The Federal Trade Commission’s Trade Regulation Rule Concerning Funeral Industry Practices (“Rule” or “Funeral Rule”), 16 C.F.R. Part 453, went into effect in April 1984 and was revised in July 1994.  The Funeral Rule requires that funeral providers give consumers

On November 22, 2016, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction staying implementation of the new overtime regulation. The new regulation is on hold for now and it will not go into effect on December 1. No word yet on a

On June 30, 2016, the United States Department of Labor announced increases to the maximum amount of civil monetary penalties that can be assessed under the OSHA law.  The authority for this increase was the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment

OSHA has announced that it plans to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in August 2016 that will increase the maximum penalty amounts that can be assessed against an employer for violations of the OSHA law and regulations. OSHA State

OSHA announced that some businesses are receiving fraudulent e-mails from an entity that claims to be the Department of Labor.  The e-mail advises recipients to download a “Guide” to avoid being fined.  The e-mail, according to OSHA, will have the Subject: “OSHA

On November 19, 2015 the Fall 2015 Regulatory Agenda was released by the US Department of Labor. The Regulatory Agenda tracks the status of regulatory Rule Making and outlines the regulations that Federal agencies are expected to work on in the immediate future.

For funeral service, the items of interest under the OSHA Agenda include OSHA’s review of maximum Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) for hazardous and toxic chemicals. On October 10, 2014, OSHA published a Request For Information to solicit comments and approaches that it could take to reduce the risk of employee’s developing illnesses caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals. OSHA is now in the process of reviewing and analyzing the comments it received, the said review to be completed in April of 2016. This Rule Making is in the Pre-Rule stage and the priority is listed as “Other Significant.” The review includes the permitted exposure level for formaldehyde and therefore affects funeral service.