The Unlicensed Office Manager Who Runs the Funeral
The owner of a small Colorado funeral home, who is the only licensed funeral director on staff, leaves for a two-week vacation. The office manager, who has worked there 12 years but holds no funeral director license, meets with a family, presents the general price list, signs the statement of goods and services, orders the removal, files the death certificate, and schedules cremation. The staff embalmer is licensed but does not meet with families. The owner checks in by phone once. A family member later asks the Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations whether the arrangement was legal. The office manager says she "does everything but embalm" and the owner "trusts her."
1. Identify the licensure issue under Colorado's Funeral Services Act.
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Colorado regulates funeral directing and embalming under C.R.S. Title 12, Article 130. Funeral directing is a licensed activity; an unlicensed person may not perform the functions of a funeral director merely because she has long experience or the owner's trust. Meeting with the family, presenting the price list, signing the statement of goods and services, ordering removal, filing the death certificate, and scheduling cremation are core funeral-directing and arrangement functions. The office manager's conduct therefore appears to be unlicensed practice. The fact that she did not embalm is irrelevant because embalming and funeral directing are separate licenses and separate scopes of practice.
2. Could the office manager legally perform any of these tasks if she were a registered intern? Explain.
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If she were properly registered as a funeral director intern, she could perform some funeral-directing tasks only under the supervision required by Colorado law and board rules. An intern is not an independent licensee. The supervising funeral director must remain responsible for the arrangement, review the contract and disclosures, and be available for consultation. The owner's single phone check-in during a two-week absence would not satisfy meaningful supervision for a full arrangement, especially signing the statement of goods and services and scheduling cremation. The embalmer's license does not authorize the embalmer to supervise funeral directing unless the embalmer also holds a funeral director license.
3. What should the owner have done before leaving, and what discipline may follow?
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The owner should have designated a licensed funeral director to be in charge during the absence, ensured that any intern was properly registered and supervised, and arranged for a licensed funeral director to review and sign arrangements. The Board may discipline the owner for aiding or abetting unlicensed practice, failing to supervise, and permitting an unlicensed person to hold out as a funeral director. The office manager may also face an unlicensed-practice finding. Possible sanctions include reprimand, probation, fines, suspension, or conditions on the funeral home's registration. The owner's "trust" in the employee is not a defense to a licensure violation.