December 21, 2020
Scenario: Meyer-Landis Funeral & Cremation Service has been serving families in the northern United States since the late 1800s. Currently the business is owned by Brian and Jackie Landis. They pride themselves on excellent service to their families and train all their employees to adhere to their credo, “Our community and the families we serve are our first priority and deserve to be treated as we would treat a member of our own family.” As COVID-19 became a reality earlier this year, this motto became a talisman for Brian and Jackie as they have experienced a fair number of COVID cases. At the request of their more vulnerable employees, they have limited those individuals’ exposure by adjusting their schedules or responsibilities. In fact, one of their senior licensed funeral directors elected to retire, and they have not yet been able […]
September 21, 2020
Scenario: Kirkland Cremation and Funeral Services provides services to approximately 150 families in its community. The business is owned by Clark Kirkland. Clark has one other licensed funeral director besides himself and also relies on multiple part-time funeral assistants. Most of these funeral assistants work regular part-time hours averaging 24 hours per week. In late March, when COVID-19 led to his state mandating “safer-at-home” orders, Clark made the difficult decision to lay off most of his part-time staff to do his part to help contain the virus. His expec-tation was this would be only a short period of time as he was an essential business and he needed his staff. However, the federal government then enacted the stimulus package providing additional benefits to newly laid off employees. For the past several weeks, even though Clark has offered his part-time employees […]
July 17, 2020
Scenario: James and Martha Smitherton own a funeral and crematory business in the northwestern United States, Smitherton Family Funerals and Cremations. Smitherton’s serve 240 families a year with a staff of three full-time licensed funeral directors/embalmers (James, Todd and Kimberly) and a part-time apprentice. They also employ a full-time office support person to assist Martha in the office. The rest of their staff consists of 18 part-time employees who are scheduled as needed and based on their availability. Both Todd and Kim have worked for the funeral home for several years, and while both have children, they are in high school and college. The recent pandemic has stretched the funeral home staffing resources rather thin as nonessential employees are sheltering at home per their state mandate. As a designated essential business, the funeral home continues to operate and provide services […]
May 8, 2020
Scenario: Delmond Funeral & Cremation Services is a multi-location business owned by Ken and Stacy Delmond. The business employs more than 20 employees between its various locations. The funeral directors move freely between the various locations as needed, and are licensed to sell preneed on behalf of the business. Recently, while preparing for a family that was coming in to arrange for an imminent death, Stacy pulled the preneed contract that was written a few years ago by one of their funeral directors, Darrin Rodgers. Stacy realized that she did not recognize the insurance company named on the contract as the policy provider. She then began researching their records and discovered that there was no indication that the business had ever had a relationship with the insurance company. Further, the funeral business had never received commissions for selling preneed insurance […]
December 20, 2018
Scenario: Patterson-Mason Funeral Service is a multi-location business located in the northeastern United States. The business is owned by Frank Patterson and Adam Mason. Between the various locations, the business serves over 700 families annually and employs more than 20 staff members. The business has eight funeral directors, all of whom are identified as nonexempt employees. However, rather than paying overtime, it allows funeral directors to take comp time at a point during the calendar year that is convenient to them. The employees seem quite happy with the arrangement as it allows them to bank additional time for either vacation or personal days. Recently, one of their funeral directors, Pam, asked if she could roll over her unused comp time into the next year as she wasn’t sure she could take the time before the end of the year. Frank […]