By Luke Broadwater
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Posted 2/18/09
For 22 years, Jim Scales
has crouched behind the plate to umpire ball games.
However, because of a new interpretation of state law by Maryland’s
Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Scales and others like him might
soon be out of a job, leaving HowardCounty adults and
children with no one to officiate their games.
“If something is not done to help us, there’s a very distinct possibility
(children) won’t be playing these sports or have the proper officiating,” said
Scales, president of Howard County Officials Inc., in testimony yesterday
before the Maryland State Senate’s Finance Committee.
The problems for the Howard County Officials, which officiates for four
organizations, including Howard County Recreation and Parks softball and
kickball games, began in November, when one referee lost his full-time job and
filed for unemployment, according to state officials.
The unemployment form listed Howard County Officials Inc. as one of the
referee’s employers, causing auditors to delve into the group’s books, which
led to a state demand for $15,700 in unpaid unemployment taxes.
“We have about $3,000 in our account,” said Richard McCauley, the
organization’s vice president. “If we have to pay this, we will have to
dissolve.”
McCauley said the umpires in his organization have always considered themselves
independent contractors, not employees of the group. He said individual umpires
are free to accept or decline any game and are paid on a game-by-game basis.
“No one has ever been fired from umpiring; anyone is free to perform the job,
provided they take a training course,” he said.
“I’ve done this for over 30 years,” McCauley said. “I call the game as I see
fit, (and) I act as my own boss. …I don’t see us fitting as anything but
independent contractor under this criteria.”
But state labor officials said the state now considers the officiating
organization to be an employer with employees, not an independent contractor,
meaning it has to pay state unemployment insurance taxes.
Kittleman steps in
Faced with having to close their officiating organization, Scales and McCauley
took their concerns to state Sen. Allan
Kittleman. The West Friendship Republican agreed to sponsor a bill
exempting recreational sports officials from coverage under Maryland’s Unemployment Insurance Law.
“It’s terrible,” Kittleman said. “These guys have no control over their
uniforms or equipment. They’re classic contractors, and they’ve been treated
that way for years.
“This bill is designed to let them do what they’ve been doing,” he added.
“Without it, the state could kill these organizations.”
Kittleman said the state’s new interpretation of referees could have
far-reaching implications, forcing officiating organizations across Maryland to pay
thousands of dollars in taxes previously not required or risk closing.
The state’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation opposes Kittleman’s
bill, saying his legislation would create a “loophole” that could have
unintended consequences. “... Such carve-outs can unintentionally leave
categories or workers without the ability to collect unemployment benefits, a
critical social safety net,” the agency argued in testimony submitted to the
Finance Committee.
Agency spokeswoman Dori Berman said the state routinely opposes exemptions to
the unemployment insurance law, though committee members said “paperboys” have
already been exempted.
‘Common-sense’ solution
Even if Kittleman’s bill were to pass, it would likely not save the group,
which has about 40 umpires working more than 3,000 games a year, because of the
$15,700 bill it’s facing, the umpires said.
“I don’t think that our association will come out of this positively,” McCauley
said. “We haven’t had problems all these years; why all of the sudden has this
happened?”
At yesterday's hearing, Thomas Perez, secretary of the state Labor Department,
said he hoped to meet with Kittleman and find a “common-sense” solution to the
officials’ troubles, although he would have to study it more before saying what
that solution might be.
“If we had some time to craft something that made legal sense and common sense,
we’re more than willing to do that,” Perez said, adding that he once spent
summers umpiring baseball games. “There are a number of layers of review that
could very well result in a different determination.”
The umpires said they were encouraged by Perez’ comments.
“I’m getting ready to go into my 23rd year of umpiring, hopefully,” Scales
said. “My goal here today is to simply make sure that other organizations such
as ours can continue operating.”
Staff writer Dan Schwind contributed to this article.