Are you players okay with that?Well Maybe I take game too seriously in this case, but I personally penalize death a lot. This means most of the time that the player will have to wait until the end of the *adventure* before re-joining the group and usually arrives with a character which is at least one level lower than the lowest level character in the party (I reward experience individually).
While the dead waits for playing again, he can assist me as a DM in the adventure, interpreting NPCs or other situations.
If so, that's fine, I guess.
Have you banned the Raise Dead ritual, btw.? If you didn't, I'd think you may have a hard time justifying your death penalty rules.