Are you interested in becoming an assigner?
As of the 2016-17 season, the USAOA no long compensates assigners for the association. However, individuals may become assigners and help those in the USAOA attain games. The USAOA provides opportunities in seven sports: basketball (boys’ and girls’), volleyball, football, wrestling, softball, and baseball.
MHSAA Requirements of an Assigner for the USAOA
High schools and others which sponsor competition for member high school teams, and utilize and pay for services of a third-party, non-school assigner for high school officiating contests, shall use only those assigners who are registered with the MHSAA for the current year.
Standards for Registered Assigners It is expected that MHSAA Registered Assigners follow all published “Standards for Registered Assigners.” Any violation of these standards will place the Registered Assigner at risk of losing his or her registered status after review by MHSAA staff, as outlined in the Disciplinary Procedures for MHSAA Officials and Registered Assigners on pages 4-5 of the MHSAA Officials Guidebook.
- Registered Assigners shall be paid by:
- a league or conference or school, or
- the members of an approved association who elect or hire an individual to assign for them. Turn-back fees, paid to an assigner by an official, do not violate this concept.
- Registered Assigners shall not collect fees for service from a school, league or conference and an individual official or an officials association.
- Registered Assigners shall not require an official to be a member of a specific officials or sport association in order to be assigned games under the control of the assigner. Membership in any Approved Local Association is an acceptable requirement.
- Registered Assigners shall not require an official to pay a fee to participate in a “specific” camp, clinic or training activity in order to be evaluated and considered for assignments under the control of any assigner. Involvements in free events, for the same reason, are permitted.
- When schools secure the services of a Registered Assigner to arrange or contract officials for their contests, contracting of those officials ultimately remains the responsibility of the school even though a school or league/conference authorized the assigner to issue an Arbiter agreement or contract.
- Registered Assigners must allow schools to contact and contract officials on their own and shall not intimidate or discourage officials from accepting games directly from schools at any time, either alone or in combination with games received from an assigner. MHSAA staff shall revoke the registration of the assigner if it is believed that such unprofessional conduct occurred.
- Registered Assigners shall not intimidate or discourage officials from accepting games or assignments from other assigners, schools or leagues at any time. Any Registered Assigner engaging in this type of threatening or intimidating behavior, either directly or indirectly, will risk MHSAA staff revoking the registration of the assigner if it is believed that such unprofessional conduct occurred.
- Contracts extended by a Registered Assigner may not be withdrawn or reassigned to another official, except in cases of personal emergency which will not permit an official to officiate any contest on the contest day once that sport season has begun, as prescribed by MHSAA Regulation II, Section 11(D).
- In the event a Registered Assigner, school, league or conference does not utilize the MHSAA contract (paper or online Arbiter agreement) for officials, all comments, actual and implied, and all terms and conditions which appear on the published MHSAA contract, shall be acknowledged and will be applicable to any MHSAA registered official.
- Assigners may not accept funds earmarked for officials game fees from a school, conference, league or facility and then pay officials directly for games worked. Payment to officials for contests worked shall come directly from the school or through the school via ArbiterPay or another electronic fund transfer that does not compromise the independent contractor status of an official or imply that the payer is an employer.