September 14, 2018
Published by 
Stephanie Ramsey on September 14, 2018
Stephanie Ramsey on September 14, 2018The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 Mason Funeral Service is a 500-call funeral business located in the Central Northwest region of the United States. The business is family owned and managed by Donald and Cindy Mason. Don and Cindy have 10 full-time employees and a large roster of part-time employees they call upon as needed. Most have been with the business for multiple years, and they have a very strong and positive team-oriented atmosphere that all the employees appear to enjoy. One of their best full-time funeral directors, Jim, recently notified Don and Cindy that he had cancer and needed to undergo surgery and chemo treatment. The surgery and following treatments would keep him out of work for several weeks. Jim inquired about a medical leave and compensation. The business has various employee documents, including an employee handbook, […]
June 1, 2018
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on June 1, 2018
Stephanie Ramsey on June 1, 2018SCENARIO: Jordan Watson, owner of Watson Family Funeral Services, recently found himself dealing with an employee situation he simply didn’t know how to address. His firm had been serving his East Coast community for multiple generations and had a stellar reputation. Indeed, he often thought of his staff as his extended family rather than employees. The business served just under 300 families per year, and the team frequently received accolades from the families it served. About six months ago, the longtime office manager, Shelia, retired. The assistant office manager, Karen, was promoted to her role and a new assistant office manager, Barbara, was hired. Barbara was new to the funeral industry but had a few years of experience working in a busy doctor’s office. All indications were that she would be a good fit for the position. After she […]
March 20, 2018
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on March 20, 2018
Stephanie Ramsey on March 20, 2018Scenario: Remember David Jackson from case study #8? Jackson owns a three-location funeral business in the central United States employing more than 20 people. The primary location serves more than 400 families per year, the second location serves about 60 families and the third location, a brand-new business, served 30 families last year. If you recall, this past summer David brought on a part-time employee (Jessica) to assist with administrative tasks. Her main assignment was to file the large amount of backlogged paperwork that existed at his primary location. Unfortunately, Jessica felt free to read everyone’s personnel file as she filed other paperwork. Even worse, she then shared salary information with certain employees about their co-workers in similar positions. Jessica was unaware of confidentiality issues with personnel files, and case study #8 explained how David addressed Jessica’s actions. However, part […]
December 19, 2017
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on December 19, 2017
Stephanie Ramsey on December 19, 2017Scenario: David Jackson owns a three-location funeral business in the central United States. He employs more than 20 people. This past summer, David brought on a part-time employee to assist with administrative tasks. The priority was to file the large amount of paperwork that everyone at the primary location had neglected. This part-time employee (Jessica) had worked for the funeral home part time during high school and her summer breaks from college. Jessica was very personable and didn’t seem to mind all the hours she spent filing. At the end of summer, David was confronted by one of his female funeral directors wanting to know why she wasn’t paid as much as another male funeral director. During their conversation, David was made aware of how this employee knew her male counterpart’s salary. Apparently one of the reasons Jessica didn’t mind […]
September 22, 2017
Published by Stephanie Ramsey on September 22, 2017
Stephanie Ramsey on September 22, 2017HR Reality Check: Yep, the Stories are True! HR Case Study #7 Scenario: Clyde Smith owns and operates the Smith Family Funeral Home in a suburban southwestern town. He is well known in the community and provides several part-time positions to a number of local college students. As far as Clyde is concerned, the work environment at his facility is professional and friendly. This all changed when two of his part-time employees entered his office late one Friday afternoon clearly arguing. He also noted that the mouth of the 19-year-old, Billy, was very red. Sara, his 22-year-old co-worker, was very clearly agitated. Immediately upon entering his office, they both started talking at once to explain their position. As they began talking over each other, Clyde had trouble understanding the details of what had happened. However, one fact was crystal clear; […]