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YLO's Commitment to Umpire Safety: Complimentary Sports Officiating Insurance

At Youth League Officials (YLO), we prioritize the safety and well-being of our umpires above all. Understanding the importance of protection in sports officiating, we have made it mandatory for all our umpires to be covered by sports officiating insurance.

To simplify this for you, we are pleased to announce that YLO will provide sports officiating insurance for every umpire, at no additional cost. This initiative is part of our commitment to ensure that you can concentrate on your umpiring responsibilities, free from the worry of arranging your own insurance coverage.

Should you have any questions or need more information about this insurance policy, please feel free to reach out. We are here to assist you and ensure your peace of mind while you're on the field.

Thank you for being a part of YLO, where your safety is our top priority.

Like all other sports officiating groups for amateur sports (including the collegiate level), umpires for Youth League Officials are Independent Contractors.

As defined by Investopedia: 

An independent contractor is a self-employed person or entity contracted to perform work for—or provide services to—another entity as a nonemployee. As a result, independent contractors must pay their own Social Security and Medicare taxes. In addition, an entity that uses the services of an independent contractor is not required to provide them with employment benefits, such as health insurance and employer-sponsored retirement accounts, that the entity might otherwise provide were the contractor an employee. The payer must correctly classify each payee as either an independent contractor or employee. Another term for an independent contractor is “freelancer.”  - Investopedia

Investopedia gives 3 Key Takeaways

1. Independent contractors are not employees, nor are they eligible for employee benefits.

2. They do not have taxes withheld from their paychecks but instead must pay estimated income taxes in advance through quarterly payments.

3. Freelancers can reduce their gross income through the use of allowed business deductions, thus lowering their tax bill.

What being an Independent Contractor means for you:

• You set your own availability and can accept/decline games at your own choice and convenience.

• You can see the pay for a game when deciding whether you want to accept/decline games.

• You are free to use your skills and talents to work with other umpire assigning organizations (we can help you do this too if you grow your skills!)

• You can deduct your miles to and from a game from your taxes.  This, combined with a deduction of your uniform/equipment, can potentially set your end of your NET TAX to $0.  So track those receipts and miles!!!  (I am neither an accountant or tax expert)

• At the end of the year, you will be issued a 1099 from ArbiterSports, the group that our payments are run through

Arbiter Pay

Youth League Officials pays umpires through ArbiterPay.  ArbiterPay allows for officials to transfer payment from Arbiter into a personal bank account. 

ArbiterPay is free for officials, but does charge a small processing fee that is paid by YLO. You can register for your account following the steps described here. ArbiterPay does offer a Debit Card for use, but we encourage you to transfer the money directly to your bank account.

ArbiterPay FAQ and Help

How often does YLO Pay?

This can depend on the quantity of games and speed of payment from the parks and leagues we supply umpires to.  Timeliness of payment from these organizations can negatively affect their ability to work with YLO in the future.

For AYBA rec games (our largest amount), a pay period is run Monday through Sunday and paid on the following Friday.

Relative to most other officiating organizations, this is a very fast payment.  For example, GHSA groups will only pay once or twice a season, usually in amounts of time greater than 1 month after a game is played.