2012 Code of Alabama
Title 34 - PROFESSIONS AND BUSINESSES.
Chapter 13 - FUNERAL SERVICES.
Section 34-13-56 - Grounds for revocation, suspension, or refusal to issue or renew licenses; fines.

Section 34-13-56Grounds for revocation, suspension, or refusal to issue or renew licenses; fines.

(a) The board may refuse to grant, refuse to renew, or suspend or revoke a license after proper hearing and notice to the licensee, upon the licensee's being found guilty of any of the following:

(1) Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude.

(2) Unprofessional conduct, which is defined to include any of the following:

a. Misrepresentation or fraud in the conduct of the business or the profession of a funeral director or embalmer.

b. False or misleading advertising as a funeral director or embalmer or knowingly engaging in any advertising which is misleading or inaccurate in any material particular.

c. Solicitation of dead human bodies by the licensee, his or her agents, assistants, or employees, from medical professionals or clergy, whether the solicitation occurs after death or while death is impending.

d. Employment by the licensee of a person or persons to be used for the purpose of obtaining or soliciting funeral directing or embalming business.

e. Employment directly or indirectly of any apprentice, agent, assistant, embalmer, employee, or other person, on part or full time or on commission, for the purpose of calling upon individuals or institutions where a death has occurred or is imminent by whose influence dead human bodies may be turned over to a particular funeral director or embalmer or funeral establishment, or both.

f. The buying of business by the licensee, his or her agents, assistants, or employees.

g. Gross immorality.

h. Aiding or abetting an unlicensed person to practice funeral directing or embalming.

i. Using profane, indecent, or obscene language in the presence of a dead human body, or within the immediate hearing of the family or relative of a deceased whose body has not yet been interred or otherwise disposed of.

j. Solicitation or acceptance by a licensee of any commission or bonus or rebate in consideration of recommending or causing a dead human body to be disposed of in any mausoleum or cemetery.

k. Any violation of this chapter.

l. Any violation of state law or municipal or county ordinance or regulation affecting the handling, custody, care, or transportation of dead human bodies.

m. Fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining a license.

n. Refusing to promptly surrender the custody of a dead human body, upon the express order and payment for services rendered of the person lawfully entitled to the custody thereof.

o. Performing services in a professional capacity as a funeral director or embalmer, or both, for any unlicensed funeral establishment operating in violation of this chapter.

p. Being intoxicated or under the influence of illegal drugs while on duty at a funeral establishment.

q. Willfully retaining or willfully failing to account for any property of a decedent.

r. Knowingly and willfully signing a certificate as having embalmed or prepared a body for burial when, in fact the services were not performed by the licensee.

s. Failure to give full cooperation to the board or its designees, agents, or other representatives in the performance of official duties of the board. Failure to give full cooperation includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:

(i) Not furnishing any relevant papers or documents requested by or for the board.

(ii) Not furnishing, in writing, an adequate explanation relating to a matter contained in a complaint filed with the board against the licensee.

(iii) Not responding to a subpoena issued by the board, without good cause shown, whether or not the licensee is the party charged in any preceding before the board.

(iv) Not providing reasonable access to the board or an authorized agent or representative of the board for the performance of reviews or inspections at facilities or places utilized by the licensee in the practice of funeral service or funeral directing or in performing any other activity regulated by the board.

(v) Failing to provide information within a specific time as required by the board or an authorized agent or representative of the board.

(vi) Failing to cooperate with the board or an authorized agent or representative of the board in the investigation of any alleged misconduct or interfering with a board investigation through the willful misrepresentation of facts.

(vii) Deceiving or attempting to deceive the board regarding any matter under investigation, including the altering or destroying of any records.

(viii) Failure, without good cause, to cooperate with any request from the board to appear before the board.

(ix) Violating any statute, ordinance, or rule of the state or any board, agency, or political subdivision of the state affecting the registration of deaths or the handling, custody, care, or transportation of dead human bodies.

(x) Violating any statute, ordinance, or rule of the state or any board, agency, or political subdivision of the state affecting the registration of deaths or the handling, custody, care, or transportation of dead human bodies.

(xi) Demonstrating bad faith, incompetence, or untrustworthiness or dishonest, fraudulent, or improper dealing or any other violation of this chapter or any rule promulgated by the board or promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission relative to the practice of funeral service or funeral directing.

(b) In addition to the disciplinary actions authorized in subsection (a), the board may levy and collect administrative fines for violations of this chapter or the rules or regulations of the board in an amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation.

(Acts 1975, No. 214, p. 705, §25; Acts 1995, No. 95-517, p. 1047, §2; Act 2011-623, p. 1439, §1.)