Section 17-3013. GROUNDS FOR DENIAL, SUSPENSION, OR REVOCATION OF A LICENSE

 

3013.1Upon a finding that an applicant or licensee is engaged in conduct described in § 3013.2, the Board, after providing notice and an opportunity for a hearing pursuant to chapter 33 of this title, may take one (1) or more of the following actions:

 

(a)Deny admission to an examination;

 

(b)Deny the issuance of a license;

 

(c)Suspend or revoke a license;

 

(d)Refuse to renew a license;

 

(e)Refuse to reinstate a license; or

 

(f)Impose a civil penalty.

 

3013.2The Board may take one (1) or more of the actions described in § 3013.1 if it finds that an applicant or licensee has engaged in any of the following actions:

 

(a)In any fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation of any material fact in procuring or attempting to procure a license under this chapter or chapter 31 of this title;

 

(b)In any unfair, deceptive, or misleading act or practice, or unfair method of competition in the funeral profession, including illegally fixing or maintaining prices or illegally restraining trade;

 

(c)Violated or permitted an employee or agent to violate any provision of the Act, this chapter, chapter 31 of this title, or federal laws, or regulations pertaining to the practice of funeral directing or funeral services establishments;

 

(d)Conspired with, or aided or abetted any person or entity in the violation or circumvention of any provision of the Act, this chapter, chapter 31 of this title, or federal laws or regulations pertaining to the practice of funeral directing or funeral services establishments;

 

(e)Performed funeral directing services while under the influence of intoxicating liquors or drugs;

 

(f)Engaged in any type of solicitation;

 

(g)Engaged in misrepresentation or fraud in the conduct of the business of a funeral services establishment, as a funeral director, or as an apprentice funeral director;

 

(h)Performed embalming services without specific written authorization by the next of kin, except in the case of a demonstrated emergency where the public health, welfare, or safety would be endangered;

 

(i)Charged in excess of actual out-of-pocket expenditures paid by the funeral services establishment for cash advances and other expenditures, excluding a reasonable charge not exceeding the District's legal interest rate per annum on the unpaid balance not repaid within thirty (30) days;

 

(j)Committed gross negligence in the practice of funeral directing;

 

(k)Been disciplined by a licensing or disciplinary authority or convicted, disciplined, or found civilly liable by a court of any jurisdiction for conduct which would be grounds for denial or disciplinary action under the Act or this chapter, or which bears a substantial relationship to the fitness of the applicant or licensee to be licensed; or

 

(l)Acted in a manner inconsistent with the health, welfare, or safety of the public, including, but not limited to, the following:

 

(1)Permitting anyone other than a licensed funeral director to make arrangements, other than the receipt of preliminary information by telephone, on his or her behalf, or on behalf of any other funeral director or funeral services establishment, with a customer or customer's designee, which arrangements involve the performance of the practice of funeral directing, the sale or rental of funeral goods or services, or the offer, sale, or negotiation of a preneed contract;

 

(2)Exercising undue influence on a customer or misleading a customer;

 

(3)Failing to provide the Board, the Director, or any person or entity with accurate and true notification or documentation as required by law, the Board, or the Director;

 

(4)Soliciting, accepting, or paying any consideration for recommending or causing funeral goods or services, or the services of a crematory, mausoleum or cemetery, to be provided specific persons or entities, except pursuant to a preneed contract;

 

(5)Causing or being knowingly involved in a solicitation which constituted an uninvited invasion of personal privacy, or in a solicitation by phone or at the personal residence of a person;

 

(6)Participating in the provision of or providing funeral goods or services pursuant to a preneed contract if the contract was offered, sold or negotiated by a person other than a funeral director licensed in the District and employed by a funeral services establishment which is licensed and endorsed in the District and a party to that contract;

 

(7)Offering, selling, negotiating, or participating in the provision of, or providing funeral goods or services pursuant to, a preneed contract which did not fulfill the requirements of chapter 31 of this title;

 

(8)Charging in excess of the amount advanced, paid, or owed to third parties on behalf of the customer, or failing to passing along to the customer any discount, rebate, or other benefit received from third parties for any items of service or merchandise described as cash advances, including, but not limited to, the following:

 

(A)Cemetery or crematory charges;

 

(B)Clergy honoraria;

 

(C)Death certificate transcripts;

 

(D)Escorts;

 

(E)Chevra Kadisha (Tahara);

 

(F)Public transportation;

 

(G)Gratuities;

 

(H) Telephone and telegraph charges; and

 

(I)Flowers;

 

(9)Suggesting or implying, in manner, that the customer's expressed concern about prices, inexpensive services or merchandise, or desire to save money, is improper or inappropriate;

 

(10)Disparaging before a customer the quality or appearance of merchandise or services advertised or offered for sale;

 

(11)Failing to display less expensive merchandise advertised or offered for sale in the same manner and condition as more expensive merchandise;

 

(12)Making false, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims directly, or by implication, as to the benefits or quality or funeral merchandise or services;

 

(13)Obtaining custody of human remains without explicit prior customer authorization;

 

(14)Failing to release promptly human remains and give information about the care, release or whereabouts of human remains upon customer request;

 

(15)Failing to post conspicuously and legibly the actual retail price on each item of funeral merchandise displayed for sale;

 

(16)Failing to post conspicuously and legibly the actual retail price of funeral merchandise on pictures of the merchandise, when pictures are used for the presentation of merchandise for sale;

 

(17)Inducing a customer to consent to change the desired day or time of funeral, burial, or cremation by misstating facts or circumstances related thereto, if such misstatements resulting in the following:

 

(A)Increased charges for the funeral; or

 

(B)Denial of a customer's desire to have the funeral, burial, or cremation at a particular time, when that particular time was expressed by a customer as an element of the agreement;

 

(18)Making a representation, or permitting a presentation to be made, that a funeral services establishment was a society, fund, trust or other nonprofit entity, unless the establishment was nonprofit or unless the representation included a conspicuous statement that the establishment was for-profit;

 

(19)Revealing personally identifiable facts or information about a decedent or customer which were obtained in the business or practice of funeral directing without the prior consent of the customer, except as authorized or required by law or by the contract between the customer and the funeral director of funeral services establishment;

 

(20)Delegating funeral directing responsibilities to a person when the applicant or licensee knew or should have known that the person was not qualified or authorized to perform them;

 

(21)Abandoning, neglecting abusing, or failing to treat human remains with dignity and respect;

 

(22)Charging for funeral goods or services that were not specified in the contract and which are not required by law;

 

(23)Charging for funeral goods or services that were not provided;

 

(24)Failing to provide funeral goods or services specified in the contract; or

 

(25)Failing to comply with an order issued by the Board or the Director, or with a negotiated settlement entered into the Board or the Director.

 

3013.3As used in this section, "solicit" means to engage in any annoying or unseemly conduct by an applicant, licensee, or employee or agent or an applicant or licensee including, but not limited to, the following:

 

(a)Loitering in or about a hospital, sanitarium, personal care home, or other place for the purpose of soliciting the employment of the licensee's services;

 

(b)Offering, giving, or promising any gratuity or payment, either in money or property, to any person for information concerning human remains;

 

(c)Requesting or recommending that a consumer change from another funeral services establishment;

 

(d)Engaging in a dispute with another licensee for the possession of human remains; or

 

(e)Initiating contract with the next of kin, relations, friends, or associates of the deceased in order to provide funeral service or disposition of the deceased without being contacted by the next of kin or his or her representative, excluding general advertising, the sale of burial insurance, or responses to request for information by consumers.

 

source

Final Rulemaking published at 35 DCR 2904, 2913 (April 22, 1988).