified the Umpires Association Game Day Contact at least one hour before game time that there will be no game.

 

1.3.1.1  Travel Compensation:

 

If an umpire is redirected to another field as a result of the above situations (or for the situations listed in Section 1.3.2 to follow), he will be further compensated as indicated below.  (If the umpires had driven home first and were subsequently redirected to the proper/another field, the mileage from the incorrect/problem field to home, then on to the proper field, will be taken into consideration.  The mileage itself will be based on what Map Quest calls out in its web page driving directions).

1.3.2  Locked Up Fields/No Bases Present

 

If the umpires show up to a field that is inaccessible due to locked gates, or if there are no bases available to start a game, and neither of these two things can be resolved in a reasonable amount of time and which results in the game not being played.

 

Note 1:  Two bases present will be enough to start a game.  The bases should be placed at the 1st and 2nd base positions.  3rd base should be left open, or may be identified by some sort of safe means at the discretion of the umpires until the proper base arrives.  Safety is an essential factor.  If the umpires feel that leaving 3rd base open, or the use of some means to identify it may create a safety issue, then the game should be delayed until the proper base arrives.  This decision is left to the discretion of the umpires.  If the game is delayed as a result of no bases, the official start time will be "first pitch."

 

Note 2: Procedures necessary to qualify for payment:

Note 3:  Time Considerations Involving the issues stated in 1.3.1 and 1.3.2.  If an umpire is unable to contact any SDABL representative or his own umpires association representative within 30 minutes, or, after leaving a message with the a call back number which still does not result in his being contacted, he is under no obligation to remain at any field or "on call" anywhere else.  If, however, the umpire has made contact with an SDABL or umpire association representative, or has received a call back and been told a solution to the problem is forthcoming, no "time limit" will be dictated with respect to how long it will, or should, take to resolve the issue.  The only consideration will be what is "reasonable" to get a game started before it becomes apparent that finishing it will not be possible because of an unreasonable delay.

 

Note 4:  Start Times for Games affected by a Delay.  "First pitch" as opposed to the regularly schedule game time will be the official start time.  If it is a morning game, this may result in a late start for the afternoon game.  If that is the case, "first pitch" will be the official start time for the afternoon game as well.

 

1.4  Field Issues

 

Each umpire will be paid a $10.00 Show Fee:

Note 1:  Morning Sprinkler situations may not necessarily wipe out the entire day.  This must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  If it's the morning game, waiting a period of time might allow the fields to dry.  If not, and the morning game is obviously a "bust," it may be possible to play the afternoon game.  In this situation, the umpires will be compensated the Show Fee for the morning game, even if the afternoon game goes off as scheduled.

 

Note 2:  Morning Sprinkler situations should be brought to the attention of the SDABL Emergency Game Day Primary or Secondary Contact.  She or he may be able to send a league representative to the field to make a determination about the afternoon game, or the high school coach may be consulted for an answer.  In the case where the umpires are required to come back for the afternoon game in the hopes that it can be played, only discover that it can't, then the umpires will be compensated an additional Show Fee for the afternoon game as well.

 

1.5  Game Cancellations (this does not include rain-outs)

 

Umpires will be compensated a full game fee for all cancelled games, under the following conditions:

 

Note 1:  Notification will consist of either direct contact with the designated Umpires Association Representative , or by means of a phone message, including date and time, left on the representative's phone.

 

Note 2:  While it may seem short notice for the afternoon game cancellations, and therefore "unfair" to not compensate the umpires, it is felt that if they receive word of the cancellation before they have left the field, enough time has been allowed for them to avoid having to in fact leave and return, only to find that no game is being played.  It is also understood that the umpires had "planned" their day around the afternoon game and had subsequently looked forward to receiving payment for working it.  While the SDABL sympathizes with this loss, it cannot be held accountable for compensating work that has not been performed.  Fortunately, these types of cancellations are very rare.  If for some reason they do become "epidemic," the SDABL agrees to reevaluate its non-payment policy with reference to this matter.

 

Reminder:  These are cancelled games and therefore should not be confused with forfeits.  If a manager or player of a team schedule to play the afternoon game, particularly it is is the second game of a double-header, has informed the umpires during the first game, or just after its completion, that his team can't play the afternoon game---even it it's because he doesn't have enough players---this will be considered as a cancellation of that game as defined by the second "bullet" above.  If, however, the manager has given no indication that he can't field a team for the second game, and the umpires subsequently leave for lunch and return to work the second game, and are then informed of the manager's inability to field a team, this will be considered a forfeit.  In this case, both umpires will be entitled to full compensation.

 

1.6  Single-Umpire Games

 

Any umpire who works alone, where two umpires have been assigned to games at Umpires Association-designated fields, shall collect 60% of the prevailing game fee from each team:  (For example, if the game fee is $60.00, the umpires should collect $36.00 from each team, for a total of $72.00).

 

Note 1:  Any additional monies for working alone is the private business of the Umpires Association with whom the affected umpire is affiliated and does not involve the SDABL.

 

Note 2:  When situations arise that the SDABL assigns additional fields to the Umpires Association outside of its "normal" coverage, the Umpires Association may be forced to assign only one umpire to those games in order to ensure all assigned SDABL games have umpire coverage.  In such cases, the umpire assigned shall collect 60% of the prevailing game fee from each team regardless.

 

1.7  Working Partial Games

 

There may be situations that require umpires to only work a few innings of a previously unfinished game.  If this is the case, each umpire will be paid 12% of the full game fee for each inning worked.

 

1.8  Prepaid Games

 

The SDABL offers their teams to prepay for umpire fees if they choose.  Since the SDABL has a record of what teams are prepaid, checks will be mailed to the umpires who worked them on Monday morning following the weekend of the game worked.

 

Note:  The SDABL Payment Administrator will notify the designated Umpire Association Representative ahead of time as to what games are prepaid so he/she may notify the affected umpires.

 

Section 2:  Proper Procedures to Ensure Payment / Check Mailing

 

2.1  Introduction

 

This section describes the procedures necessary to ensure umpire payment.  It's purpose is to create a more efficient means of paying the umpire, not to avoid payment through administrative "bog."  In many cases the money owed to umpires must come from the teams.  The SDABL must therefore have some record of "payment due" in order to collect this money and pass it on.  These procedures will also help protect the umpire from "falling through the cracks" in terms of monies owed by providing recorded documentation that shows the umpire has money coming.

 

Important:  If you work for an outside Umpires Association be sure to contact your official representative about any monies you are owed.  Each Umpires Association contracted to work SDABL games is fully aware, and has agreed to, these procedures.  Individual umpires will not be paid until the proper information related to payment has been exchanged between the SDABL and your designated Umpires Association Representative.  In most cases, checks will be mailed from the SDABL to the designated Umpires Association Representative for disbursement to the individual umpire member of that association.

 

2.2  "Paper Trail" for Payments Due---Protecting the Umpire

 

When Umpires are due payment as a result of Forfeits, Show Fees, Prepaid Games, or for other reasons described in Section 1 above, the following procedures will apply:

The email notification shall contain the following (minimum) information:

Note 1:  The SDABL prefers that only the designated Umpires Association Payment Official contact the SDABL Payment Administrator to avoid confusion by preventing "flying everywhere" emails that may result in no payment or duplicate payment.  Umpires should contact their designated Payment Official for all matters related to requesting and receiving payments.

 

Note 2:  The reporting deadline mentioned above is necessary to prevent non-payment due to "vaporization."  That is, if the information is not recorded promptly there may be no way to verify a particular event occurred, risking non-payment for unrecorded events.  (The SDABL Payment Administrator keeps a record of all check numbers sent for whatever reasons).

 

2.3  Bounced Checks

 

In the cases where a team has paid an umpire with a check that "bounces," the SDABL will take responsibility for immediately sending payment to the designated Umpires Association Payment Official for full restitution, including any bank fees incurred.  The SDABL will also compensate the umpire with an additional $10.00 "inconvenience" fee.

 

Note 3:  If there are any bank charges incurred, the umpire must provide a copy of the bank charge statement to the SDABL Payment Administrator before payment is received.  Contact your designated Umpires Association Payment Official for the best means of doing this.

 

Section 3:  Who to Contact for Payment

Contact SDABL Chief Umpire John Marabeas with any questions pertaining to this Umpire Payment Policy.  (Click here to Email).