[Patrick Gill]

I oversee an employee relief fund for an organization in Dayton, OH. Our committee recently had some discussions about a qualifying incident. The language on our application leaves some room for interpretation, and I hoping we can receive some direction. Here are some questions we have:

1.) In our policy we state that the fund will assist with death of an immediate family member. We have had a situation come up where an employee has asked for assistance to pay to have her father released from the morgue and buried. We don’t believe that the father lived with the individual or contributed to her household income. We also assume (based upon the application) that the deceased had no resources or insurance to pay. How do you handle the death of an immediate family member? Could a fund like this help to cover funeral expenses? Or is a relief fund only meant to cover the death of spouse or children living under your roof/contributing to household income?
2.) What about the death of an employee. Can the surviving family member apply for funeral assistance since technically the employee is no longer an employee? What documentation do you request?

Any advice you can provide to us would be great! Thank you!

[Author]

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