A family who buried their mother yesterday, is accusing a cemetery of “hijacking” the Levaya and using the fact that they are Jewish to triple burial prices, CBS2 reports.
Apparently, the Nifteres had already paid for a plot at Wellwood Cemetery in Farmingdale, LI next to her husband, they used Shomrei Hadas Chapel’s in Borough Park to arrange the Levaya, and agreed upon a price of $1,100 for the Kevura.
But just an hour before the Levaya, the family received a phone call and a “new price” of $3,500 was given to them.
The reason for more than tripling the price? Wellwood Cemetery is celebrating a holiday – Lincoln’s Birthday, which is not observed any place else in New York.
Wellwood Cemetery’s pricing sheet lists an overtime charge of $73 per 30 minutes, but no mention of obscure holiday charges, which raised the Levaya price by $2,450!
While the incredible overtime costs are most likely legal under state law, New York state has vowed to investigate for possible price gouging.
Funeral homes have a general price list and they cannot charge more than what’s on that list. The department does not set the prices funeral homes charge.
YWN spoke with someone at Shomrei Hadas – and they claim that “Shomrei Hadas should not have even been mentioned in the CBS2 report. The family never had a contract with us, and they simply rented our Chapel to make the Levaya. Any other fees were charged by the cemetery, and not by Shomrei Hadas”.
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26 Responses
That’s yout typical airhead reporter linking the funeral chapel to this story. They had obviously nothing to do with this.
Did Shomrei Hadas attempt to try to straighten out the situation with the cemetery? After all, the funeral director – who is present at every funeral by New York State law – is paid by Shomrei Hadas to interface & interact with the cemetery.
Is it possible to know where to find this CBS report and any references about the New York State investigation mentioned in this post? I would like to support this effort as we were victims of the same situation.
i know of other storys……..also every single chapel is rented by the family.
Edited by Site Moderation Panel.
There is a very unfortunate situation that exists in New Jersey (perahps elsewhere also) that on a genuine legal holiday it is impossible to arrange a kevura, even for money. The cemetery is simply closed. My mother (O.H.)’s kevura had to be postponed a day because of this. I followed up later on what could be done about it, and ultimately it hinged on union stipulations that were not going to be changed.
Section 201.12(c) of the Cemetery Board Rules and Regulations provides that “In addition to the regular approved charge, identifiable extra costs incurred may be charged to the burial, consistent with N-PCL section 1509(d), provided that the total amount to be paid is stated in writing to the family of the deceased at the time of the request for burial and, further, provided that a copy of such statement shall be simultaneously filed with the Cemetery Board at its office in New York City.”
I wonder whether the extra charge was for “identifiable extra costs incurred” and whether proper notices were timely provided as required.
If not, a formal complaint to the cemetery and to the cemetery board might solve this issue.
Simple answer.
Join the Agudist Benevolent Society.
This would never happen on their watch.
( #6 ) as always Money talks, i am sure you know the rest of the phraise,
Most of the chassidic community’s have there plots in NJ & what they do is simple, they have on agreement to pay extra for the holidays & the Union workers dont mind it all as they make more money & unfortunatley they are looking forward & they treat them with the biggest respect as thier compensation is quite hefty but they are there waiting till the wee hours of the morning for them to arrive & finish up on time
I had the same experience as #6 (King Solomon Cemetery in Clifton, NJ) 9 years ago with my Father O’BM. I offered the cemetery double and triple time, but labor day is labor day and they refused. on top of that, we were told that if we get to the cemetery after 3PM, we would be turned away.
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Another incident in NJ, we got to a cemetery on a Friday at ~noon it was snowing and it took a liitle longer to get there than we expected. we were told the diggers are on their lunch break and we need to wait until 1PM. I explained that as long as the site is open, we will fill it in — we were told rules are rules go sit and wait.
I agree that Shomrei HaDas, as a funeral chapel, should not be dragged into the mud due to an unaffiliated and unscrupulous cemetery.
here is a link to the report http://wcbstv.com/topstories/othodox.jewish.wellwood.2.652433.html
OK, I located the story on the CBS website. They give a referral to the New York State Bureau of Funeral Directing at 518-402-0785, and suggest anyone with similar complaints to contact them.
BTW, the Funeral Homes claim they have nothing to do with the problem; that the cemetary workers union is in control. The funeral director in our case urged us to just wait another day(after the holiday)to avoid having to pay the extra $2K, which we did not do.
after hearing today the great help that MISASKIM offers…
maybe they can also help with this?
just wondering
It has been a common practice for unions to be controlled by gangsters.
The was true of the MashGiChim Union, the Brooklyn Kosher Butchers, the Teamsters (Jimmy Hoffa), and so many others.
That gangster tradition is still alive.
Do any lawyers out there have an opinion about whether these union regulations can be challenged based on religious requirements?
The article states: “Lincoln’s Birthday, which is not observed any place else in New York.”
Maybe the reporter should look out his window and see if his garbage was picked up yesterday. Lincoln’s Birthday is a union, State, City and County holiday. Whether we like it or not, union employees do not make an exception for Jews and if we, G-d forbid, have to come to them to bury a meis on a union holiday we just have to pay the going rate.
What is a shanda is that the cemetery workers prey on the grief of the families. And they’re not stupid…they know the Halacha about immediate Kevurah. So what to do?
As for Shomrei Hadass…it’s really not their fault. As a Chevra Kadisha member I’ve been told more than once by the people there that if the Levaya is “late”, however those gravediggers define the word, there’ll be extra costs from the cemetery. They feel very badly about it, but it’s out of their hands.
Death is a lucrative business. It shouldn’t be an excuse to gouge extra thousands from grieving families.
I did a lot of work for a now defunct funeral home. The way that funeral home worked, they collected the entire cost of the funeral plus the burial fees and the funeral home paid the cemetery. The initial estimate of costs is based on the price sheet. However, the burial costs are not finalized until the funeral home contacts the cemetery. I do not know how Shomrei Hadas works, but I doubt it is not much different then the other funeral home. The Cemetery costs are a passthrough cost that the funeral home has no control over. So yes, it is not Shomrei Hadas’s fault, however, they should know what days are considered union holidays and warn the family that their may be extra costs involved.
NOTE:
It is precisely because the unions know that we Jews have no choice but to do the burial immediately that they take advantage of the situation and carry-out a holdup.
Next time they try this stunt, I suggest you ignore them, take some shovels ot of the trunk and get to work. If they object, tell them to call the cops.
Do you think they will???
An update to comment #13: The State Bureau of Funeral Directing, which is the reference given on the CBS website, says they are not the office that would investigate cemetary price-gouging. Instead they referred me to Richard Fischman, Director, Division of Cemetaries, NY State Cemetary Board. His # in NYC is 212-417-5713, or in Albany 518-474-6226.
The original contact said these holiday overtime charges are written in the rules of the State Cemetary Board.
Yes, the funeral home should be aware & advise about any unexpected charges that may arise, and in fact funeral contracts may have wording to the effect that unforeseen cemetary expenses may occur. Notwithstanding, the exorbitant increase of $2,000 (or 2400 in the CBS report)for opening a kever on even a minor federal holiday takes advantage of the Orthodox imperative to bury within 24 hours. It is not a matter of being advised or not advised, it is an unfair practice and the law allowing it needs to be changed.
In Illinois we had this problem, and you couldn’t get a burial done even on a regular Sunday. Thanx to the lobbying of Agudath Israel, a law has been passed that if there is a religious need, then the unions must come and do it anyway. (I don’t know about charges for overtime and the like.) They had a fancy ceremony for the signing of this bill in the Bais Medrash of Telshe Yeshiva in Chicago. Jim Thompson, governor at the time, came down with a whole bunch of other politicians and the press in full force. If I remember correctly it was during Aseres Yemei Teshuva somewhere in the early to mid 1980s.
In my Comment above, number 7, I already cited the section of the regulations that the cemetery violated and exactly how they violated it. That section is entitled “Holiday Burial”. It is extremely admirable that so many people are Nosay B’ol im Chaveiro but it will be much more effective if it is done in an informed manner, instead of speculation. If you think you can take a shovel to a union cemetery, good luck. The union folks will use the shovel for other purposes that I would rather not state.
#21,
Great idea but you realize they will KILL you LITERALLY with GUNS if you try that.
#21:
Do you really believe that the gravediggers union negotiations are only for the jewish cemeteries?