05.12.10
Posted in cemetery consultant, cemetery consulting, cemetery law, cemetery litigation, cemetery management, cemetery news at 7:37 pm by Administrator
After having conversations with a couple of other cemetery and crematory consultants regarding the slowing of utilization of operations, governance, and compliance expertise; a concerning trend is developing that will have negative consequences in the future if it continues. The death care industry typically goes through cycles. Cycle one is the unfettered sales path. This is when sales are ramped up to fever pitch, with little or no accountability toward governance and compliance. Cycle two has been the operations mode, when the consolidators bring more managers (governance and compliance) back into the fold to correct the mistakes made during the sales ramp up cycle.
The successful sales cycle brings as much revenue into the businesses as possible in the shortest amount of time allowable. The successful operations cycle corrects the mistakes made during the sales cycle, and is deemed a success if the result of this second cycle completes with no new litigation or legislation. It generally appears as a constant circular path.
This cyclic path we find the industry on now, is changing. By typical standards, the operations cycle should have begun about a year ago however, the sales cycle continues to grow and the operations cycle is slowing ever further. Restructuring is occuring and operations managers are being downsized or eliminated in favor of sales management and/or General Manager/Sales Manager positions. The difference is there are only a handful of experienced individuals in the industry who are truly capable of wearing both hats, and with emphasis on the sales aspect are given precious little time or resources to insure operational integrity.
Presently there are hundreds of positions advertised for sales people, sales managers, sales executives, and the like. You will find presently not one operations management position posted on any of the job boards, trade boards, or corporate websites. This is a concerning, if not disturbing, trend for the experts in operations.
It would be believed that operations consultants would become busier with this trend, saving the corporations a lot of money by utilizing talent that is not their responsibility. They would not be required to pay for benefits, fica match, or any of the other items necessary for an employee while experiencing a higher level of operational integrity. But this is not the case, and is curious to us all.
It is clearly understood the ramifications of sales. Sales bring in money, and operations cost money with no immediate direct additional benefit to the bottom line. Operations insures the money accrued during sales ramps are spent properly and budgeted for the future, while insuring carefully thought out policies and procedures are honored to eliminate liabilities. I personally know of two such consultants that are about to leave the industry entirely, due to lack of work. These two individuals have worked diligently over the course of their careers to make the death care profession a better place for employees and better experience for the consumers. It will be a loss if they move on, and we lose their passionate approach to an industry they love.
CemOps won’t be far behind, if the present trend continues. Without sustainable business, a business cannot sustain. We believe the industry should keep close tabs on both sides of this equation, and never let their guard down. There is a marriage of the two that should take place, but no marriage can take place or survive with just one partner getting all the attention. Here’s hoping for a brighter future for the ops minded professionals out there. You can’t restructure your business model completely away from compliance, without risking the business. At the end of the day, a lack of rules will cause utter chaos.
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02.20.10
Posted in cemetery awareness, cemetery consulting, cemetery litigation, cemetery management at 11:59 pm by Administrator
CemOps has launched on its website: http://www.cemops.com A complaint form designed as a tool for everyone. Whether you are: A consumer and have had little fortune getting answers to your questions or concerns - An employee who has tried to get management to listen to you about concerns – A manager who is overwhelmed by constant complaints and feeling you just can’t find the answers for them all – An owner who just doesn’t seem to be able to put a finger on the sky rocketing costs associated with today’s operating environment while maintenance and employee costs continue to climb in tough times – and you all feel you need answers.
On CemOps website, we now offer the complaints form page to help answer some of the pressing issues facing anyone involved in the cemetery, funeral, and crematory industries. And finally, someone willing to address those concerns from ALL the partners who make up the success or failure of a death care business venture.
You can access this new page at: http://www.cemops.com/complaints_form.html
Your personal information will be held in the strictest of confidence, and is only needed for the purposes of contact by us once we have made our determinations. If you wish us to contact a cemetery, funeral home, or crematory on your behalf we will not share your personal information without your permissions. If you are an owner we will check out your concerns and report directly back to you and nobody else, insuring your privacy and the integrity of your needs. If you are a manager or employee we will protect you from any possible retaliation by not reporting your identity.
The purpose of this page, is to help slow some of the news items making headlines that continue to erode the trust placed on us by families in need. To help employees and managers become stronger by communicating helpful methodology in facing complaints, and determining the severity of their concerns. And to help owners and families work together to correct issues to the satisfaction of all involved, helping to slow the increasing negative media attention and court dockets and rebuilding the faith in our profession.
At the end of each year, Cemops will publish a report on the website, categorizing the type of complaints received – any geographical tendencies – cooperative efforts on the parts of the parties involved, or the lack thereof – violations of state or federal law statistics useful – and training efforts to further strengthen our profession in the eyes of our consumers and onlookers.
It is our sincere desire that everyone who is vested will use this form. There is no cost for using this complaint form, and this can only help improve relations that continue to be strained by both internal and external sources. We expect to be able to communicate with all parties via email, which will keep this free. It makes sense that if we can keep our costs down, we can continue to provide this service at no charge. So take advantage of this offer. Light up your keyboards and let us know what is on your minds and hearts.
This is the first of it’s kind, considering the number of search engine hits available telling you the procedures for filing a complaint in states. Here, the only procedure or step needed is simply filling out our form. We will take it from there with no further need of following lengthy procedure or burdensome steps. We will do that for you.
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01.13.10
Posted in cemetery awareness, cemetery litigation, cemetery news at 7:03 pm by Administrator
Latest in the string of negative media accounts, is the scandal out of Chicago at Burr Oak Cemetery. We have read 29 separate media accounts on this one cemetery scandal, being reported locally-regionally, and now nationwide. Every news organization is covering it now, and the owners of Perpetua are missing in action.
Where it may be a wise choice to distance themselves, in their opinion-the news agencies and sheriff department are pulverizing them at every turn. Most recently, a sheriff department audit reveals there are possibly 9,000 more bodies buried in this cemetery than it can accomodate at full capacity. Perpetua has done nothing to publicly combat this, and the idea of there being that many beyond capacity just doesn’t add up. Recent statements in those same media articles relate burials are taking place without event, and no new disturbances of old graves are taking place.
If you consider both these completely contradictory items being stated in the same article, you would think a spokesperson from Perpetua or their legal firm would be taking the opportunity to speak out. To date, nothing. All that is coming out about this company is they have filed for bankruptcy protection. No damage control will be disastrous for this company. People have no choice but to believe what they read, because nobody else is giving them any information to the contrary.
The other concern with this and a number of other issues in the cemetery, funeral and crematory industries is who is watching over these locations? How could this have gone on without notice, if anyone was ever showing up from the headquarters? What about the previous owners? If there is truly thousands of burials more than the cemetery can hold, why isn’t there any mention of previous owners and their possible roles? Calculating 9,000 burials overage, if the cemetery is performing 350 burials annually would mean this has been ongoing for over two decades. If the news stories are anywhere close to true, and the sheriff has truly audited the location properly-how could this go on for over two decades without being caught? Baffling, isn’t it?
CemOps has long offered to be the eyes and ears of ownership. To be the ones that go into locations and discover improper operating issues for the owners and report back so things can be corrected and kept in house. To be the ones that assist owners of any size in discovering weaknesses and building on principles to turn them into strengths.
Cemetery, crematory and funeral companies spend tens of millions every year on legal fees to defend themselves in court, pay for their legal departments, and/or develop policies and procedures that are obviously not being followed consistently globally. We have offered as a professional aid to help with the front end of this and save these companies countless millions by identifying issues for correction long before they become of interest to the media. Self regulation if you will.
We have seen the fiscal destruction of businesses and family/community trust when nobody is apparently watching. Companies buy out cemeteries from each other, keep the existing employees with little of no further reference or background checks. A few visits take place in the beginning (sometimes) then these locations go on the clock. If there are employees kept who are not upright (re: Burr Oak), the new owner gets the surprise of their lives when the lawsuits and media accounts hit. A little due diligence, another offering of CemOps, and followup will route out most of these type concerns long before reason for news or court coverage. There is your value, if you are willing to take advantage of it.
Finally, how can anyone believe in the case of Burr Oak, a sheriff has the necessary tools and skill sets to audit a cemetery? No offense intended, but a complete forensic inspection is in order now that these numbers have been reported, as it is highly unlikely this sheriff knows how to differenciate the different type burials, which could affect numbers and space or acreage/availability or recognition of poor records keeping/fraud on the part of the four indicted in this story. It takes industry knowledge to get to the bottom of this, and industry savvy of having learned discovery in difficult circumstances and record keeping practices of both healthy and unhealthy operations.
CemOps is still here. Still watching. Still waiting for the industry to understand the value that is CemOps. Our fees represent a small fraction of the costs associated with these claims. Our fees discover these issues before anyone else so they can be corrected and the families are no longer negatively impacted. Beyond the legal fees and destruction of reputation, the entire industry suffers at the hands of such items.
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01.01.10
Posted in cemetery awareness, cemetery law, cemetery litigation, cemetery management, cemetery news at 11:12 am by Administrator
Another Avoidable Lawsuit
February 15, 2009 on 12:53 am In Sound Off No Comments
Reported in November, in California. $420,000.00 in awards is upheld by the California Court of Appeals, from a lawsuit again dealing with the proper way to deal with a family when a cemetery resold two graves. The cemetery staff involved, kept the resale secret from the original purchasers. In 1986, this family purchased two grave spaces, when records were kept manually. When the cemetery converted to a computerized system in 2000, the error was discovered. Error #1. Instead of notifying the purchasers of the mistake, the cemetery staff chose to not resolve the situation because additional spaces were not available at the time. When plaintiff’s husband passed away in 2005, the cemetery provided two spaces elsewhere with the assurance that a nearby roadway would not be extended. Some time later the road was extended, which becomes error #2.
The courts determined the liability existed, when it has ratified “an intent to adopt or approve oppresive, fraudulent, or malicious behavior by an employee in performance of their duties.” The employer was found to be guilty of this, and the actions of the employee were found to be the liability of the employer, due to employers knowledge of this event.
The base issue here is simple. Telling the truth at the time of discovery would have precluded this size of judgement, if not completely eliminating the lawsuit altogether. Telling lies, or lying by ommission, is exactly what caused this lawsuit and subsequent award.
When will those in this profession learn, that covering up this type item will only come back to haunt? When will this industry start using the expertise of companies like CemOps to train their employees on the proper handling of such situations? Clearly, many employers in this profession don’t take this seriously until they have lost a lawsuit, but training still doesn’t take place on any consistent basis.
Was this employee involved terminated? Were the rest of the employees at this location trained on the proper methods of dealing with such and other issues, to preclude further occurence? Or, were the employees simply expected to learn from this mistake with no follow–up?
Clearly there is a value to outside involvement in investigative, auditory, or training assistance to strengthen weak areas in our operations environments. This one is definitely unnecesssary. So are so many that we read about every day in the media. Once again, CemOps and other companies like it are out there to help. The lawsuits can slow or stop, with the proper training and policies/procedures in place. Or——–just keep going to court and paying the costs in high jury awards and the negative publicity that comes with it, which also has a negative impact in the communities affected.
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09.06.09
Posted in cemetery awareness, cemetery law, cemetery litigation, cemetery news at 6:05 pm by Administrator
Another Avoidable Lawsuit
February 15, 2009 on 12:53 am In Sound Off No Comments
Reported in November, in California. $420,000.00 in awards is upheld by the California Court of Appeals, from a lawsuit again dealing with the proper way to deal with a family when a cemetery resold two graves. The cemetery staff involved, kept the resale secret from the original purchasers. In 1986, this family purchased two grave spaces, when records were kept manually. When the cemetery converted to a computerized system in 2000, the error was discovered. Error #1. Instead of notifying the purchasers of the mistake, the cemetery staff chose to not resolve the situation because additional spaces were not available at the time. When plaintiff’s husband passed away in 2005, the cemetery provided two spaces elsewhere with the assurance that a nearby roadway would not be extended. Some time later the road was extended, which becomes error #2.
The courts determined the liability existed, when it has ratified “an intent to adopt or approve oppresive, fraudulent, or malicious behavior by an employee in performance of their duties.” The employer was found to be guilty of this, and the actions of the employee were found to be the liability of the employer, due to employers knowledge of this event.
The base issue here is simple. Telling the truth at the time of discovery would have precluded this size of judgement, if not completely eliminating the lawsuit altogether. Telling lies, or lying by ommission, is exactly what caused this lawsuit and subsequent award.
When will those in this profession learn, that covering up this type item will only come back to haunt? When will this industry start using the expertise of companies like CemOps to train their employees on the proper handling of such situations? Clearly, many employers in this profession don’t take this seriously until they have lost a lawsuit, but training still doesn’t take place on any consistent basis.
Was this employee involved terminated? Were the rest of the employees at this location trained on the proper methods of dealing with such and other issues, to preclude further occurence? Or, were the employees simply expected to learn from this mistake with no follow–up?
Clearly there is a value to outside involvement in investigative, auditory, or training assistance to strengthen weak areas in our operations environments. This one is definitely unnecesssary. So are so many that we read about every day in the media. Once again, CemOps and other companies like it are out there to help. The lawsuits can slow or stop, with the proper training and policies/procedures in place. Or——–just keep going to court and paying the costs in high jury awards and the negative publicity that comes with it, which also has a negative impact in the communities affected.
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01.18.09
Posted in cemetery awareness, cemetery consultant, cemetery consulting, cemetery law, cemetery litigation, cemetery management, cemetery news, cemetery publications, cemetery white paper at 7:25 am by Administrator
CemOps White Paper
3445 Marino Dr. SE
Rio Rancho, NM. 87124
(505) 918-8002
http://www.cemops.com/broberts@cemops.com
Cemetery Challenges and Solutions Through Consultative Resources
Bob Roberts – Principal
Introduction
Cemetery businesses and operations are possibly among the most complex environments in business today. The laws, the operating principles, necessary policies and procedures, accounting requirements, and day to day operations become increasingly involved and vary from state to state. Keeping up with the changing laws can be a task in itself, and the wise cemetery owner is constantly abreast of the changing requirements.
Many news accounts and lawsuits in the United States over the past two decades have proven that many avoidable poor business decisions could have been made; some by lack of knowledge, some by failing to insure personnel are following prescribed policies and procedures, and yes-some from obvious disregard for the laws and best operating practices.
The purpose of this paper is identifying groups and the challenges present in such a complex business environment, offering the need for comprehensive solutions and where to go for the assistance necessary to insure the integrity of the cemeteries involved and the futures of the businesses for those who have invested a great deal of time and resources to own such cemetery properties.
Ownership & Challenges
The varying ownership groups whether private, municipal, religious or corporate all have unique challenges in operating their day to day businesses. Each of these differing classifications has completely different operating requirements, laws, and purposes of operation. Municipal and religious cemeteries may or may not be regulated by governmental law, except the endowment care funds. Private and corporate cemeteries are considered “for profit” for the most part, and are guided where laws are present based on accounting principles and operating expectations by the locales they are in.
Ownership of a cemetery is an expensive proposition, regardless of the category assigned. All cemeteries require a great deal of maintenance, and the associated labor and equipment can be overwhelming for the operating entity if they are not prepared or knowledgeable. This has proven to be the downfall of many businesses, and has been the main reason cemetery abandonment has become an increasing problem. Best practices for cemetery operations, are not well known by a good many owners. The mistakes made that have caused these practices to be adopted are held by those companies who have developed excellent day to day cemetery operations policies and procedures.
Expectations from the client families these cemetery groups serve can further challenge even the best in the business. Every different religious group, ethnic group, nationality, or special interest group has a different idea of what they need and expect from their cemetery owners. To be a successful cemetery, you must find that balance to accompany all the differing families who will use your cemetery and buy your services and merchandise.
Solutions
Finding solutions to improve your cemetery operations and protect your investment is not difficult. Realizing the benefit of involving an outside consultant or expert is difficult for many to come to terms with. With an open mind, you can save numerous unnecessary additional expenditures, avoid negative press, gain the confidence of those you serve, and lessen your exposure to liabilities that could end up in court with huge legal expenses.
The cost of hiring an onsite audit or inspection with CemOps is a fraction the cost of drawn out legal expenses defending against accusations, founded or not. There isn’t a cemetery in the country that cannot use better operating methods or updated information on the numerous challenges that are met daily.
Most cemeteries do a poor job of insuring OSHA standards are met. Many don’t even know where to find the necessary standards on the OSHA site. There is no header for cemetery, and it requires research to find those applicable requirements. This being the case, seldom do you find a cemetery in full compliance.
Many cemetery owners and managers are not aware of the laws in their states. This is a hazardous situation, and can lead to expensive fines and liabilities. In 2007 and 2008, CemOps has saved 283 negative news articles from around the country. All these circumstances that led to the negative press were avoidable. Now you get to calculate the revenue damage that isn’t handed down by a jury or a government agency. The bad will spread from negative press is as costly as any court judgment, in loss of customer confidence and loyalty.
Not calling CemOps for updates, audit and inspection support, and best practices makes no sense. Ignoring the possibility of better and more consistent methods is like playing Russian roulette with your bank account and future as a cemetery owner.
Large corporations have suffered countless losses due to law suits and consumer loss, even with all the policies and procedures they have in place. The policies and procedures mean nothing if there is nothing in place to insure those items are not only in place, but being followed every day in every location. CemOps also has saved negative press relative to this claim, and again all avoidable. Having worked for the corporations, we can assure you these policies and procedures are not being followed on a consistent basis. It takes an outsider to discover these misses, as sounding the alarm by the location manager or regional manager isn’t going to and doesn’t happen, for obvious reasons. That, coupled with the typical “scheduled” visit allows the location the opportunity to insure items will be missed or glossed over. This happens, and anyone within the large corporations that doesn’t realize or wish to admit it, are part of the problem-not the solution.
CemOps has the solutions you need. It doesn’t cost anything for you to make the call. It costs less than you think to take advantage of the expertise to save your reputation and success in business.
At the end of this white paper you will find some reference information and links to issues relative to costly mistakes made in the industry. Don’t make the mistake of perpetuating the mistakes by not calling for the assistant available.
Your information is always confidential. CemOps is here for you, and the information gleaned from any audit or inspection is yours to keep and use. It will not be shared with anyone else.
Following Solutions
Beyond the visit you schedule with CemOps will be follow up communications and information to insure the value of the visit continues to be used. Documentation will be furnished to show the visit took place and that you cared enough to check your location for weaknesses and strengths.
For those that have found themselves on the unfortunate side of the courts, consider the value of having documentation showing your desire and commitment to insure compliance and education. Those owners that show that level of commitment find themselves defending themselves less and more time strengthening their business models.
http://stores.lulu.com/cemops2007 (My books on the death care industry & grieving)
The thirteen links shared here run the course of some of the things that you can find yourself under the microscope for. These are news article that do no good for the profession, but happen every day. I receive up to 30 news releases each day like the ones shared here. Currently for the years 2007 and 2008, this is just a tiny sample of those articles out there.
All avoidable and could have been dealt with in a positive manner without the expensive legal consequences. Not calling us makes no sense, and only increases what we know is your existing exposure to liability!
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