Refs in Pa. want to be paid minimum wage -- seriously

... good luck with that

My dad must be chuckling as he looks down on these Pennsylvania athletic officials. Last week, two officials filed suit against the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) for not providing them with some basic rights given to other Pennsylvanians.

According to the Post-Gazette, the two officials, identified as Charles Ruslavage of Canonsburg and Mario Seneca of Wexford, said that  the officials who work athletic events for public schools in Pennsylvania "all improperly classified as independent contractors and not afforded the minimum wage and overtime compensation when they worked in excess of 40 hours per week.”

  

Here is how officiating works. A person passes an examination given by the PAA for every sport, and thus earns a license. The official is then permitted to officiate games in that sport. It is up to the official, or sometimes a conference or officials organization, to find the assignments for the officials. 

In short, each official has his or her own business, and as such, is designated an independent contractor. As such, the officials at one time could write off expenses like travel, lodging, clothing, and other aspects that are necessary to function in such an operation. 

That is how a free-lance writer works. The person is paid for each assignment, and receives a 1099 instead of a W-2 in order to report to the Internal Revenue Service. At times, we indeed did make less than minimum wage. For instance, if a person was paid $25 for an assignment, like a high school game, and the game, interview and writing took four hours, he or she would make $6 an hour. That is what made it easy for me to give that up. Labor of love only goes so far, especially when others are paying more than that. But, even at $35 a pop, it is still just $8+ an hour. In addition, there is the matter of paying for gas. Makes no sense because  a person is making less than minimum wage.

That is why the PIAA is having difficulty attracting people to officiate. They pay a little better than newspapers do, but the officials still have to take a great deal of abuse for the money. It is not a great deal. 

The two officials claim that there are 13,200 sports officials in Pa. employed as PIAA arbiters. When the overall time and preparation are taken into consideration, an official probably makes less than minimum wage. 

However, that is Pennsylvania, a state that cannot pass a budget. How does anyone expect equity in such a place?

My dad was an excellent official who worked both high school and college games. He once estimated that he had worked close to 4,000 games. Because he was good, he was able to be paid for the marquee high school games, like Altoona-Johnstown when that was a fabulous rivalry.  However, on many occasions when he drove home from Morgantown or Clarion or Pitt on a snowy January night. Then, it was a labor of love, though the extra income helped the family.